To state the obvious – as the years go on, the workplace is becoming increasingly digital.
There are very few jobs today that don’t require some form of digital technology. Many businesses have entire departments dedicated to digital disciplines like IT, web development, social media, and digital marketing.
Human resources may be the last department that comes to mind when considering technology, but HR specialists can steer the ship of an entire organization by creating a digital transformation. But what exactly is digital transformation, and how does it apply to HR? If these questions keep you up at night, you’ve come to the right place.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation, as the name suggests, is the process of transitioning a department to use technology to automate its processes, operate more efficiently, and analyze data that can enhance business performance. Let’s look at marketing and advertising as an example of digital transformation. Not long ago, an advertising or marketing department was limited to distributing their campaigns through print media, billboards, radio stations, and television. Getting exact numbers on a campaign’s success was no easy task. Without extensive research, knowing which platforms would be the most effective was difficult. However, in the digital age, it’s easier to track customers, analyze the channels they used to find your company, and discover whether an ad creates any follow-through or profit.How Does Digital Transformation Apply to HR?
Human Resources impact every other department within an organization. From overseeing everything from payroll and training programs to recruiting and employee relations, the department’s scope of work is extensive. Because of this, digital transformation in HR can improve an entire company when integrated successfully. This process might involve anything from onboarding new programs to tracking employee time through a mobile app rather than on paper. It’s worth noting, however, that digital transformation doesn’t happen overnight. Implementation is a process, but improvements spread across departments once the new systems are rolled out.5 Steps to Successfully Integrate HR Digital Transformation
Now that we know what a digital transformation is and how it can enhance Human Resources effectiveness, let’s get to the fun part — initiating change in your own HR department!- Know What You Want To Accomplish With each new program or process that contributes to the digital transformation, it’s important to have a goal in mind with the new integrations. Prioritize those things that could benefit most from a digital upgrade rather than just forcing digital changes for the sake of it. Be strategic in your implementation.
- Communicate With All Departments With each new rollout, it’s essential to communicate these changes with all departments within your organization. Plan some time to talk with each department, answer any questions they may have, and make yourself available to talk through these transformations with anyone that needs more information. For these digital upgrades to be successful, everyone must be on board and understand the benefit.
- Lay Out the Roadmap This could be considered part of the communication process, but we believe it’s so important that this needs a step all its own. Create a roadmap that details every phase of the transformation you’re implementing and make sure that it is available to everyone in the organization that’s affected. This might include a timeline, a list of steps for employees, and communication of the end goal including why this change is needed or better than the previously used method.
- Evaluate Performance and Change When Needed After introducing and implementing a new digital transformation, it’s easy to brush your hands together and declare your work done, but not so fast! To ensure that this new integration accomplishes the goals you established in the first step, you need to evaluate the transformation over time and make adjustments as needed.
- Do What’s Best for Your Business Every organization is different, so every organization’s digital needs will be different. Make sure the changes you implement make sense for your business and address practical challenges that would benefit from new technology. To get an idea of what’s most needed, it might be helpful to conduct surveys to receive feedback from employees who use the technology daily. In addition to giving you valuable insight, this step will encourage buy-in from your team.
