HR digital transformation

HR digital transformation redefines human resources through automation and data-driven processes. This article covers its importance, implementation steps, and real-world examples from companies like Unilever, Cisco, and IBM.

By Douglas Wade, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. What does HR digital transformation mean?

2. Digital transformation in HR examples

3. The steps involved in HR transformation

4. How to Begin HR Digital Transformation

5. To sum up

What does HR digital transformation mean?

One of the hottest topics among HR professionals is HR digital transformation. And it makes sense—digital technology has the power to completely change human resources as we know it. Discussing digital HR transformation is one thing, but actually implementing it is a whole other kettle of fish! We look more into the trend of HR digital transformation in this article. What is it, why is it important, and how can it be put into practice?

The process of converting manual HR procedures into automated, data-driven processes is known as HR digital transformation.

According to Deloitte’s 2017 Human Capital Trends report, HR teams need to take on the two-pronged task of changing human resources operations and reinventing the workforce and how work is carried out.

Therefore, HR digital transformation is a metamorphosis that encompasses enterprises as a whole rather than simply being about HR. Or, if it’s to succeed, at least it should.

Generally speaking, any HR transformation—digital or not—must have a specifically defined goal in mind. It needs to financially make sense.

Businesses still succumb far too frequently to peer pressure. Because all of their rivals “do digital,” they feel compelled to follow suit. However, digitizing certain HR operations just for the sake of doing so is never a smart idea. It results in the use of (expensive) technology that isn’t necessary for the business to function as it should. It goes without saying that this entirely defeats the intent of a change.

Digital transformation in HR examples

There are many examples of how HR is changing (slowly); here are just a few to get you started:

Unilever, for instance, is drastically altering its employment procedure. In an effort to further digitize its hiring process, the company has been playing around with social media, online gaming, and artificial intelligence.

Jeanne Meister provides another example, citing Cisco. The business hosts hackathons to create innovative HR solutions, like Ask Alex and the YouBelong@Cisco app. The former is designed to assist managers and new hires throughout the onboarding process, while the latter is a voice command tool that provides instant responses to a range of HR queries on vacation policies, costs, and other matters.

IBM is renowned for its research and development of innovative digital HR solutions. Among many other things, the American technology company introduced a digital learning platform that provides its staff with a completely personalized experience.

The steps involved in HR transformation

Okay, now for the more serious section. To start off, let’s discuss the different phases of a digital HR transition. Since a company doesn’t suddenly become totally digital from hardly digital. These kinds of adjustments—true metamorphoses, in fact—take time.

Brian Solis distinguishes six phases of digital transformation in his report for Altimeter:

Normal operations: This one should go without saying.
Current and ongoing: The organization’s many experiments foster digital literacy and creativity.
Formalized: This is the point at which business significance becomes relevant. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Leadership shouldn’t support anything if it doesn’t make sense for the company.
Strategic: People know the value of working together. Their combined efforts and insights result in new strategic roadmaps.
Converged: In this scenario, a special team for digital transformation is created to direct the business’s operations and strategy.
Creative and flexible: A new environment is created, and digital transformation has replaced “business as usual.”

One may argue that such a business has adopted a digital outlook. But this involves more than just adopting different digital technologies and platforms. It indicates that they understand and embrace that change is a constant in the twenty-first century and that a company must constantly adapt to that change in order to succeed.

How to Begin HR Digital Transformation

Although everything seems reasonable in theory, taking the first step toward an HR digital transformation can appear very difficult. So, here are a few essentials for an effective start:

Clearly define your objective.
Obtain everyone’s support.
Avoid overly complicating things.
Set ideas in order of priority.
Evaluate the work.
Culture matters.

Let’s take a look at each one separately:

Clearly define your goal

Again, set a well-defined goal that makes sense from an organizational standpoint before starting out on a major transformative HR journey. This goal will typically be to resolve a staff member’s problem.

Because of this, the worker, as the end user, should always be the center of attention during an HR transformation process. This is another reason why, before implementing any new technology, you should let your employees test it out for themselves.

Obtain support from all parties

All involved parties, from staff members to top management and everyone in between, are included in this. A digital HR transformation will impact the entire organization, so all help is welcome.

Steer clear of superfluous details

As we mentioned previously in our essay on “What is Digital HR,” this is still accurate. Always begin modestly and simply. Examine which aspects of your HR procedures—payroll management, learning and development, onboarding and inboarding, recruitment and preselection—could benefit from a digital transformation. Discuss this with your staff as well as the C-suite executives. Find out from them what they believe ought to come first.

Set ideas in order of priority

There will definitely be plenty of ideas generated by this. Sort them according to importance and work. The first refers to how the ideas’ digitalization would affect business, while the second is about the amount of money and time it would take to actually make the ideas digital.

Begin with the ideas that need little work but have a big impact. They’ll get you started right away and help you in creating the business argument for digital HR.

Evaluate the results of work

While experimenting with and putting digital technology into practice is commendable, it is not very business-wise if the outcomes are not examined. Therefore, we must evaluate what functions well and what doesn’t.

Ultimately, the sole means by which we may progress is by employing technical solutions to effectively address real-world issues.

Culture matters

Digital technology on its own cannot bring about an HR revolution, not to mention the digital revolution of a whole company. It has as much, if not more, to do with how each person involved thinks. And your business’ culture is tied directly to that.

A successful transition requires a digital mentality in the broadest sense, starting with the new hires and continuing up to the C-level and your current personnel.

To sum up

To conclude on a serious note, regardless of your preference, an HR digital transformation is not optional. HR departments and companies can’t afford to fall behind in a world where digitalization is happening quickly and where consumers and employees alike don’t know any different.

Take a look at the actions taken by the Timken Company employees, for instance. In order to simplify multiple processes, they made the decision to relocate their human resources activities to a cloud-based HR system. These procedures included hiring, payroll, and succession planning, as examples.

In turn, the organization experienced improvements such as shortened turnaround times for operational reports, streamlined access to business analytics, and greater employee satisfaction and participation. HR digital transformation doesn’t seem so terrible now, does it?

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