HR & TECHNOLOGY Companies use technology as a way to gain competitive edge in the market.

In case of Human Resources, technology helps in all processes from recruit to retire functions and has drastically changed the way employees and managers get access to the human resource data and information as well as the resultant benefits that accrue. How to use technology in a human resource perspective to connect people and information is the challenge faced by the business leaders presently. HR-IT has achieved much importance now because of its use in most of the organizations to increase the productivity through maximizing the value of the organizations most significant asset, PEOPLE. Impact of technology on HR functions: It is important to look forward for the changing trends in technology which can have an impact on the HR practices. Understanding these changes will help smart managers to adapt and flourish. Once you exploit these changing trends, you can very well have the advantage over other players in the global market. The wide range of impact of technology on HR can be clearly viewed on the HR functions such as:

Recruitment Training & development Performance management Payroll & attendance records Employee benefits etc

In case of Recruitment, IT has a highly positive impact. E-recruitment is the use of technology or web based tools to support the recruitment process. The major ways of recruitment, which companies commonly use are by displaying the career opportunities on their websites, depending on the job portals for making the potential hires and using social networking sites (SNS) for getting the database. The major advantages of this e-recruitment are:

Economical way to publish job openings Greater reach An easy tool to get connected to people with niche skills Speeds up the recruitment process (faster posting of jobs, quicker applicant response, and rapid hiring). 24*7 access to the online resumes.

E-recruitment also has its pitfalls. Even though e-recruitment helps in speeding up the whole recruitment process, there is danger of short listing stage becoming a lengthy one. As large volume of resumes are posted online, screening and short listing of resumes takes long time for the HR department. The usage of Social networking helps in getting faster response and interactions but the safety and credibility of the data continues to be a serious question. Corporate have started using these sites for business and to find out potential talents in few minutes. The major disadvantage is that many job seekers post their confidential data on these sites and end in serious issues; hence the safety of these data is an unanswerable one. Risk of mistaken identity is another problem faced by the recruiter.
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In the case of Training & development, e-learning is an intense opportunity provided by the companies for their employees, which help them to increase their knowledge level. The training materials are provided online; employees can utilize these materials and get trained. In the case of e-learning, employees have an advantage that they can learn at their own pace. The stretched duration taken by the employees to complete the training and the assimilation of the training independently can be few disadvantages in the e-learning mode. Several customized HR-IT solutions are available off the shelf for performance management, payroll maintenance and attendance which have a positive impact. These functions have become a part of the customized software packages like HRIS solutions. CPM (Computerized performance monitoring) system used by companies helps in data collection by counting the number of work units covered by each one per time period. Even though these In the case of Employee Benefits, the use of ESS (Employee Self Service) has helped HR managers to dedicate more time on strategic issues like workforce management, succession planning, compensation planning etc and ensuring that the employees data are accurate and updated. Through this ESS solution, employees get access to their data, pay roll information, training materials etc online which allow them to keep their data updated. With the help of these HR IT solutions, a job done by 2-4 persons can be done by a single person, leading to cost savings. The increased impact of technology has cut down the employee head counts, in turn achieving cost effectiveness. Managing the expectations of the surviving knowledge workers becomes a major area of concern for the HR managers. Managing virtual organizations in this technology driven market is going to cause hard challenge for HR managers. Virtual organization Virtual organization is the network of companies or employees connected by computers. Virtual workers can work from wherever they want, from home, car or abroad. Human resource department has significant role in virtual organizations. As the employees in a virtual organization dont meet face to face, it is the HR managers responsibility to create a psychological connection between various units and their workers. HR department has to take care of the alignment of the organizations vision, mission and goal with the workers objectives. Finding potential hires with the requisite skills for the virtual organization become another challenge for the HR department. Creating a feeling of belongingness among the workers and managers can help in meeting their responsibilities in an effective way. The major disadvantages of the use of technology on HR are:

When organizations depend more on technology as a substitute to human interactions, loss of potential talents may happen. HR is all about managing people, which requires human interaction and face to face communication, and as human element will always remain significant in HR, a balance should be maintained between the IT and the human aspect.

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Technological obsolescence also poses to be a problem. Obsolescence occurs very fast that the information relied on obsolete technologies becomes inaccessible in certain cases. Hence, the ROI for the HR technology systems, if not estimated and measured will lead to problems.

HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: The human resource management (HRM) function involves the recruitment, placement, evaluation, compensation, and development of the employees of an organization. The goal of HRM is the effective and efficient use of the human resources of a company. Thus, human resource information systems are designed to support: Planning to meet the personnel needs of the business. Development of employees to their full potential. Control of all personnel policies and programs. Traditionally, businesses used computer-based information systems to: Produce paychecks and payroll reports Maintain personnel records Analyze the use of personnel in business operations. Many firms have gone beyond these traditional personnel management functions and have developed human resource information systems (HRIS) that also support: Recruitment, selection and hiring Job placement Performance appraisals Employee benefit analysis Training and development Health, safety, and security HRM and the Internet: The Internet has become a major force for change in human resource management. For example, companies are: Recruiting for employees through recruitment sections of their corporate web sites. Using commercial recruiting services and databases on the World Wide Web, posting messages in selected Internet newsgroups, and communicating with job applicants by Internet E-mail. HRM and the Corporate Intranet Intranet technologies allow companies to process most common HRM applications over their corporate intranets. For example: Intranets allow the HRM department to provide around-the-clock services to their customers and employees. They also disseminate valuable information faster than through previous company channels. Intranets can collect information online from employees for input to their HRM files, and they can enable employees to perform HRM tasks with little intervention by the HRM department. Intranet can serve as a superior training pool.

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Staffing the Organization The staffing function must be supported by information systems that record and track human resources within a company to maximize their use. These systems are used in personnel record keeping systems, employee skills inventory systems, and personnel requirements forecasting systems. Training & Development: Information systems help human resource managers plan and monitor employee recruitment, training, performance appraisals, and career development by analyzing the success history of present programs. They also analyze the career development status of each employee to determine whether development methods such as training programs and periodic performance appraisals should be recommended. Compensation Analysis: Information systems can help analyse the range and distribution of employee compensation (wages, salaries, incentive payments, and fringe benefits) within a company and make comparisons with compensation paid by similar firms or with various economic indicators. This information is useful for: Planning changes in compensation, especially if negotiations with labour unions are involved. Helps keep the compensation of a company competitive and equitable, while controlling compensation costs. Governmental Reporting: Reporting to government agencies is a major responsibility of human resource management. Organizations use computer-based information systems to keep track of the statistics and produce reports required by a variety of government laws and regulations. These statistics may concern issues such as: Equal opportunity policies and statistics Employee health Workplace accidents and hazards Safety procedures Conclusion: In this fast growing market, if you are not aware of the latest technologies in HR, ensure that you dont get left back in the dust, as your competitors are already experimenting new technologies. In particular, Companies need to look at adopting technological assistance in the major HR functions such as recruitment, training, performance management, pay roll, employee benefits etc. HR personnel need to be updated on the technological options that are available, select the best options that will make significant difference to their functioning and leverage them to bring efficiencies. Hence, HR managers have to be keen and far sighted; dont let the opportunities pass you by, only because you were not updated on technological offerings and its impact on doing better business. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Information, as we know it today, includes both electronic and physical information. The organizational structure must be capable of managing this information throughout the information lifecycle regardless of source or format (data, paper documents, electronic documents, audio, video, etc.) for delivery through multiple channels that may include cell phones and web interfaces. Given these
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criteria, we can then say that the focus of IM is the ability of organizations to capture, manage, preserve, store and deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. Information Management Information management (IM) is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information. Management means the organization of and control over the structure, processing and delivery of information. Goals of information management 1. Supply work, business and consumption processes with information This is the basic goal: work cannot be done without required information. 2. Improve and speed up business, work and consumption processes through information use and efficient information processing Information is not only one of the inputs to the work process. By improving information supply and its processing, the whole process usually can be made more efficient. 3. Create and maintain competitive advantage through new, IT-based work and business processes Often, information technologies allow reorganization of work in completely new ways, and creation of totally new businesses. 4. Efficient use of organizations information assets While previous goals come from activity (process), this goal statement invites to think about organizations information not as some side product of activity, but as the central resource. Information, not activity may be the real thing. 5. Reduce unnecessary complexity of information processing systems; protect against information overload. Information management is, however, much more than just technology. Equally importantly, it is about the business processes and practices that underpin the creation and use of information. It is also about the information itself, including the structure of information (information architecture), metadata, content quality, and more. Information management therefore encompasses:

people process technology content

Each of these must be addressed if information management projects are to succeed. Information management challenges Organisations are confronted with many information management problems and issues. In many ways, the growth of electronic information (rather than paper) has only worsened these issues over the last decade or two. Common information management problems include:

Large number of disparate information management systems.

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Little integration or coordination between information systems. Range of legacy systems requiring upgrading or replacement. Direct competition between information management systems. No clear strategic direction for the overall technology environment. Limited and patchy adoption of existing information systems by staff. Poor quality of information, including lack of consistency, duplication, and out-of-date information. Little recognition and support of information management by senior management. Limited resources for deploying, managing or improving information systems. Lack of enterprise-wide definitions for information types and values (no corporate-wide taxonomy). Large number of diverse business needs and issues to be addressed. Lack of clarity around broader organizational strategies and directions. Difficulties in changing working practices and processes of staff. Internal politics impacting on the ability to coordinate activities enterprise-wide.

While this can be an overwhelming list, there are practical ways of delivering solutions that work within these limitations and issues. Information management issues can be overwhelming Ten principles The following are ten key principles to ensure that information management activities are effective and successful: 1. recognize (and manage) complexity 2. focus on adoption 3. deliver tangible & visible benefits 4. priorities according to business needs 5. take a journey of a thousand steps 6. provide strong leadership 7. mitigate risks 8. communicate extensively 9. aim to deliver a seamless user experience 10. choose the first project very carefully

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