An enterprise's HR department usually wears many different hats. In many companies, the team is responsible for managing the employee benefits program, administering payroll services and handling general workforce management issues.
Of course, these tasks can be handled easily thanks to cutting-edge HR software, but some departments struggle to choose appropriate systems or implement them effectively. According to Forbes, there are some HR teams that use a "best of breed" approach, meaning that they select different applications for every task. Employees then have to use various programs for benefits management, payroll processing and staff issues.
This can lead to certain challenges for the department. If software isn't compatible, it's difficult to share information between platforms. As a result, representatives have to manually input data into each program, which is redundant and ultimately wastes a great deal of time.
Further, it seems that some companies continually waste funding on trying to make multiple applications work together. Thomas Otter, research vice president at Gartner, explained to ComputerWeekly that service providers are making it unnecessary difficult for businesses to integrate various software.
"Integration is easy if you know which is the dog and which is the tail. But you run into problems if you try to stitch two dogs together. The problem is that the vendors all think they are the dog," Otter said.
Why a single solution is the best option
Fortunately, HR departments don't have to try to combine disparate elements in order to create a system capable of handling every task. Many HR outsourcing companies like Triton HR offer fully integrated platforms that can be used to administer benefits and payroll as well as perform time and attendance tracking.
Our software is fully web-based so it can be accessed anywhere and doesn't require your department to download anything. This flexibility ensures that your employees can handle HR tasks remotely.
The primary benefit of using a fully integrated system is that information is readily accessible at all times. Whether monthly payroll needs to be reviewed or vacation time must be amended, HR representatives can easily locate the data and perform any function.
Consider upgrading to our integrated software in the next few months so that it'll be in place by 2014. This will ensure that your HR department can start the new year off on the right foot and build momentum for the next 12 months.