3 Benefits of HRMS Software to Your Growing Business

You’re growing your business. You’re expanding into new markets, diversifying into new services and products. While others are still operating with a caution suitable to an economic desert, you’re being bold, taking risks and it’s paying off. But as your business grows, so does the number of people you need to run it. You’re leaving that “small business” label behind and in the process are coming face to face with a number of large HR issues. Maybe you’re recruiting whole new teams of people. Maybe you’re overhauling your benefits management. Maybe maintaining good levels of employee engagement can no longer be done by dropping through the office occasionally and throwing a great Christmas party.

You’re leaving that “small business” label behind and in the process are coming face to face with a number of large HR issues.

If you’ve got this far as a business, you probably already have some HR IT systems: a system to manage timekeeping, perhaps a payroll calculator, even a database for your employee records. It’s possible you have an HRMS already but if you’re moving up a league, you need to be sure that it’s fit for future purpose (most enterprise software becomes obsolete after 5 – 7 years). Certainly, as your company grows, you’ll benefit from something more complete, more integrated; implementing or upgrading to a modern HRMS holds a number of advantages and there are benefits to making the leap now.

The Cloud

Virtually all of the big players in the HRMS market offers a cloud version of their product. Add to that the recent emergence of dozens of smaller vendors with excellent cloud packages and you are guaranteed to find a system fit for your needs if you adopt a strategic selection process. The cloud makes upgrades painless (unnoticed even), allows for off-site data storage, carries lower – usually pay as you go – charging, and if necessary, makes it much easier to switch vendors. Some pundits predict by 2016, seven out of ten HR IT systems will be cloud-based, we may be practically there already.

Better User Experience

With increasing gamification and online interfaces, there is increasingly similarity between employee and customer transactions. Modern systems allow enhanced HRMS self-service options, effectively outsourcing maintenance of personal data to the person. When an employee log in to the corporate HR system, they respond best to the familiar. By offering a consumer experience, they are able to navigate the system intuitively and update personal details, leave requests and time sheets. What’s more, with the ongoing popularity of BYOD, most HRMS will allow some form of mobile access through an employees device.

Consolidation and Integration

Combining your many and several HR systems under the umbrella of a unified HRMS makes good sense. Tying together your learning management, recruitment, onboarding, time and attendance and even payroll allows for, a) the use of a single employee database (no more multiple system updating) and, b) a single point of access to all your people data which has an impact on your reporting capabilities. Analytics is still a relatively new development in the HRMS market and one of the tipped HRMS trends for this year. The more data the reporting functionality can grasp, the more sophisticated the insights it can produce for your business decisions. Particularly useful for talent and succession management, most of the big providers now offer integrated analytics with their HRMS.

For consistent and long-lasting business growth, the right tools and strategies are required. As you pass the tipping point and enter that aimed-for period of rapid expansion, you have to be sure to take your people with you. For both the long-servers who form the knowledge backbone of your workforce and the influx of newbies, the right HRMS can take much of the day to day pain out of managing your expansion.