Read This Before Buying HR Tech
Ask anyone who’s been in the HR Tech industry for 3+ years and they will tell you that the market's complexity and pace of growth is greater than ever before. The speed at which new vendors are coming to market, and well-established vendors are launching new functionality is astonishing.
With all the solutions available today, it can be quite dizzying to navigate this marketplace for a solution that best fits your business’ needs. So, I’ve compiled a few tips for consideration as you determine the best HR Tech landscape for your organization:
All HR people are HR Tech people: Standing here in 2023, I can’t think of an HR function that does not require or interact with technology regularly. So before you say to yourself “I’m not a technologist, and therefore I don’t need to know about the available technology solutions”, just remember: there is likely no one within your organization who understands the day-to-day struggles and challenges in your workflow better than you do, and therefore there is no one more suitable than you to determine how technology can help you solve these challenges.
There is no ‘best’ solution anymore: I always struggle to answer the question “What is the best technology solution for [insert HR function/process here]?”. Here’s the bottom-line: most tech solutions in the market today will get you to ~85% of your ideal state - this is table stakes today for all solution providers (e.g., all ATS providers will have pre-designed a ‘source to pre-hire’ workflow for multiple industries and scenarios based on their experience at other organizations). The remaining ~15% is really going to depend on your business’ footprint, what your preferences are, what your business is looking for, and ultimately which business requirements you are willing to sacrifice. So before you look at solutions in detail, be highly specific about the features/functionalities/services that you are absolutely not willing to give up, and the ones that you are willing to sacrifice.
You need to vibe with your solution provider: OK, before you raise your eyebrows, hear me out. I’m a firm believer that a vendor/customer relationship should never be based only on what’s stated in the contract, which means I interact with my solution providers a lot. Something I have found to be true over the years is that if my solution provider or account executive and I are not on the same page/wavelength, that relationship - and thus the solution - becomes much more tumultuous and difficult to implement successfully. Also, the culture of your solution provider’s organization is often reflected in their projects and roadmaps. So make sure both organizations are culturally aligned before committing.
Do some homework and don’t leave it all to your Procurement team: If you are in Procurement and reading this, please know that I appreciate you and all that you do. Here is the common misunderstanding I often see with new HR Tech buyers - they assume that the Procurement team will scan the entire market and bring all available solutions to the table. Personally I have always found the relationship with Procurement most productive when I have done some homework, can present a few solution options that I think fit the bill, and then ask them to either search further based on these examples or add to the list.
Be nice and ask the hard questions: The HR Tech Expo floor (and market) is enormous, and therefore maximizing the time you spend with each solution provider is important. I’ve personally found it most useful to get to the questions you have in mind as soon as it is reasonable to do so. You should be respectful, but you should also take advantage of this time to ask the questions you are most curious about. If you think a question might be hard to answer, ask it. Because it’s those nagging questions that will either fester into misunderstandings later or not afford your solution provider a fair shot at the contract.
Ask for the economics: Ask about how your solution providers make money. This goes back to the old saying “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Transparency on the economics of the solution is critical to a healthy purchase decision.
Don’t be fooled by buzz words: Just because a vendor hands you a pretty leaflet that contains the words “AI”, “Analytics”, “Robotics”, “Automation”, etc., it doesn’t mean they can implement these solutions to your satisfaction. Each solution provider and buyer understand “AI”, “Analytics”, “Automation”, etc., very differently, and it is important to clarify the meaning of these buzz words before signing on the dotted line. Please refer to the previous six points on how to source the right solution for your business.