4 Disruptive Trends Set to Hit the 2015 HRMS Market

Innovation, innovation, innovation… the technology wave is seemingly endless and now that HR is up and surfing that wave (we were, admit it, slow starters) there’s a constant stream of advances, refinements and disruptive trends that regularly invigorate our approach to HRMS and people management.

Well-known industry pundit and commentator Josh Bersin (of Bersin by Deloitte, the HR consultancy, strategy and research organisation) has recently cited a few figures that give an idea of the size and scale of the HR technology industry:

• The market as a whole is worth more than $15 billion in software alone.

• The top 50 HR technology investment deals this year were over $560 million.

• The top 50 learning and educational tech deals were over $800 million

With investment like that, the surge of change is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. Here are just four of the key disruptive HRMS trends that you ignore at your peril, whether you’re an HRMS vendor or a customer.

Disruptive HRMS Trend #1: Self-Service Is No Longer an Added Extra

In the past, we’ve talked about self-service functionality as if it were somehow additional to the core HRMS system. That enabling staff to access their own records, paychecks, personal details, etc. was some sort of nice-to-have bonus feature. However, the shift is already upon us: these days, everything is self-service. Access is still determined by necessity but the success of a particular system is increasingly judged by the ease of use by managers and employees. Self-service has become a starting point in system design and not a bolt-on.

Disruptive HRMS Trend #2: The Same Goes for Mobile

Another figure tossed around by Bersin is that mobile devices and smartphones outnumber PCs and laptops by a factor of four or more. Face it, the way managers, employees and prospective hires access the system isn’t just changing, it’s already changed. *The mobile version or complementary app for your HRMS shouldn’t be an afterthought, it’s practically the centrepiece of design specification.

Disruptive HRMS Trend #3: Collaborative Tools Are Sidestepping Traditional Hierarchies

As HRMS systems are being used on an almost daily basis by the majority of employees – learning management, employee feedback, performance management – there’s a shift taking place in which these systems are becoming a means of communication between employees. Collaborative learning and working systems are putting the HRMS and associated applications at the heart of how we work day to day and are less and less about periodic top-down interventions. Your system’s design should facilitate cross-disciplinary consultation and ‘anti-silo’ practices.

Disruptive HRMS Trend #4: A Change of Aim

There’s something of a paradigm shift taking place concerning the whole purpose of HRMS software. No longer is the aim to merely provide an excellent system of record or employee data storehouse. That remains essential, of course, but in 2015 it will be a given. These days, the HRMS is an employee engagement tool which means that factors like user interface design and gamification (just making the HRMS ‘fun to use’) are becoming core features.