Review your HR technology

I am often being asked this question these days " What impact would the slowdown have on HR technology investments" and " what's the advice for HR on technology these days" ??
While I did write an article on impact of slowdown , but to be honest and fair that was just the beginning of what we are now witnessing as a global phenomenon. The impact has been so encompassing and profound that companies have put a freeze on IT investments, what was presumably what used to be called as business enablers have now taken backseat.
So these questions do make a lot of sense and working with organizations over years on their HRIT adoption made me think if there was a simple answer to it!!!
Unfortunately not, while it's true that organizations have widely put freeze or controls ( in some cases) on their IT expenditure. I think it's a golden opportunity to see what they can do with what they have at hand, so here follows some advice

1. For organizations using HRMS
Create a small team to review the current system, analyse gaps in implementation as well as understand what could have been done better. Organizations invest $$$ in automating systems. While the implementations happen in a time bound manner, so if there is a problem in the implementation, more often than not organizations wait for the next upgrade to sort these issues. These seriously hamper the utility of the system. Now is the time to identify and plug such holes.
Another aspect is usability, organizations need to look at how to make systems more usable internally and identify areas where the usability is low and then follow it up with some training. Use time to improve usability and show more value out of the investments.

2. For organizations that don't have an HRMS
While there might be a freeze on spending and your dream system may be a bit far , it's time to create better business justification which should be preceeded with a more dynamic need analysis of the system required and the preferred implementation model. This is also time to work through your evaluations and make it fool proof for your requirements.
Once you have done this and the business is ready to take off again, you would be better poised to identify the right system

3. For organizations that are investing in HRMS
These are the ones that believe that they need a system now! It's crucial for these organizations to realize that any short term investments would only hamper their businesses.
They need to look at investing in sound systems, because while you need a system and the mandate is to have a low cost one. It's always better to invest in phases than buy a low cost unstable solution.

What would be right would really depend on how well you are able to justify your needs but these are some advice that would surely help you beat the recession blues