Transforming Your HR & Payroll Departments Through Digitalization
Taking a digital approach to what have traditionally been manual tasks is becoming more commonplace in the office, and for good reason. Implementing digital tools throughout your business can provide many different advantages, such as improved communication, shorter processing times, and more effective data management. Many companies begin their digitization with an HRIS or by using payroll software, but the implementation doesn’t need to stop there. In truth, digital tools can be used effectively in nearly all aspects of your business, but it’s vital that you don’t waste time (and money) on technology just for the sake of having it. Here’s how to avoid doing that.
1. Define A Purpose
Technology can be very helpful in running your business, but it’s easy to go overboard without any sense of direction. Therefore, the first thing you’ll want to do before investing in software solutions is to take a look at your own company. What’s something you’d like to do for your business? This could be increasing onboarding capabilities, giving employees self-service options, tracking T&A more accurately, or a number of other goals. You’ll need to figure out what your goals are and define a purpose before considering your software options. Without a clearly defined purpose, you’re likely to purchase more software solutions than necessary, creating unnecessary expenses.
2. Identifying Weaknesses
Having a goal is certainly important, but chances are, there’s one (or more) thing(s) standing in the way of you achieving that goal. The next step is to figure out what these roadblocks are so you can find a way to address them. While you may have ideas of your own, the best way to gather a comprehensive list of weaknesses quickly is to ask your HR & payroll departments directly: “which parts of your daily routine could use improvement?” Gathering this information from employees will provide valuable insights into the weaknesses of your current process. Using this information, you can begin to consider software solutions!
3. Testing New Tools
Armed with both a purpose & a comprehensive list of your current system’s weaknesses, you can begin to test new software solutions. You may have to spend some money to do this, but many companies offer free trials of their software, which allows you to test the system for a short period of time. The duration of this trial will vary by company, so we recommend finding a company that offers an extended trial. It’s nearly impossible to determine if a software solution will work for your organization in only a week’s time! Fortunately, companies like the UZIO payroll platform offer 30-day trials of their payroll & HR software, so you should look into extended offers like this one for testing purposes.
4. Optimizing Implementation
A fully optimized system is one that handles both payroll & HR from a single database. This setup eliminates the need for duplicate data entities, which can be extremely helpful in daily tasks as well as onboarding employees. Of course, employees shouldn’t have access to all information, so an important part of optimization is setting the appropriate permissions. These will limit access to only role-related information, reducing the chance of data theft.
5. Consolidate Your Systems
Some businesses may only need standalone HR or payroll solutions, but most will benefit from using all-in-one solutions. The same principle can be applied to software solutions across your business. Your company most likely has multiple software systems that are capable of handling the same tasks, but it’s not necessary to maintain an overlap. Rather, you should try to cut down on the number of software solutions your company uses, keeping only the bare essential systems that are capable of handling routine tasks. This will help prevent overspending while simplifying the data management process.
6. Improving Interdepartmental Communications
An often overlooked (but still important) part of both the HR and payroll departments is interdepartmental communication. Some payroll or HR management systems may offer messaging features as part of the platform, but if yours doesn’t, it’s a good idea to designate a specific messenger service for interdepartmental communications. Many companies use emails for this purpose, but an instant messenger is much more effective. Popular choices include Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Summary
While the examples we’ve provided in this article have been specific to HRIS and payroll software systems, the same principles can be applied across the board in your business. Software solutions can be extremely beneficial, but without a proper sense of direction, they can quickly stray from their path, acting as distractions rather than solutions. However, if you follow these five steps when introducing new software solutions to your company, you should be able to maximize the potential of your business effectively.
