Chronicling HR’s embrace of technology

The CHRR 2001 HRMS Surveyis based on findings from Canadian HR Reporter’s comprehensive new survey, HR Management Systems: Are They Making a Difference? (For background details on the survey structure and scope, see “How we did the survey,” Article No. 1454)

Far and away the most important technological tool available to HR directors and managers, the HRMS has now penetrated about half of Canadian organizations, particularly larger ones. If information is indeed power, an increasing number of HR innovators are on their way to a new level of influence.

Getting there, though, is fraught with complications: defining organization needs, matching these needs with vendor and system capabilities, getting one’s own colleagues onside, and finally implementing the system and getting it working smoothly (the last item has been known to take years, rather than months).

It’s this journey that Canadian HR Reporter is seeking to describe — through the experiences of HR practitioners as related in the survey. To guide us through this process, we turned to a longtime friend and editorial contributor, John Johnson. Through his broad HR and technology background, he has developed a strategic perspective on the application of technology to enhancing the human resource function.

John and his employer, ARINSO International, have provided both substance and analysis for our survey. ARINSO is an HR systems consulting firm which is active in the implementation of SAP HR/payroll software and the use of innovative Web-enabled systems for HR areas such as e-recruiting, e-learning and employee portals.

We are also indebted to Roger Broad and Perceptor Solutions, who designed the online survey questionnaire and tabulated the results. For the past decade, Roger has been at the leading edge of practical database marketing and customer relationship management, both in New Zealand and Canada. He is North American director for Perceptor, a division of Affinity Systems Limited. A leader in the automated surveys industry, Perceptor has installations throughout the U.K. and Europe and was introduced to North America in 2000.

We learned a lot this first time around. For that we are indebted to the hundreds of HR practitioners who took time to complete the questionnaire, sharing their knowledge and expertise and, in many instances, war stories.

This is just the beginning. We’ll be back next year with a followup study, updating our baseline findings and probing key facets related to the impact of HRMS on the HR function.

Meantime, in coming months Canadian HR Reporter will report in greater detail on some of the survey findings. Stay tuned.

Contact our survey partners: John Johnston, ARINSO International, [email protected] and Roger Broad, Perceptor Solutions, [email protected]

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