The HRMS industry is going through a lot of innovation and change. From on premise software to cloud based solutions and now mobile first systematic strategies; each era of HRIS systems has had its own pros and cons. While traditional on-premise systems forced people to be chained to their desks, with increasing technological advancements, on-demand solutions are now a reality giving rise to an exponential increase in the number of apps in the HR domain.
While some consultants think integrated HR systems are yesterday’s news, there are many benefits that organizations can realize from using one robust system versus many disparate systems. Here are some articles that might help you in evaluating the pros and cons of an integrated system.
HR Systems Integration Is a Costly Problem
“HR has to referee the many vendors so they play nice with each other”
This article dates back to 2011 but Bill Goodwin’s take on it still rings true. One of the frustrations of HR managers in large organizations is having to play referee to all the vendors whose software is used in the organization. Some systems may not sync and data incompatibility can be a problem.
Integrating talent management and core HR systems valuable but tricky
“Having real time data and analytics to help analyze information is key”
Linda Rosencrance’s article deals with the importance of having one version of truth across the organization in order to provide a real time comprehensive picture for decision makers. One of the problems organizations deal with is employee data can differ between the system used to hire and the system used to evaluate performance and manage the employee day-to-day. Talent Management systems that are built on good core HR foundations allow for real time data analytics and can even be used to find internal experts rather than searching for them externally.
Why integrated talent management is the future of HR
According to Michel Stokvis, an integrated talent model can help HR to justify their seat at the management table. Integrating tools that work in a collaborative manner will help businesses to cater to new age working styles by incorporating gig economy workers in HR’s workforce planning strategies.
13 Pros and Cons of an Integrated HR and Payroll System
This article by Sravani lists all the pros and cons of an integrated system including the reduction of manual entry and duplication errors and the ability to provide one source of truth for the organization’s employee records.
HR Payroll System Integration and Benefits
This article by Kirsten Silven-Hoell explains integration of payroll and HR in layman’s terms highlighting some of the benefits such as the reduction of paper work, the automation of updates, and the provision of accurate reports.
The decision to buy an integrated HR system really depends on your organization’s requirements and the overall strategy towards talent management. As the Software Advice Buyer’s Guide states, there are 4 kinds of buyers:
- Those who like to streamline HR tasks
- Those who want to boost efficiency when recruiting and hiring candidates
- Those who would like to manage a large pool of employees working in shifts
- Those who would like to develop their workforce
No one system will be able to do all the things you want so selection will depend on your priorities. Big players in the industry will try to buy or acquire the smaller apps to complete their suite and extend their range of functionality. The impact to you as the customer of an acquired company may be rocky during the transition but benefit you in the long run as more functionality becomes available.
However, we tend to subscribe to Patrick Gallenberg’s theory from his article Education Institutions Adopting Integrated HR Systems: “Imagine taking 100 parts from different cars to build your own vehicle. You could probably make it work, but why not just get a car that was built as one seamless unit and is ready to roll.”
But as the saying goes, there really is ‘no one size fits all’ solution. The best advice anyone can give you is “reflect on the needs of your organization and choose something that helps in reaching your goals right now”.