Cloud HRMS Implementation: 4 Complexities to Get Your Head Around

You’ve chosen to go cloud with your new HRMS. It’s the right system for you, with the right features, at the right price, and what’s more, the right flexibility for your business growth. You’ve even taken into account the security worries of the cloud HRMS naysayers and you’re happy that your data is safe with this provider. So, as ever, now the work begins: HRMS implementation. Of course, one of the benefits of a cloud HRMS is easier implementation: you don’t worry about hardware, that’s no longer your headache. All you need is a connection to the Internet of sufficient bandwidth, right? But there are one or two cloud-specific issues that you’ll need to factor in to your implementation strategy.

BYOD Policies

The chances are, one of your reasons for choosing a cloud HRMS is the ease of mobile access that it offers your users. But with mobile HRMS access come mobile devices and inevitably your people will want to use their own tablets and smartphones and so on, meaning you’ll need to consider a BYOD (bring your own device) policy.

Security Awareness

Mobile access also throws up some unique security issues. Suddenly, instead of a single closed environment, your HR data is going to be held on hundreds or even thousands of devices, many of which – let’s face it – will be lost or mislaid each year. You’re going to have to build in some data and device security awareness to your roll-out program.

A Collaborative Shift

This will all be part of the usual stakeholder engagement that you undertake as part of any corporate initiative or software implementation in which you establish the needs and concerns of differing user groups and tailor your activity to make sure they can leverage the new HRMS fully from day one. However, a cloud HRMS presents you with an opportunity for a little more cultural impact than usual. The combination of employee and manager self-service functionality and the 24/7 mobile access can present some genuinely new modes of working and can be used as part of a shift toward a more socially collaborative workplace. In other words, your new HRMS could be used as an organizational change agent.

A Closer Relationship with Your HRMS Provider

Finally, a simple but fundamental point. By taking the system off-premises and putting it at least one step removed from the control of your in-house IT team, there is a much greater need for close working between that in-house team and the cloud provider on issues such as data cleansing and migration - often the point in an implementation project where budget-busting delays are experienced.

Quick and easy installation is a major incentive to opt for a cloud HRMS, allowing you to devote more of your HRMS implementation energies to more people-focused issues, but the process is not without its complexities. Complexities that you cannot ignore.