IT for Human Resources and HR Development
Whether your industry is defined as financial services, hospitality, film, broadcasting, or any other field you depend upon human resources (HR) to turn a profit. However, in 2020 HR management has become more challenging than ever before and something must be done to protect this valuable asset while making “it” more efficient. Once again we look to outside IT support. Below is everything you need to know.
4 Reasons Why Your Organization Should Integrate IT Support for Better Human Resources Development
IT Can Bridge Gaps Between On and Offsite Personnel
Even before 2020 organizations found it difficult to merge on-site staff with remote contractors, vendors, and anyone else in the supply chain who does not have a desk in your commercial space. The gap has grown this year, and all of the Zoom conferences in the world won’t cut it as we move forward into the next.
IT support can bring in both hardware and cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) to ensure superior team collaboration. Through productivity tools such as MS Office 365 staff and project team members will be able to communicate and collaborate in real time and access workloads from anywhere in the world. IT support can assist with securing scalable licensing agreements, integration, training, and management as needed.
On-premises and virtual office environments no longer need to be looked at as separate things – not when you have IT support to merge it all together.
IT Can Create Better Efficiencies in Scheduling and Overall HR Management
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning allows computer systems to learn and adapt automatically based on data analysis to provide more refined solutions to a number of operational needs. In this context, AI can help with staff scheduling in addition to a number of repetitive administrative tasks that HR spends far too much time doing. It can be employed to take on recruit screening, payroll management, staff communications (i.e. automated answers to standard questions, etc.) and more. AI can automate the mundane workload of your HR department which will allow them to focus more on the human element of their job – the people that make up your company.
However, purchasing off-the-shelf AI-based HR software won’t allow you to plug and play. Integration of software requires a large amount of data to work efficiently with pre-installed algorithms. This data then requires secure and proper storage and management. In addition, software management must be paired with the right computing technologies. Simply put, to truly leverage the HR benefits of AI and machine learning you need outside support from an IT expert.
IT Can Support (Not Replace) Human Resources
Above we stated how better IT infrastructure can make life more efficient for your HR department. The same is true for the rest of your human resources – your staff – whether they work in the mailroom (is that still a thing?) or corner office.
This is one point that needs to be made very clear.
Acceptance and adoption of technology in a corporate environment is often met with resistance. For decades the general public has been told that tech is out to steal their jobs. As a result, staff often looks at IT consultants as the enemy, assuming that they will recommend sweeping automation that will make certain positions redundant and no longer necessary. This is simply not the case. Instead, what effective IT support offers, is the automation of tasks that they (your own employees) find to be a waste of time, time that could be better spent on work that actually matters and supports revenue goals. IT can then make the new and more meaningful workload more efficient – providing staff with the hardware, IoT, and software tools they need to get the job done. All of this leads to far greater employee satisfaction, which leads us to the next point.
IT Can Create Better Employee Satisfaction
The logic between the integration of better IT infrastructure and overall employee satisfaction should now be clear. However, we would like to share a more tangible example by once again looking to MS Office 365 and one tool within the suite that you may not know about – MyAnalytics.
The MyAnalytics platform actually helps staff work less (bear with us) and therefore find more time to focus on the work that actually matters and, by extension, get more downtime. This leads to greater workplace and overall career satisfaction, which is a cycle the also serves your own productivity goals. How does MyAnalytics accomplish this? For one, through data-driven insights that help staff make more informed decisions. More importantly, the platform helps build better work patterns that not only consider efficiency but human resource concerns as well. These patterns are broken down into the following categories:
- Focus – measures uninterrupted time to complete a task.
- Network – evaluates how involved someone is in managing their network.
- Collaboration – evaluates productivity of meetings.
- Wellbeing – measures the time afforded to disconnect from tasks and “recharge”.
Armed with this information, HR and project managers can collaborate to build new work patterns for staff members. For example, a low score for “Focus” may indicate a need to allocate more hours to the category. To accomplish this, the MyAnalytics platform will make suggestions. In this case it may indicate a need to mute push notifications (which is an interruption to workflow) by setting a team member’s network status to “Do Not Disturb”. But one of the most impressive HR benefits of work patten insights is that it helps both teams and individuals reduce stress, anxiety, and burnout. As a result, work will be more enjoyable which will ultimately decrease turnover while increasing productivity and creativity. It’s a win-win for HR and financial stakeholders alike.
You can learn more about this MS tool here, but it’s just one example of how better IT infrastructure can push human resources development into the next decade (and beyond) with greater success.
You’ll notice above that we stated that IT “can” (vs “will”) accomplish great things for your HR department and staff alike. That’s because in order to leverage these benefits you need to secure outside IT support versus replying on your in-house IT team who is already tasked to the gills with general operations. An expert IT firm such as SAV Technology also provides access to the tools (hardware and software) you need to accomplish this growth in HR and more. Contact SAV Technology today for a friendly conversation about your company’s goals.