I was working with a client recently who hated their recruiting technology. Everyone was complaining about it. But when we gathered their requirements and evaluated what they had in place, guess what? We found that their current tech stack could satisfy over 90% of their needs.
As a consultant, I see this a lot. Sometimes our tech doesn’t seem to live up to our standards because we rushed the implementation or because we didn’t take the time to link the implementation to the business results we hoped it would provide.. Sometimes poor outcomes are the result of legacy processes that would render any new technology obsolete. Most often, it’s some combination of all of these factors.
Chances are you can do much more with your existing tech stack than you realize. To make it functional, you need to map out your business goals, talent strategies, and HR processes -- and then apply them to your technology.
Make Tech Decisions That Drive Business Results
It’s tempting to choose a technology because everyone else is using it successfully or expecting a new product’s innovative features or design to revolutionize our people processes. But those aren’t good business reasons for making such a significant investment. Before purchasing a new product, create a strict business use case linked to your overall company and talent strategy. Maybe your company intends to open a branch in another country, for instance, so you need a leadership development system to identify and train new leaders for that location.
But not every business solution requires a complete overhaul of your tech stack. Don’t dismiss the power of a simple optimization. Demonstrate the impact that small changes to your existing processes and technology can have on efficiency and productivity. You can achieve great things with the technology you have while causing minimal disruption to your business.
Enable Technology to Deliver Your Processes
You can’t divorce your technology from your processes. They must be evaluated in tandem with your larger organization and strategy. Changing your technology alone without considering process modifications will result in paying a premium to maintain dysfunctional processes. If you don’t look at the big picture on the front end, you’ll arrive at a piecemeal solution.
Develop your talent strategies by linking them directly to your company’s overall business strategies. Then determine what processes best deliver on the talent strategies that are linked to business success.? Equally important is clearly articulating the specific business problems you intend to solve with optimized processes and technology. Your tech stack isn’t the key to success — it’s the vehicle for success. You will need the right strategic road map and processes to deliver on its promise.
Support Implementation With Change Management
When you do change your tech, be sure to utilize change management to maximize adoption of these changes. Sometimes that means bringing in outside help. Most companies rely on systems integrators to lead implementation, but they aren’t thinking about process, strategy or change management. You need management consultants to think about the larger environment that the processes and technology needs to fit into.
A consultant’s primary role is to liaise between the vendor and the client. But consultants are also there to call out unrealistic expectations or untruths, whether they come from the client or the vendor. If the client is asking for something unreasonable or the vendor won’t stretch to meet business goals, the consultant can maintain an even, honest voice throughout the transition. Setting realistic goals and expectations supports more effective long-term use of your technology.
