Everyday, more and more technology is being integrated into society, our personal lives and our jobs. We are past the point of no return. One thing is for certain; technology will continue to become a bigger part of nearly every aspect of our lives.
As HR professionals in the workplace, HR technology is one of the most important pieces of what we do. As the industry progresses and develops, it changes the way we do things and how we are perceived by our employees, candidates, business leaders and organizational peers. While it makes our work lives easier, less administrative and established a work flow, it has also created a dependency. It is essential to our business in its present stages as well as in the future. We, HR are dependent on technology to do our jobs successfully.
HR AND IT COLLIDE
While some of the things IT does are becoming more integral to the livelihood of HR, that change does not necessarily go the opposite direction. HR and IT are both essential for the success of an organization. Tech helps create an infrastructure and foundation where companies can leverage data, analytics and most importantly existing organizational information to better unite departments, business practices and processes together.
While some might believe HR is likely to receive the greatest gain in this new interaction. Who wins is the organization, the shareholders, the business leaders and the employees. With access to our IT and the workplace technology subject matter access, we can make better decisions based on real time data and information while also providing the best workplace experience for our employees which in turn benefits our customers and other parties.
That being said, it is important to develop a good working relationship with the people you interact with within your IT department. They have the ability to really help and support you or really slow you down. Being willing able to work with them and learn from them will help you better do and own your job.
COLLABORATION
It is not to say that there is nothing to be gained on the part of IT while working with HR. Both departments have assets and knowledge to offer each other. As technological advancement continue to put these departments and others together, it has the capacity to strengthen the relationships of people within the organization while diversifying skill sets. Working together, these departments have the ability to make a positive impact on the companies they are a part of.
As HR representatives we should not fear technology, though it can be overwhelming. Instead we should embrace it for the potential it gives us. It has the ability to make us exponentially more strategic for the organization.
As for who “owns” HR technology, it is hard to say. I guess I would argue that both HR and IT do. It’s a joint partnership. They own it together. In this case they are working together as a partnership and thus own the technology as one entity. The relationship between the two will likely be woven together even stronger as time progresses and technology develops and they continue to work together more and more.
