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Wyman Wong, Senior Manager, HRIS at Hongkong Land When I graduated college, automation tools were not yet popular, and SaaS was not mainstream. I began working in a merchandising role, with my primary responsibilities being to create Excel pivot tables and prepare various daily and weekly sales reports. It felt as though I was a human robot, repeatedly performing the same tasks. Despite being a junior, I believed that my time could be better utilized on more meaningful tasks. I had this thought because a decade prior, I had developed my macro to level up my character in an online game. This experience led me to wonder why no one had thought to develop similar tools to improve efficiency at work. It was this realization that prompted me to begin studying Excel and Access VBA, with the goal of improving my productivity.
The real-life experience I shared above illustrates what occurs not only in the merchandising department but in other departments as well. In the HR department, it is not difficult to identify ‘waste’ in business processes, particularly in the C&B team, where most tasks are repetitive and manual. In Lean Six Sigma, the objective is to streamline business processes by reducing waste and variation, which is aligned with the goal of HR transformation on cost savings and efficiency improvements. Nowadays, HR transformation is also referred to as HR Digital Transformation since new processes leverage HR technology to achieve significant improvements. For example, consider a company that uses separate systems for recruiting and core Human Capital Management (HCM). Recruiters need to run new hire reports every day from the recruiting system manually and send the data to the data entry team for input into the core HCM system. To enhance this process digitally, we can build an API for the data to transfer seamlessly in real-time or utilize Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate data transfer and data entry processes. Additionally, an error log can be generated and sent to the recruiter responsible if any data issues arise. Implementing this new process would save at least 0.5 hours per day depending on the volume of data.
The Rising of Low-Code Platforms
In the past, many tools in the market that could help with business process improvement required programming knowledge such as VBA, Python, and SQL. Even worse, some applications may even develop their languages and library. Finding someone with such technical expertise within the HR department was already challenging enough, maintaining the program became even more difficult once the developer leaves the company. Although companies with ample resources may have a dedicated IT team serving various departments, low to medium-priority requests often take an excessive amount of waiting time. This posed a significant problem for different departments to develop their own automation, until the advent of low-code or no-code development environments, such as Power Automate, UiPath, and Automation Anywhere. In these platforms, users can create automation without the need for programming knowledge; instead, they can simply select different configuration options with ease, resulting in reduced reliance on internal IT and external consultants to create automation. Moreover, automation becomes more sustainable compared to traditional hard-coding, which is challenging to maintain without proper documentation or expertise.
Low-code platforms are closely related to cloud-based technology. Cloud-based software encourages standardization and discourages customization, as customization can impede upgrades. For example, upgrading on-premises Peoplesoft has always been a headache for HR departments because of software customization, as customizations may not be compatible with new features, increasing the cost of upgrades and effort required for regression testing. With cloud-based technology, clients can enjoy automatic free upgrades and patches without engaging in costly upgrade projects. Thanks to standardization, testing has become a global collaboration as identifying and fixing issues are applicable to all clients.
“ To find opportunity amidst recruitment challenges, one must understand what is important to the people being served. This leads to drawing interested workers and have more opportunity to invest in and retain them as well.”
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a delivery model in which cloud-based software is installed and maintained by the vendor. Contrary to the traditional HRIS support model, where the IT department acts as a Tier 3 support responsible for infrastructure and partially handles technical configuration and migration, with SaaS, the support model has evolved into HR directly supporting configuration and working with external consultants. The traditional model is highly inefficient as IT is not allowed to access HR-sensitive data yet needs to investigate issues reported by users, resulting in the creation of an unnecessary role of Tier 2 HR business analyst providing first-level support but lacking the technical knowledge or system privileges to resolve the issues. Without the need to maintain the infrastructure, IT resources can be freed from the support model, whereas HR business analyst has become a Tier 2 plus Tier 3 support, which is why redundancy in the IT department is often observed following HR digital transformation.
While there are numerous solutions in the market for optimizing business processes, having a robust HR system remains essential because other tools are not specifically designed for HR. For instance, it is undoubtedly more costly to request an in-house programmer to develop a payroll system from scratch compared to paying for a ready-to-use system of the same quality.
Among the popular HR systems in the market, Workday encompasses all the elements I mentioned earlier: a SaaS model, no-code platform (except for complex integration requirements), an intuitive interface, and frequent and free updates. Additionally, Workday boasts a vibrant user community (known as Workday Community) where users can easily seek answers to their questions and search for configuration documents, which are mostly self-explanatory. Workday leverages this community to gather user feedback, prioritize requirements, and continually enhance the system with each release. According to Workday, approximately 45% of its revenue is reinvested in research and development to continually evolve the industry best practices.
Conclusion
Without technology, HR transformation can be challenging. Regardless of which tool is selected to optimize business processes, it should be used as long as it improves the process. Even companies with limited budgets can leverage free tools like Excel VBA. However, it's important to note that the power and effectiveness of any tool is directly proportional to the investment made by HR. As employees are a company's most valuable asset, investing in the right HR technology can be highly beneficial. This can enhance the user experience of employee self-service, streamline business processes, and ultimately improve engagement scores while lowering turnover rates. As such, it is important for CFOs to understand HR technology is an investment rather than simply an expense.
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