In a very general sense, Gartner’s article, “Integrated HR Service Management Solutions Reviews and Ratings” defines an IHRMS as ,”…solutions provide holistic platforms by which organizations can manage their physical and/or virtual HR shared services operations and communications.”[1] Somewhat more specifically, Gartner states that common features of these systems include content delivery, knowledge management, ticketing and routing for case management, tools for process management, and digital document management.”[2] Ultimately, we can see this as the continued evolution of employee self-service.
Some background information on employee self-service
Wikipedia’s article, “Human Resource Management Systems” states that employee Self-Service has grown out of the development of payroll automation, enterprise resource planning which started happening in the 1970’s.[3] The article continues to detail how human resource information systems (HRIS) and human resource management systems (HRMS) were an evolution from these early payroll and ERP systems. A natural evolution from these systems is to provide self-service to free up the knowledge workers in HR to focus on tasks that require their specialized knowledge.
A quick scan of SHRM.org has references as early as July 2000. My search turned up an article titled “HR Systems: Powering a Systems Overhaul” by Joe Dysart discussing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Human Services Department’s PeopleSoft upgrade which added the ability for employee self-service benefits enrollment.[4] While this is commonplace today, it is amazing to think that this was a fairly new application around the time I joined the profession.
As we see the growth in machine learning and artificial intelligence in the world around us, it would be appropriate to consider how these technologies have been impacting the world of Human Resources. In the SHRM article, “HR and Chatbots Are Learning Together”, Jeff Mike, vice president and head of research ideation for Bersin, Deloitte Consulting is quoted as saying “In HR self-service centers, bots are automating high-volume tasks such as changing an address or updating benefits information… On the talent acquisition side, bots can deliver "a streamlined candidate experience for high-volume recruiting activities" and guide new hires through the onboarding process.”[5] This illustrates the potential for impact on both the labor reductions for manual work in HR and the potential to improve the employee experience. Furthermore, illustrating the growth and movements of these platforms, Gartner has predicted that “by 2023, 75 percent of HR inquiries will be initiated through conversational AI platforms.”[6]
Benefits and use cases
On their blog, Leena AI, a leading developer of IHRSM software, cited Gartner’s research illustrating the main functions of IHRSM to include:
· Employee and manager content delivery via a dedicated HR portal.
· Content knowledge bases.
· Digital management of HR documents
· Business process management tools
· Case-ticketing and routing
· Service-level agreement (SLA) monitoring
· Employee relationship support
· Single sign-on (SSO) to transactional systems.”[7]
With the typical HR Service Management Technology stack illustrated as:
Gartner’s paper “Hype Cycle for Human Capital Management Technology, 2020” discusses benefits particularly as they apply larger (2500+ employee) and multi-location employers. Specifically pointing out the advantages of control and process standardization, robust metrics and reporting tools that parallels the sophistication of IT or CRM systems.[9]
In my own experience, I am eager to learn more about which product was selected as part of our procurement process and seeing the benefits to my organization’s Human Resources department. This is a game changer that, if properly implemented, will be embraced by employees, managers, and HR personnel alike.
[2] Gartner HypeCycle, https://news.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/430/2020/08/hype_cycle_for_human_capital_447990.pdf
[5] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/technology/pages/hr-chatbots-are-learning-together.aspx
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