3 Technologies That Yield Significant HR Cost Savings

Maintaining efficiency in Human Resources can be costly, but it doesn’t have to be. Many of those repetitive, time-consuming HR-related tasks that your team loathes can be automated to give your experts more time to focus on hiring and growth. After all, those are the most valuable functions of Human Resources. Organizations that are serious about increasing HR cost savings often turn to technology to help them get there.

This article explores three technologies that yield significant HR cost savings for businesses that want to become more resourceful in Human Resources, including:

• Document Management Software
• HR Automation
• Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Why Implement HR Cost Reduction Strategies?

Many organizations assume that Human Resources is functioning at a high level. They see new employees being onboarded, receive updated employee handbooks every year, and get quick responses to their questions about insurance and 401(k)s. Across your organization, HR is viewed as a constant because “things seem to be getting done.” Little do they know, within the HR department, trouble has been brewing for a long time.

Oftentimes, it’s not until an HR-related catastrophe arises that we consider implementing HR cost reduction strategies. This isn’t an effective approach to HR management because these “catastrophes” are almost always the result of underlying issues with your HR workflow. If you can prevent inefficiencies on the micro level, you can assuredly avoid issues on the macro level.

Here’s an example:

Your HR department has to create and maintain a file for each employee, 1099 contractor, and vendor that you work with, which involves a massive amount of paper-based and electronic files. Your team is likely spending hours printing out applications and benefits forms, signing and dating them, and filing them away —  time that they could be spending on more value-driven tasks.

More time is wasted once the time comes to retrieve a document or form because they must search through file cabinets to locate what they’re looking for. In Human Resources, every minute spent performing work manually — whether reviewing, approving, revising or filing — is time wasted. Why? Because there are technologies that can perform tasks on their behalf.

1. Document Management Drives HR Cost Savings

One of the fastest ways to unlock measurable HR costs savings is by eliminating paper. Paper is expensive and it doesn’t “play nice” with solutions focused on boosting efficiency. In a document-centric department like Human Resources, paper serves as a constant reminder that there is still work to be done to achieve higher levels of productivity. Document Management Software digitizes HR documentation to eliminate paperwork altogether. It also allows your HR department to search, review, modify, and retrieve HR documents from a desktop or mobile device.

2. HR Automation Eliminates Time-Consuming, Manual Tasks

Once all of your HR documents are digitized and your organization has removed paper from the equation, you can begin to automate time-consuming manual tasks with HR Automation. Automation prefers to work with structured data, but most of the documentation entering your organization contains unstructured data. The best way to seize the greatest HR cost savings is by utilizing technology that combines the capabilities of Document Management Software and HR Automation: Enterprise Content Management.

3. ECM Merges Document Management and Automation Capabilities

With Document Management and HR Automation, your organization can achieve major HR cost savings by automating key activities, keeping all of your employee files organized and accessible, and ensuring the security of all your confidential data. With Enterprise Content Management, you can use all of the capabilities of Document Management and HR Automation while also expanding your solution to other departments.

With ECM, your organization can achieve significant cost savings with a single, integrated platform. Here’s how:

• Automatically capture information from your paper-based forms.
• Save time by eliminating manual data entry for your HR team.
• Maintain a long-term archive without the expense of paper, ink, toner, envelopes, and secure storage structures.
• Consolidate all of your employee data into a single, secure platform.
• Provide immediate access to any requested record through a simple keyword search.
• Ensure business continuity in the event of an unexpected disaster or business disruption.
• Reliably delete records once they are no longer needed, simplifying the off-boarding process.
• Automate key workflows, such as benefits administration and paid time off (PTO) approvals, based on your business rules.

Extend the ROI of Your Existing HR Management System

ECM Software also integrates with your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Human Resource Management (HRM) software. When a new file is received, it is instantly updated in your other databases. All of your systems are seamlessly connected, eliminating frustrating information silos and supporting enterprise collaboration. If your organization is interested in learning how to leverage its existing technology as part of its HR cost reduction strategy, an ECM provider can help you envision how other businesses just like yours are using ECM to gain a competitive advantage.

To see what sort of savings you can achieve in your own HR department, contact us today. Or, request a custom demo of our human resources automation software, and see how you can transform your workflows to fit in today’s fast-paced environment.