If your human resources team has ever put together a required feature list for an HR software system, you know it can be difficult to capture all of your needs. Everyone is hoping to achieve something slightly different with the software, and in some cases these goals are at odds with each other. Ultimately, the required feature lists are built to accommodate the needs of as many people as possible.
Unfortunately, there are some items that don’t end up in these types of documents very often, because they’re subjective – but they’re extremely important. In fact, some of these items are more likely to impact how well HR software will serve your team than most of the items on a feature list. Here are three factors that we’ve seen ruin an organization’s experience with HR investigations software.
Too much “stuff”
Fully-loaded HR management platforms that are built for every HR need look great on paper. And because they have to serve so many different needs, they meet most teams’ feature requirement lists. The experience can sour pretty quickly, however, once the system is procured and installed. Because the platform was built to serve so many needs, it may not serve any of them particularly well. Have you heard the expression, “if you try to make everybody happy all of the time you’ll end up making nobody happy”? That is especially true for HR investigations, which is often a throw-in and not a focus area. So you’ll have to navigate a cumbersome interface to get to the investigations module that is an afterthought during product improvement initiatives.
Support that fails at supporting your team
You can easily write ‘support’ into a contract. The quality of that support is more difficult to quantify – and this is where many technology companies fail. A well-supported HR investigations software platform is kept up-to-date with new operating systems and ‘middleware’ such as advances in database technology. It is also periodically updated with new features relevant to your organization, keeping your capabilities up-to-date without requiring a system overhaul or new procurement process. Finally, when you do need help, you look forward to talking with the team’s support staff, rather than dreading it.
Changes that cost a fortune, or never come at all
Despite the best-laid plans, most teams discover after purchasing HR software that certain things need to be tweaked in order for the system to really deliver. Often, teams quickly discover that tweaking the system is much more difficult than was alluded to in contract negotiations – making them feel ‘locked-in’ to their new systems less than three months after they’ve started using it. The most expensive and expansive products are generally the most complicated to tweak, because one change can impact so many other aspects of the software. They’re also less likely to be agile when it comes to quickly implementing changes, because the companies reflect their software – too large to be focused.
As you contemplate purchasing software to serve your need for HR investigations management, we’d highly encourage you to keep these three factors in mind during the decision-making process.
To learn more about how CMTS:HR can help your HR team manage workplace investigations more effectively and reduce employer risk, call us at 919.600.5102 or email us at Team_CMTS@WingSwept.com.