Why Using Technology in the Future of HR Is Important

Let’s discover why technology plays a vital role in the HR industry’s future. We’ll delve into the HR industry’s history and future trends to find out comprehensive explanations.

The Future of HR Technologies: Integrating Automation for More Success

These days, probably more than ever, HR technology remains a major factor in the industry’s transformation. To keep up with the demands of the future, the HR industry needs to consider using new delivery methods and technologies, which obviously won’t happen without its challenges.

In this article, we shall examine the history of HR technologies — and the future trends to stay aware of. Having this information should help you to be prepared for whatever comes next in the future of HR.

A little spoiler: a central role in the future of HR will play automation. But we’ll talk about it later on. Let’s first examine the history of HR technology and how it evolved over decades.

The history of HR technology

When speaking about the history of human resources management, we can define at least 5 different development stages:

Source: AIHR

• Movement 1: Manual record-keeping, attendance monitoring, and time tracking Prior to the 1950s: The first HR technology might be characterized as manual filing systems used for employee records and punch card systems for time and attendance tracking. IBM’s “IBM Punch Card” made them a major player in this age. In the 1940s, automated clocks improved precision in tracking employee time and wages, especially for larger organizations relying on costly computerized systems primarily for payroll.
• Movement 2: Moving into the 1950s to 1980s, paper-based systems evolved into transactional databases with the advancement of mainframe computers. This period gave rise to HR Information Systems (HRIS), laying the foundation for many modern HR technologies. The 1980s introduced enterprise resource planning, driven by the need for client-server technologies dominated by companies like IBM and SAP.
• Movement 3: From the 1980s to the 1990s, the rise of personal computers increased the processing speed and efficiency of HR services, making HR solutions more affordable for small to medium-sized businesses. However, remote access was limited due to on-site network constraints. The first fully integrated client-server HCM system, PeopleSoft, emerged in 1989.
  
• Movement 4: The late 1990s marked the advent of web-based HR technologies, ushering in a new era. Remote access and advancements in data storage led to employee self-service technologies, sophisticated reporting, and analytical capabilities, revolutionizing HR systems as such. Self-service portals were widely utilized to lower the cost of HR administration and were integrated into corporate intranet solutions. The creation of the first job board by Monster in 1994 and of applicant tracking systems in 1998 was a significant turning point that would fundamentally alter recruitment practices. Many HR practices were becoming more technologically enabled.
  
• Movement 5: From the 2000s to the present, Social Media, Cloud, and Software as a Service: Early in the new millennium, social media altered HR, especially in terms of hiring and company branding strategies. And as public ranking platforms emerged, employees now had a way to evaluate their employers more effectively.

The future of HR technology

Based on the history of how HR history evolved and developed, we can try to draw conclusions on what’s coming next.

According to recent market research and predictions, key trends to expect in the nearest future are:

• Ease of onboarding: Technology can help automate such essential HR processes as job posting, resume screening, and interview scheduling. This can, therefore, assist HR personnel locate the finest candidates for the job, while saving them a significant amount of time.
• Performance management: While this one is rather obvious, this point is still increasingly important. Goal-setting, progress monitoring, and feedback-giving can all be automated with the use of technology — thanks to which HR experts can manage performance more skillfully.
• Email personalization. HR professionals can utilize email automation software for hyper-personalized bulk emails,which can help them in automating communication, making informed decisions through A/B testing, staying adaptable to trends, and enhance user experience through continuous analysis of preferences. All of these factors play a critical role in successful HR management.
• Benefits administration: Unsurprisingly, technology can help with employee benefit enrollment, claim processing, and spending management. In addition to saving time and money, this can enhance the working environment for HR professionals.
• Training and development: Software solutions can help deliver training materials, track studying progress, and measure feedback delivery — with all processes happening seamlessly and in one dedicated place.
• Compliance: Last but not least, technology helps simplify compliance by making it easy to monitor employee attendance, time, and adherence to local policies and laws. This can, expectedly, assist HR managers in making sure their companies abide by all applicable regulations.

Ways to bring the employee experience up to date

Employee experience is a central element of efficient human resources management. To implement it properly, focus on the following best practices:

1. Combine several data sources. Rely on several data systems (iPaaS systems) to successfully bring data from multiple sources to one, all-inclusive centralized location. This will drive your future information strategy, enhancing data management across the company.
2. Dismantle data silos. For creating a comprehensive 360-degree perspective of your workforce, you should destroy any data silos. This enables software to comprehend a person’s requirements, preferences, and routines in their entirety.
3. Customize the employee experience using data. For data to be helpful, it must be comprehensive. Use data as a vital tool for personalizing all types of employee-facing communication, including performance evaluation, onboarding, and employee experience facets. HR software can help you create highly adjustable paths for every employee, thus adding an extra layer of personalization to all your campaigns.

HR Future Staff Writer.