Why cloud is clout in HR?
The roots of cloud computing can be traced back to 1950s when the mainframe computers were large and expensive for the companies to make them available for each of their employees. However, the IT professionals envisioned a revolution in the technology where the entire amount of data can be accessed by anyone from anywhere. This motto led to many technological advancements such as the advent of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and Virtual Machines until 1996 when cloud computing finally came into existence. From decades, Cloud computing has evolved into three models which are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Cloud is transforming nearly all the major and minor industries in the market— health, retail, education, corporate, etc. But, HR industry seems to be more revolutionized with cloud services its use increases up to 73% in 2017 from 68% in 2016 as per PWC’s worldwide HR technology survey report published in August 2017. The small and mid-size companies are the early adopters of cloud computing in their business operations.
The systems programmed with automating data collection technique enables the Cloud process and store the data digitally in real-time. And, this data can be accessed from any device and any location. A pool of HR process such as payroll processing, performance tracking & appraisals, recruiting the talent fit for the company, workforce analytics, and management, etc., are easily managed by the HR cloud systems.
With the continual growth of an organization, managing job designs, planning the workforce, performance tracking, and legal compliances often come to HR managers as the inevitable challenges. Switching from on-premises to cloud-based Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), in such a case, is shown contributing to better strategic and operational workforce management in an organization.
Cloud is changing the talentacquisition, retention and compensation methods. The success of the company relies on the people working with them as employees. And, it is the responsibility of HR folks to hand-pick the right talent for their organization. The HR teams feel stuck when it comes to find, develop and retain the skilled professionals. The traditional e-software, in such a case, is not efficient in supporting the teams if compare it to the cloud-based software.
The firms which offer HR cloud solutions provide roundthe-clock assistance to the HR managers to simplify their cumbersome work. Heavy paperwork has been replaced by the smart processing and monitoring the real-time data collected through the modern HR system. Such software leads to effective management reporting, improved operational consistency, and huge data integration.
CLOUD – THE ENGINE OF SMAC DRIVEN HR
Using Cloud, the companies are able to reduce the IT cost approximately 30%. These modern HR systems are a perfect combo of SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud) to get maximum returns on marketing investments. The integration of social media, mobile technology, data analytics and cloud computing makes the fusion stronger, scalable, striking and more successful than their implementation in segregation. Around the globe, marketers are availing this phenomenal fusion, and SMAC’S worldwide revenue is expected to reach as high as $200 billion by the end of 2020. Moreover, at 30 percent CAG, the value of SMAC driven market will be $1 trillion (Approx.) by the end of the current decade. Multi-national companies who have thousands of employees find it extremely challenging to keep a sorted record of each one. Managing each with traditional on-premise software is too much a burden on HR department. The cloud technology makes it more a self-service where the data is stored in real-time and users can get access to the information from anywhere. Industry experts believe that cloud technology is fully-packed with security and confidentiality as the cloud applications are designed with quality assurance and data obfuscation strategies that prevent stored data from unauthorized access. In contrast, it is better than the paperwork which is more prone to damage and loss.