A strategic HRIS allows you to manage information for all your different locations and teams, covering everything from onboarding to offboarding. By automating and streamlining administrative tasks, you will have more time to focus on what matters most – your people.
So, here are 8 ways to maximise your HRIS strategy:
Evaluate your needs and plans for future growth
First off, there are two key questions:
- What do you want your HRIS software to do?
- What must the new system do that your current HRIS cannot manage?
Answering these will help to focus you on exactly what you need.
It may be that you want to eliminate manual processes, tasks and paperwork, or you may need a new system that seamlessly integrates payroll software.
But remember, don’t just think about what you need today. Ensure that you tie in your needs with the business’ goals. If growth is on the cards, you’ll want something to facilitate and support your business as it expands.
Establish a budget
By scoping out the features that are most critical for your teams and the company, you can model what the costs and cost-benefits of each feature are:
- Would employee self-service cut down on tracking PTO requests?
- Does leadership need access to advanced reporting to make data-driven people decisions?
- Do you want to improve the experience for your new hires with structured onboarding?
Send out a Request for Proposal
Do your research!
Industry news, findings, reports, HR blogs, reviews and your HR peers are all invaluable. What are people saying about best-in-class HRIS vendors?
Shortlist your vendors and get them to give a presentation to both you and your team. This way, you can make sure that the vendors have aligned their systems’ capabilities with your current and future plans while staying within the established budget and timeline for implementation.
Invest in relationships
By creating a great relationship with the supplier, you will be on track for a successful and seamless set up. By identifying key stakeholders within your business you will be able to build appropriate project teams. Communication is key!
Your vendor should have a wealth of experience across industries like yours and will be able to support you, advising you on what will work best for your business.
Next up, implementation kick-off.
Work with your chosen vendor and your internal and external stakeholders to establish a multi-phased approach to implementation. This ensures that sufficient time and resources are allocated at each phase, and day-to-day work can continue without major disruptions.
Phases may include IT and connectivity, security, systems integration, data migration, testing, super-user training, and usability testing. Communicate the progress of the implementation to sponsors and stakeholders on a regular basis.
Communicate the HRIS company-wide rollout.
Plan your communications to the business; that way, it won’t be a surprise and people can start preparing. Think about whom you need to update, are there ‘super-users’, stakeholders and end-users that need different information?
Think about the information you need to provide for technical support, operational support, and end-user training. Remember, nobody likes surprises at work; keeping people in the loop will ensure a smoother transition.
Identify challenges and provide support.
Once your HRIS system is up and running, have additional resources in place to support late or slow adopters. Put a 2-way communication system in place to gather feedback from super-users, stakeholders and end-users. Continue to work with the vendor, alongside internal and external resources to make any necessary technical adjustments.
Customer support journey
Think implementation is the end? Think again. Now begins your customer support experience!
A great vendor focuses on customers’ needs and will keep in touch to understand how customers are getting on.
Now’s your time to communicate how well the HRIS is working for your business. Be open about any teething problems, and speak to your customer support team about how to get the best out of your shiny new HRIS.
Excellent customer support is key to choosing the perfect HRIS, but how can you spot it before buying? Fortunately, there are signposts in the procurement process, like:
- An implementation schedule designed to support your goals
- In-person or virtual meetings focused on your requirements – no one-size-fits-all!
- They frequently communicate with Top Tips and product updates
- They offer ongoing training and best practice recommendations
- Support includes in-app chat and email support, among others
- Sapling, (you know, our HRIS we’re always going on about) gives you all these customer services features and more.
One customer said: “Support during the sale, contract and implementation have been fantastic. All questions answered, and plans put in place to make sure we launch when planned.”
Sapling can enhance your business and take the weight off your HR team. Speak to one of our experts to see how.
Written by Mara Swann Mara has a passion for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion across global workplaces and hopes to inspire learners to focus on their own careers with self-directed learning content.
