Research highlights realities of HR transformation

Business agility has emerged as a key driver in the technology transformation of HR, according to research among senior HR professionals in Europe.

Fosway Group, the HR technology analyst, and HRN, organisers of the HR Tech conferences and exhibitions, has released joint research into the realities of HR across corporate Europe.

The results demonstrated an ongoing focus in HR of transforming its strategy and systems. Increasing the organisation's performance and profitability (91%) continues to be the biggest overall driver, but enhancing business agility (87%) has risen significantly to become joint second, alongside improving customer service (87%).

The rise of cloud-based technologies continues as more businesses move away from on-premise and hosted HR systems, with 73% identifying the benefits of cloud solutions as their top driver for changing HR systems.

Overall focus for investment is on HR technology (79%) and HR skills, with 30% of organisations expecting to see a decline in HR headcount overall. Nearly half (48%) of respondents identified employees' user experience as critically important in technology selection.

However, with only 24% of organisations saying that HR technology frequently or always has a positive impact, there is still significant room for improvement and innovation among technology vendors' solutions.

David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group, said the research showed there are still significant barriers to achieving a transformative impact. "The promise of cloud solutions including lower IT costs, faster innovation and better user experiences are becoming a reality for many organisations," he said.

The research also found that only 35% of European organisations work with standardised HR systems and have additional layers of complexity to contend with, such as multiple languages, cultures and regulatory requirements.

Wilson told Personnel Today: "For all the talk of centralised HR or shared service functions, because of the complexity of the organisations, most organisations are actually decentralised and therefore what that has done is it has led to fragmentation from a systems perspective."

Figures revealed that 60% of organisations had a consistent technology approach to performance management, 45% for their core HR system, 40% for talent management and succession planning, and 40% for recruitment.

Peter Russell of HRN said: "This is an exciting time in HR technology. But making informed decisions and understanding the impact of new and existing solutions is key to an organisation's success."

The research was carried out among 500 senior European HR professionals.