For any organisation, finding the most highly qualified, talented people to continue to fuel the organisation`s success - especially in the age of the Internet workforce and the e-business revolution - is a continuous challenge.
Gerhard Stegman, Oracle South Africa divisional manager, says equipping a dynamic, diverse workforce with the tools and information it needs for maximum productivity and job satisfaction is a formidable task.
Oracle Corp is the world`s largest provider of software for e-business applications and runs a significantly large and expanding global workforce, hiring more than 200 people per week in the US alone.
"While most companies with a large or growing workforce strive to manage the administrative activities required of the staff complement as effectively as possible, only a minority attempt to reduce costs in this area," says Stegman.
"As companies strive for excellence in recruiting and staffing, training, compensation and benefits and international workforce management, so it becomes increasingly important to automate the routine, necessary, `non-value-add` functions and so save costs and leverage an organisation`s HR expertise in more meaningful ways."
Increasingly, notes Stegman, HR managers are turning to technology to assist them in reaching their goals. These include:
Delivering 100% Internet-based self-service tools for all managers and employees
Automating virtually every routine transaction via self-service and workflow automation
Consolidating multiple disparate HR systems
Empowering managers with tools to increase employee productivity and people-related decision-making
Reducing costs of administration in order to contribute to profit margins
Increasing ratios of HR administrative staff to employees, and
Changing the profile of the HR staff away from administration and with an increased focus on programme design, management and consulting.
"Clearly, in the e-business era, HR representatives` and managers` roles must be transformed," he adds.
"HR professionals should have more capacity to engage in strategic initiatives focused on recruitment, training and retention.
"By using the corporate intranet, HR managers can be tied to the needs of the business, and they will continue to deliver their services faster, more interactively and more cost effectively."
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