Every HR and IT function wants to always buy the best software for their organisation. It is a dream for a CEO to deploy a software tool that can give them a real time understanding of the organisation & based on the information take the best decision for the organisation.

Now, ‘best’ can mean different things to different organisations.

One solution does not fit all

An HRMS solution may look attractive in terms of features but may not be right for you. Sometimes buying the most expensive, branded or highly recommended HR solutions with loaded features fails the acid test: How well it performs in YOUR organisation.

That does not mean the HRMS software is bad or has bugs. It is sometimes the business needs, that does not align to standard offerings by the HRMS software companies.

Most HR software look same

With my experience of implementing HR Tech across various verticals & industry types, ranging from large companies having thousands of employees to start ups, having known and reviewed multiple HRMS software, one thing that I have observed is–

If we go feature to feature comparison all software looks 70% – 80% same. What makes a software stand out is the treatment & depth of the HR solution, how those features caters to the unique scenarios.

On basis of detail studies and analysis for more than a decade about the behavior of HR users, how businesses have changed the functioning model and various HRMS software available in the market, I group companies into 3 categories.

Technology driven Organisations

This type of organisation invest heavily in tech solution & their is an urge to automate each function of the HR processes. The HR automation is extended to integrating with even the business activities & it’s users. The flow of data is expected to be uninterrupted & the reports are required at ultra real time for informed decisions.

To achieve this it may require to customise screens or data elements to capture business related information [like sales data or time and efforts data for analysis]

So which is the ‘best HRMS software’ for such organisation?

Such companies should look at HR software companies that are ready to custom build add on functionality & than integrate with the ERP systems via API or any other available method.

Companies that fall in this category are modern businesses like IT & ITes Serivces, E-commerce, Retail finance, Aggregator companies like Uber, Swiggy, oyorooms etc.

Legacy driven organisations

Such organisation have been in presence for more than 4-5 decades. They have been largely successful & have set up their HR practices which has been tried & tested. These organisations have employees who are from all age groups & with different financial needs.

The companies have policies of offering loans for buying homes, appliances, children education and to avail such financial benefits there are complex qualification criteria. The
works-men policy & union agreements add to the complexity to the payroll process. An HR system that can handle complex traditional scenarios as well as can take care of modern
practices is the need of the hour.

So which is the ‘best HRMS software’ for such organisation?

Here the expectation from the ‘Best HR software’ is ability to configure complex HR and Payroll rules. Availability to capture employees life cycle incidents & generate reporting, capability to capture various requests & its approval workflows. Registers for workmen,
clock in & out time musters, overtime reports and many such industrial requirements.

Companies that fall in this category are all type of manufacturing companies, pharma, hospitality, PSUs, heavy industries like steel, mining, power, oil & gas.

Start-Ups, MNCs & MSME

These are the most demanding customers with high expectation in terms of the UI, services,
software. Also the need for cloud & SaaS solutions. Organisation are much younger & are in progressive mode. There is a need for mobile app for employees self service, dashboard, social connect, collaborative tools.

While the same need is for the above two type of organisations too, but in their case it is more like ‘good to have’.

So which is the ‘best HRMS software’ for such organisations?

The software should be very easy & intuitive to use. Plug-and-play solution or pay-per-use HR software are in demand with such organisations. Some features which are crucial and
expected are mobile app & chatbot for real time engagement with employees. Change
requests are expected in days instead of traditional software process that takes months to
update a new patch.

A word for the decision makers

In all, the ‘best HRMS software’ for YOU is the one that can address the toughest HR scenarios in your organisation. Which can pass the stress and torture tests. Such performance will make sure that the software run smoothly under all conditions and there won’t be any showstoppers.

My personal note to management and the decision makers–it is important to first document
your need for the HR process automation, & than evaluate an HRMS service provider to meet your critical and unique needs.

Ford v/s Ferrari

It is as important to have a good driver as much as a good car is. In the same way the ‘best HRMS software’ isn’t enough in itself, you must have the perfect implementation done as per
your organisation needs.

Companies have succeeded extremely well when the requirements are well defined, the need
of automation is prioritised, data is well managed, and users are well informed about the
usage & process of the HR software.</p.

And in contrast I have seen even the so called ‘best HRMS software’ fail when the
implementation guideline was not followed properly and the companies had to spend lots of
efforts in terms of cost & resources to set this right.

Tips on how to implement a successful HR system

To summarise this article: To choose ‘the best HRMS software’

1. Identify your company’s business requirement & work culture.
2. Select the correct HR implementation inside team or an external agency.
3. Buying the most expensive software does not mean success.
4. Understand the requirement inside the organisation & do not just follow outside trends.

Looking forward to hear your HRtech or HR Automation success stories and learning. Feel
free to connect with me at dhwani@opportune.in

For any guidance on how to go about automation of your HR process, please drop me a
message.

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