New research suggests that more human resources professionals are turning to cloud-based solutions to meet key business challenges and close effectiveness gaps that currently exist between HR priorities and HR systems.
A recent survey by Plateau Systems and Saugatuck Technology found that nearly 40 percent of HR executives plan to implement Software as a Service for one or more core HR systems between now and the end of 2011, with nearly 50 percent planning to have SaaS-based, core HR administration applications in place by the end of 2012.
Executives view support (39 percent) and implementation costs (33 percent) as the most important business considerations when selecting a SaaS or cloud-based solution provider, the survey found. Many executives have concerns, however, with 48 percent citing data security and privacy as a core issue with SaaS and cloud-based solutions.
Respondents also noted several business concerns that will pose great challenges to HR over the next two years, including organizational change and transformation, addressing skills gaps, reducing overall labor costs and leverage technology to improve business performance. HR executives noted that current HR systems are falling short of helping them meet those goals, resulting in a significant "effectiveness gap" between HR priorities and the abilities of existing HR systems. The largest effectiveness gaps exist among the most important HR priorities, the survey found, including those related to acquiring and retaining key talent, managing talent and performance.
Wired Workplace is a daily look at issues facing the federal information technology workforce. It is written by former Government Executive reporter Brittany Ballenstedt and published on Nextgov.com. Click here to read the latest entries.
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