In discussion with Remuneration Management expert Alison Kennedy – Part 3

This is the third in a five-part series of podcast interviews with Alison Kennedy, Executive HR and Remuneration expert, in conversation with Arishma Singh of Pivot Software. Today, we're discussing if and why buying HR software might seem difficult and how to find a great partnership with a supplier.

Arishma: Is buying HR software scary?

Alison: I actually don’t think it’s scary. I think it’s one of the more exciting things we can do now in HR, cos it is that evidence of moving forward, being more data and tech savvy inside the world that is absolutely data and tech savvy. We have got to start aligning ourselves with real world, so I don’t think it’s scary. It’s an important thing. I don’t think people should be frightened of it. I think if companies sat and looked at their overall budget, item lines that they spend, how much they spent on recruitment or how they spend on any other HR process, I think they would find the bulk of software isn’t a massive expenditure compared to your salary bill.

As HR leaders, I don’t think we should be scared of it, I think we should learn lessons where other people can provide their experience. So, if there are articles that talk about a particular program or a supplier or difficulties that they have had, you should read them and take into account how other people have experienced them but understand the context of that experience as well. So, there is no point in getting a view point of an organization that is so the other spectrum compared to your organization does because it just might be that it wasn’t the right fit for them and that supplier might be the perfect fit for you. So, I have to think that you have to take others experience with a grain of salt and with a big piece of context.

Arishma: How do you find that great partnership with a supplier?

Alison: I think it’s just getting to know them as individuals and their background. So for me, if a supplier comes with a team on the other end of support line that has in-house experience that used to be HR Practitioners and understand the world that I am calling from, I think that gets you a lot further along the road than someone who might be a provider that is very tech heavy in terms of their employees.

You need the supplier to have that balance of people who have been in house and have been HR Practitioners and then have the expertise to convert that into technological solution for the problem that you have. I think finding the one that suits you is all about making sure that you have a good rapport, that people make sense to you on the phone and they can understand the way you speak in the environment that you are calling from and so the ability for them to understand your business and partner with you.

So, you know we have talked earlier about business partnership from HR point of view and partnering with the business.  It’s the same with the software supplier. They need to partner with you and your needs that are aligned with your business that’s behind you. So, I don’t think it’s an impossible thing.

You can absolutely can find really good fits but you just have to take the time and make sure that, that match is there for you. Technology can be built around any need that you have, so I would absolutely balance that with people that you are going to work with, with what you see the technology delivering.

In the next segment we discuss signs to look out for that will tell you whether a supplier partnership will work or not, and if there exists a perfect software solution. Click here to read the next segment.