In discussion with Remuneration Management expert Alison Kennedy – Part 4

This is the fourth 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 the indicators that may help you predict if a supplier partnership will work and if there exists such a thing as a perfect software solution.

Arishma: Could you please tell us about what indicators you'd look out for, as a HR software solution buyer, that predicts that the partnership will work for you?

Alison: I will talk specifically about remuneration software because that is my area of expertise. For me as a Rem practitioner, it’s the knowledge upfront or the ability to be very aware that software is flexible and can be designed specifically around my business.

I’m not buying an off the shelf solution. I’m not buying you know chunks and trying to put them together and make it fit and make it work. I want something that is designed around my process, my time, my business, my industry, you know my structure, my organization structure even having matrix reporting, all those unique parts that make up your organization.

I wanna know that, that software is flexible and tailorable down to exactly the way I want it to work. And then on the flip side of that, if I am looking to make sure that its going to be a successful piece of technology for my business, its going to be around having high levels of reporting, like you know that we talked about big data and everyone gets excited about big data and data warehouses but if you can’t access that information in the way that you want to and if you can’t have a nicely delivered solution at that other end spits out the information in the way that executives can then focus on the areas that you want them to focus on without a massive amount of manual implementation as a interim step then I don’t think it’s a great solution for you. I think, you are moving your workload into a different area.

So, if I think about a rem review cycle, historically there is a lot of workload upfront on excel spreadsheet, as you are managing this process, you kind of tailoring it at the other end and then trying to produce report. If I have a system that can replace all that, I want the heavy workload of worksheets and excel spreadsheets, to go away, which the system will do but I also want the reporting needs to be streamlined and finetuned for me exactly the way I want them.

I don’t want to spend a lot of time playing with data at the other end either. Otherwise, I am just moving a problem to another part of the cycle. So, I think if you find one that is going to be able to tailor the entire process and have as an administrator of the system high levels of control into what I can do with it.

Even how I can adjust it half way through if I need to, that kind of level of I don’t know the flexibility within technology is part of making that piece of software work for you. It’s not about putting in a one standard package solution that is set and once it’s done, I can’t do anything about it. If I can change and manipulate along the way, then it’s even better.

Arishma: Are our expectations too high, for what an software will deliver for an HR process?

Alison: Of course! We always want more than what we can get.

There is no perfect solution for everything and there is always going to be a hiccup and you have to just understand and the 80/20 rule applies to everything. And even software solution. So, you know I think if we are talking about our expectations are, if you can go into a software development process with very clear expectations of what you are looking for and find a provider who can match and answer those queries, problems, issues deliver on it, then you are probably going to end up in a 90/10 solution which is ahead of the pack.

It’s doing way more than you could ever hope for. I think there are two sides to that.

There is the future part as well, which is solving my problems now and being flexible enough to adjust with me as my business grows or changes in the future. So, you need a supplier that can do both. You just don’t fill the space with one solution once. It continues to develop and evolve.

Arishma: Will we ever find a perfect solution? Is there such a thing as total satisfaction?

Alison: I think there is two parts to that. I think you absolutely can have total satisfaction with who supplies your software solution.

If you find a good match and build a good relationship, you can absolutely have a perfect supplier. The other part of that question is around can you be totally satisfied with the solution, and that to me, is you should never be satisfied with a solution because you should always be looking for ways to improve and develop and further streamline and or enhance whatever solution you put in.

You always on the very first time out of the gate will have a massive win when you convert a manual rem process into a software online based tool. You absolutely will. You will be winning all over the place and everybody will love you but it’s what you can do after that.

It’s how you further enhance the tool, develop the tool, make it more user friendly, align with the business, when a business has a massive reorganization and restructure, can it take it, can it move with you, can it change with you, how much manipulation can you do as an independent person versus how much you need to go back to the supplier to adjust but the ability for it continue to grow with you. That is where the satisfaction is. You shouldn’t be looking for satisfaction in the tool. It should come with the ability for it to meet your needs year after year after year. That’s where the satisfaction comes from, in its ability to evolve with you and change with you.

In the final segment of this podcast series, Alison and Arishma talk about the use of reference checks when assessing an HR tech vendor, the relevance of RFPs today and the importance of user experience when buying a software. Stay tuned!