Businesses of all sizes are starting to realise how cloud computing can be a useful addition to their human resources (HR) functions.
"All companies have people that they need to manage effectively and retain, and they can do this through technology," says Piilo Software's CEO, Phil L"otter. "With rapid improvement of IT infrastructure across Africa, new technologies are making automation more affordable. Cloud computing is levelling the playing field in terms of HR technology, which has traditionally only been accessible to big corporates."
Karen Schmikl, business manager for Sage Online Payroll, agrees. "Cloud adoption and usage is definitely growing across all sectors, and is not only being used by small to medium-sized companies anymore. It is driven from the top and the bottom."
The visibility and financial benefits associated with cloud computing makes this a discussion to be had by executive and operational management, as they have the final say about what technology to utilise across the business, L"otter continues.
"We have seen that 46% of the buyers are executive management and only 7% of the purchases are made by IT management."
Schmikl describes the HR industry as a market leader in developing cloud solutions, noting that cloud solutions offer many ease-of-use and accessibility benefits. "HR is becoming more and more of an important strategic core function and companies are moving towards implementing cloud solutions that will enable them to engage with employees and management in a totally new way, characterised by online and mobile."
She outlines various benefits of cloud computing forming part of HR, including that the software is faster, easily accessible and less intensive to deploy than traditional software. In addition, it is much more cost-effective and enhances the end-user experience, she says. "HR software should enable companies to address business challenges. With cloud, business processes can be managed more effectively because the data is in the cloud and, in essence, is part of one aligned database," she continues.
For L"otter, the top three HR software needs that companies across various industries have are performance management, career and skills development, and employee data management.
Cloud solutions should be integrated, developed with best practices in mind, and coupled with an effective business intelligence (BI) tool, advises Schmikl. "Analysing data and creating reports is an important HR function and is necessary to ensure effective HR management that will create value for both the company and its employees." In line with this, she continues that social media is changing how HR recruits, manages and engages with employees, which makes data analytics important.
"Through competitive and flexible pricing models and the ease of installation and use, all businesses can ensure that they have the very best in people management practices in place," L"otter concludes.
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