What I’ve learned implementing HR technology

What I’ve learned implementing HR technology

Kaitlin DeNuzzia Technology Busines Partner

As you probably know if you are reading this, HR technology is growing at a rapid pace. Everywhere you turn there is a new HR tech entering the space and we certainly know that to be true here at Pontoon. At Pontoon, we are constantly exploring the newest and greatest technologies in order to stay abreast of the forever changing market and in order to provide our clients best in class innovative technologies. Through my time on Pontoon’s Emerging Technology team, I have learned A LOT about what it takes to implement HR technology at major global companies. And let’s be frank, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. So, what have I learned? Here are a few highlights…

Change Management

There’s nothing more frustrating, or harder to overcome than a client who wants to implement new “innovative” technology but doesn’t want to invest in the time or resources required. While this may not be ground-breaking, I have discovered one of the most important factors to successfully implementing HR Tech (really any major project) is Change Management. Change Management is one of those blurry lines, who really owns it? Who is responsible for creating a change management plan? While the technology team may not always be the ones to do so, I have learned how to navigate this often sticky situation. What might that be? Find your champion. Find the one person who is equally invested in successfully seeing the project to fruition. Partner together closely and lean on your champion when you reach the inevitable hurdles.

Technical Hurdles

Where do I start? Technical hurdles. Perhaps one of the most common roadblocks we run into. Ever started sweating when the word “integration” was mentioned? I certainly have. Integration is one of the trickiest conversations to navigate. Let’s not forget we are talking about the HR world here. HR immediately raises a red flag (every colour flag for that matter) when any conversation about information flowing from one system to another commences. While I certainly do not want to minimize the importance of properly scoping an integration involving HR data, I think it’s important to weigh the risk and the rewards and most importantly, what you are missing out on if you do not integrate your processes.

The climate of recruiting is changing. New generations are coming in faster than ever and are expecting faster than ever processes. You guys thought us Millennials had high expectations, take a look at the Gen Z’ers. They were literally born with an iPhone in their hand. They are not going to wait for these global Fortune 500 companies to contemplate the risk of integrating their ATS to their career site for example. Gen Z expects instant satisfaction. If it’s taking you 30 – 45 days to get a candidate through the funnel, you better think again. Those Gen Z’ers are going to be long gone. Millennials and Gen Z are the generations of the future and not the distant future. Make sure your company is prepared and doing what is necessary to keep up with the pace and expectations of these generations.

Narrowing down to the actual issue

Last and certainly not least. If you only take away one thing from this novel (thanks for sticking around), make it this- If you don’t partner with your project team to successfully narrow down and identify the actual issue at hand, then neither of the above previous points are even relevant as you are wasting your time implementing a technology that is not actually going to solve the problem. When a client comes to us with a problem or suggests a technology they want to implement, the first question we ask is WHY? What is the actual issue? What are you trying to solve? Once you can narrow down to those nitty-gritty details, you will likely discover that what you initially wanted is in fact not what you actually need. So, be pushy and don’t be afraid to ask questions, lots of questions. In the end, everyone will thank you!

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