As technology continues to advance and dominate both the social and corporate environments, how can HR keep up with this new connected landscape?
A recently released survey has found that investment in HR technology continues to play a significant role in department strategies and planning. This comes as no big surprise in today’s technology-centred world, where over 300 new apps are created every day and social media has stolen the limelight from traditional marketing. But how are companies utilising their HR departments and adapting their strategies to incorporate this new technology?
The 2013 HR Service Delivery and Technology Survey, conducted by global processional services company Towers Watson, looked at 1,025 companies from across the globe, with over half (578) based in the Asia Pacific region. The survey analysed the breakdown for different strategies and technological reliance for HR on a global level, and examined the changes to HR planning, revealing the increasing reliance and use of technology for HR in APAC.
What’s the plan?
One thing that is clear from the survey results is that HR is transforming. Over a third of companies surveyed revealed plans to make significant changes to their HR structure within the coming year. Various reasons reflect standard practices and continuing economic hurdles. In a global economy still struggling to regain its strength, it is only to be expected that one in four of the companies planning to make changes to their HR strategies are doing so in order to save on costs. Others profess to be pursuing a change in business strategy altogether, while nearly half are looking to improve quality. The overwhelming majority, however, seek to expand their operational efficiency, with 73% of the companies planning HR changes citing this as their motivation for change. With this focus on internal productivity, companies are seeking new and technologically-integrated means for achieving change and optimisation in their HR departments.
This focus on technology investment is particularly pronounced in Asia-Pacific companies. In this region, the changes made to HR departments centre primarily on technological advancement, with spending and departmental budgeting allowing more and more for the integration and use of technology. Although companies have continued to make cost reductions in other HR areas, the survey reveals that 80% of APAC companies will either increase or maintain their spending and investments in technology for HR.
HR at your fingertips
While many companies continue to examine new and improved HR management systems and implementation, the newest trend is mobile access. As more and more companies begin to catch up with technological trends, the ubiquitous use and near-universal reliance on handheld devices provide obvious integration possibilities. Nearly half of surveyed companies offer smartphone mobile access to their employees, with nearly a third of all companies either providing tablets or encouraging a “Bring Your Own Device” policy. iPhones and iPads still dominate the corporate market for supported HR mobile devices, 60% and 51%, respectively, but regardless of brand it is clear that companies are following social trends and striving to keep up with technology.
With this increased use of mobility and smartphones, it follows that several HR-centred applications have begun to emerge. The actual utilisation of these mobile apps, however, remains quite low. Despite the focus on technology, only 13% of companies in APAC use mobile apps for regular HR services or departmental purposes. While these figures are expected to rise, it will most likely be at a slower pace; only 13% of companies expressed any plans for implementing or offering HR specific apps within the next year.
Focus and scope
For nearly a third of APAC companies, change is on the horizon as thirty-one per cent of surveyed companies intending to implement strategic HR plans within the coming year. Technology will undoubtedly play a major role planning and focus, especially considering that approximately two thirds of the region’s companies plan to centre their strategies on training and development.
Robert Zampetti, Director of Towers Watson’s Asia Pacific HR Service Delivery Practice commented, “Without question, HR service delivery is in a state of change,” further explaining that, “In the end, it means using new concepts, approaches and technology to provide better HR services.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
