HR TECHNOLOGY     SHARED SERVICES

Singapore - Technology solutions may be important to HR leaders' implementation of human capital management (HCM) initiatives, but the lack of support from the IT department will hinder any system's success rate.

The challenges HR typically faces when using or implementing new IT solutions are whether the choice of vendor or product would meet the business needs and the scalability and longevity of the selected software. "Will it last and serve their purposes for future or will it become a redundant investment?" is the question HR professionals constantly ask themselves, says Ritu Bharadwaj, project manager for ObTech Asia Pacific. But what HR may not realise is the level of collaboration an IT department has with its fellow support function in the company will also impact any HR system's success.

Especially with many learning and corporate programmes now placed online for easier employee accessibility, the IT department is being asked to do more. Bharadwaj says HR practitioners who do not understand any possible technology limitation or have "unrealistic expectations" of their IT managers will cause a possible conflict. She adds that the lack of communication between the two functions will lead to a "disjoint ownership" of the HRM/IT project.

Bharadwaj says effective collaboration must start at the very beginning of solution selection process. HR and IT must form a project team with representatives from both sides to manage the implementation phases together. The two project leaders must define the scope, the requirements and the business case for automation jointly, she explains. "This approach disallows communication gaps and misunderstandings on roles and accountabilities".       

While the onus of maintaining security controls and risks avoidance lies with IT, Bharadwaj says HR should do their part in ensuring employees are well aware of the company's security policies. Companies can similarly sign data privacy documents with their employees that state the essential IT usage breaches and the related penalties as an additional measure, she says. This prevents any current or terminated employees from abusing the system.

But Bharadwaj doesn't recommend HR practitioners to start monitoring the online activities of employees during office hours as an added security measure. Other than causing possible work disgruntlement, it nullifies employee empowerment. Instead, Bharadwaj suggests companies to inform employees of any security controls such as blocking access to social networking sites at work and workplace privacy policies upfront.

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