Creating an HR Digitization Strategy: What You Need To Know

You’ve probably heard about it a lot over the last few weeks and months: HR digitization is the future, and we all need to prepare for it. Before you start worrying about updating everything, taking years of work, and throwing it away, you need to take a deep breath.

Yes, you’re behind if you’ve been using paper systems or even storing information in spreadsheets or files. Yes, you’ll have to do some work to catch up. However, not all hope is lost. HR digitization isn’t something you can do overnight, nor should it take up your entire day.

Organizations everywhere have focused on digital transformations that improve data, keep things organized, and allow for trend analysis. HR isn’t alone in the fear and uncertainty that comes with change. However, there’s a lot at stake – after all, this will impact your people and processes.

If you’re looking for a partner in HR digitization, particularly around the digitization of your talent development, consider scheduling a demo of Trakstar today. We’ll help guide you through the process and make everything easier.

What is HR Digitization?

HR digitization is a journey. It’s taking the older operational processes and making them automated, streamlined, and data-driven. 

Deloitte was talking about HR digitization in 2017, calling it an emerging trend (that did take some time to emerge: “It’s about HR teams taking up the dual challenge of transforming HR operations on the one hand, and transforming the workforce and the way work is done on the other.”

Now, everyone is talking about it – from SHRM to LinkedIn. If you’ve been in HR for a long time, you may be used to “trends” coming and going, but HR digitization isn’t going away. The future is largely digital, and HR should start working now to catch up.

HR Digitization Strategy

Every organization will have its own rules and regulations around HR digitization. Similarly, everyone will have a different strategy. However, the foundation of your approach has to be the same as almost every other organization, department, and workforce undergoing a digital transformation:

• If you are going to undergo an HR digitization strategy, you must have complete and utter buy-in from everyone involved. 
• You need to have a clear, SMART goal that you can measure to define success.

These are the foundational points of your HR digitization strategy. The rest comes when you create your step-by-step plan.

Creating a Digital HR Plan

If you want to create a digital HR plan, we suggest you start with a few straightforward steps:

1. Establish your SMART Goal
2. Get Buy-in from all stakeholders
3. Start slowly by doing your research
4. Prioritize what matters
5. Implement
6. WAIT
7. Assess impact
8. Start Again

Let’s break these ideas down.

Establish Your SMART Goal

Of course, your first step is to establish a goal. Why do you want to go digital? Is it simply to keep up? Are there specific outcomes you want? Having an overall goal and sub-goals for different portions of your workforce could be a good idea. 

For example, you may have goals around learning and development and goals around performance management. Be sure that your goals are narrow and specific enough. 

If you want more help setting SMARTer goals, you can use our template here or download our talent development planner to keep your goals in one place.

Get Buy-In From All Stakeholders

You need to create a culture of success and get everyone on your team on the same page. If someone isn’t on the same page as you, consider bringing them into your first step of setting the goal. Maybe they don’t see the benefit of your goal or are concerned they can’t get there.

Talking, sharing, and being open about your why will help to bring in stakeholders. It won’t always be easy, but it is part of the process.

Start Slowly By Doing Your Research

How will you start going digital? Often, it requires using some HR software that helps you get there. You’ll need to look at your goals and see what software can get you where you want to be. Research the different products and see what will work for you.

Sometimes, you might want to target one area of your work. For example, you can digitize your performance reviews. Look for performance appraisal software that includes everything you need. Need help figuring out what you need? We can help you understand performance management software.

If you want to cover more than one thing, look for solutions that do more than one thing! For example, the Trakstar platform has different products that enhance talent development at all stages of the employee lifecycle. 

Prioritize What Matters

What will help your organization get where you want to be? Which goals matter? Does it require more accountability for your existing employees? Does it mean hiring new people? Or do you need to train, reskill, and close gaps in your current team?

After doing all the research to see what’s out there, you should prioritize what will make the most significant difference and start there.

Implement

Your next step is simple: do the thing. You’ve done your research, everyone has bought in, and you know what to do. Now do it. 

Easier said than done, in most cases.

If you are using an HR tool, inquire about their implementation process and any ongoing support you’ll get to get the most out of your investment. Those teams should be willing to help you!

WAIT

You have to wait. HR digitization takes time, and you want to keep things running for a bit to get some accurate data.

Assess The Impact

How’s it going? Are you able to see a real impact on your day-to-day? 

Still trying to figure it out? Here are some things to think about:

• How has your day-to-day changed?
• Is it easier to report on the work you’re doing?
• Can you benchmark yourself against people in your industry?
• Are your employees more engaged?
• Is your company culture better?
• Do you have a better onboarding process?
• Is there a way for your employees to develop within your company?
• Are you able to get more done?
• Can you focus on the work that you’ve put on the back burner?

Of course, there are hundreds of ways you can look at your success with HR digitization. These are just a few of the ways we look at it.

Start Again

Once you’ve achieved your goals with this phase of HR digitization, there’s always another way to improve. Go back through the steps.

HR Digitalization and Analytics

According to LinkedIn, one of the fastest growing roles in the HR umbrella is the Human Resources Analytics Manager. They say, “Human resources analytics managers are responsible for collecting, analyzing and reporting HR-related data within an organization, such as performance, attrition and employee demographics.”

As HR goes digital, there will be more need for data and analytics. You’ll be able to collect and monitor numbers at an unprecedented level – but what will you do with it? Simply having the data isn’t enough. You need to understand and use it to make organizational changes.

Within Trakstar products, our Insights dashboard helps you understand the data you’re collecting. You get easy-to-read-and-understand metrics that show the impact of your work, as well as explanations of what’s happening. Then, we can point you to best practices and tips to improve your scores and make your data highlight your work, not point out the problem areas.

HR Digitization and Hiring

HR digitization is a great way to improve the hiring process. Candidates are often overwhelmed when they apply for a job and start to move through the interview process. Digitization can streamline the process from their perspective, making a better first impression on the people you really want. It speeds things up, filtering out those who aren’t committed to getting a new position and saving you time.

Automation and digitization can help you parse many applications, schedule interviews without playing email tag, and gather data on your hiring process. With a tool like Trakstar Hire and the Insights dashboard within hire, HR digitization can help you identify the following:

• The best job boards for high-performing employees
• Who does the best at interviewing and hiring employees
• What keywords and phrases bring in more applicants
• Who writes the best job descriptions

HR digitization is significantly impacting hiring, and it has for years now. However, the competition for top talent will only increase with more people (even small businesses) using things like applicant tracking software.

Unlocking the Potential of Your Workforce Through HR Digitization

If you want your company to be successful during a digital transformation, you need to be prepared. Even more importantly, it would be best if you had a partner. Trakstar can be just that. Our HR solutions have to digitize applicant tracking and hiring, performance management, and onboarding and development. From the moment you start working with us, we’re by your side. Our implementation team helps you get off to a great start, and then our customer success team is there to help you with any questions or concerns. We also have a self-driven Trakstar Academy that provides everything you need to know.

Remember that great employees build resilient workforces – and we know that employee success will depend on digital methods in the future. To invest in your HR department, your employees, and your organization, click here to schedule a demo of Trakstar.