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Lecture Outline
Chapter 17: The Future of Human Resource Information Systems:
Emerging Trends in Human Resource Management and Information
Technology
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
❖ Discuss the short-term future trends in HRM
INTRODUCTION
➢ Before we analyze future trends in HRIS, it is appropriate to revisit how we got
here. In Chapter 1 we noted that, with its changing and expanding role, the typical
personnel department started keeping increasing numbers and types of employee
paper records. Computing technology began to emerge as a way to store and retrieve
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➢ With the increasing focus on strategic HRM and developments in technology, HR
professionals are deploying innovative technology solutions to address their core
challenges, such as talent management and workforce metrics and analytics.
➢ Multinational enterprises are leveraging HRIS to align their information technology,
processes, and people to replicate their HR policies and practices across global
operations. Some enterprises also use HRIS for effective disaster planning and recovery
during various crises, such as terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Future Trends in HRM
➢ Forecasting the future is, in general, quite difficult—and even more so in HRM. Although
one can examine past trends and extrapolate to the future, there can be unexpected
contingencies, such as the financial crisis of 2008–2009.
HEALTH CARE
➢ For organizations, health care costs are a growing concern. In a recent survey, rising
health care costs were identified by nearly 90% of executives surveyed as an important
challenge facing their organization in the next 2–5 years
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BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
➢ HR is under increasing pressure to show that its policies and practices add value to the
➢ Many organizations already have basic reporting capabilities, but they are increasingly
looking to incorporate more sophisticated metrics to better support HR programs (e.g.,
training). Consider that each year SHRM brings together a panel of experts to address the
most important upcoming concerns facing HR, and one of the panels is specifically
focused on metrics. Three key predictions from these panels about metrics are as follows:
o Organizations will increasingly demand that HR better measure and assess the
DEMOGRAPHIC WORKFORCE CHANGES
➢ The workforce in the United States is undergoing a dramatic transformation on multiple
fronts. First, it is becoming more diverse. More women and minorities are entering the
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➢ Additionally, there is a major demographic shift occurring in the workforce. Baby
boomers are postponing retirement. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
GROWING COMPLEXITY OF LEGAL COMPLIANCE
➢ One of the most important themes moving forward for HR will be the growing
governmental and agency compliance requirements. Human resources has always been
affected by legal compliance, but many would say that the pace of regulations continues
to grow. For example, the EEOC continues to develop additional guidelines, and states
VIRTUALIZATION OF WORK
➢ A final trend in HRM on which we briefly touch is the virtualization of work. No longer
are employees confined by physical or temporal space. Employees can conduct work
anywhere and at any time. “The virtual workspace can be defined as an environment
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Future Trends in HRIS
➢ When examining future trends in HRIS, it is impossible to separate the future trends in
IT/IS without relating them to the field of HRM. The knowledge economy is being
profoundly influenced not only by the intensity but also by the speed of technological
BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE
➢ The first trend in technology that will affect HR and HRIS is mobile computing and
“bring your own device” (BYOD). The change is a dramatic departure from how
organizations have previously managed their technological infrastructure and presents a
challenge for organizational IT support. Previously, the most common arrangement by
➢ The move to mobile creates some interesting issues for employees and the organization.
For example, how do you deal with the privacy issues associated with the storage and use
of personal and work data on the same device? In addition, the complexity of managing
network and data security dramatically increases when employees bring their personal
devices into work, which means that organizations will need to rethink data and network
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as Workday and SuccessFactors have built apps where employees can use their mobile
devices to access and connect to the corporate HRIS.
Software as a Service (SaaS) and the Cloud
➢ This “on–premise” approach to acquiring software was the dominant and often the only
approach available to organizations. Traditional software development models, the “on-
premise” or “home-grown” approach, are being replaced by “on–demand” software plans,
functionality.
➢ Organizations find moving to the cloud attractive because employees find these systems
easy to use. In the last four years, the market share for the largest three cloud vendors
(SuccessFactors, Ultimate Software, and Workday) has increased by 361%.
Service-Oriented Architecture
➢ One of the major problems during this technological evolution has been the frustration
associated with frequent system upgrade cycles. SOA may be a solution, as it converts
monolithic and static systems into modular and flexible components. SOA is about
Web 2.0
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➢ This term refers to a second generation of Web-related services focusing on creativity,
collaboration, and sharing, in contrast to traditional isolated information silos. Web 2.0
users not only access information but also generate, share, and distribute new content.
➢ Examples of Web 2.0 technology include the following: social networking sites (e.g.,
Social Networking
➢ Social networking (SNW) is one of the features of Web 2.0. Social networking tools,
such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, have become important tools for organizations,
and human resources is not an exception. Although many of these networks were
originally developed to enhance personal social connections, organizations are
increasingly harnessing the power of SNW in the workplace. For example, tools such as
wikis are being used by organizations to harness and centralize employee knowledge.
Some companies are even requiring that employees contribute to the company wiki,
making these contributions a formal component of various jobs.
➢ Companies are using Facebook and Twitter to help expand their HR brand and attract
employees to the organization. Many companies, such as IBM and Deloitte, are making
social networking a central component of how they bring new employees into the
organization, connecting them with current employees and easing their transition into the
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Enterprise Portals
➢ Enterprise portal is the general term used to refer to the ways in which individuals can
interact with each other. Enterprise portals can be information portals, collaboration
Open-Source Software
➢ Normally, software that is developed is copyrighted, and the source code is neither open
nor available for others. Some software developers have agreed to a different approach to
AN EVOLVING HRIS INDUSTRY
➢ Markets and industries are cyclical. Innovations drive change and create new
opportunities. In response to these opportunities, new companies emerge that specialize
in new innovations. For example, ERP vendors first started introducing their products
15+ years ago.
➢ Over time, the markets consolidated, and vendors merged, leaving a few dominant HR
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EVOLVING HRIS TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
➢ Along with the consolidation of the vendor and consultant landscape, organizations are
reconsidering their HR delivery models. One of the challenges facing organizations is
that many of them have historically chosen disparate best-of-breed approaches where
HRIS MOVES TO SMALL BUSINESS
➢ The last trend in HRIS that we focus on is the expanding options for small businesses. As
short as 5 years ago, the idea that a small business would be able to adopt a full-scale HR
Future Trends in Workforce Technologies
➢ The many future trends in the HRM, IT/IS, and HRIS fields can easily lead to confusion
for organizations, management, vendors, and employees. A solution to this confusion has
been proposed by Carden (2009), and we agree wholeheartedly: technology should serve
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CedarCrestone 2010–2011 HR Systems Survey
➢ The purpose of this survey was to provide “a worldwide benchmark of workforce
outlook, value achieved, and expenditures” (CedarCrestone, 2010, p. 1).
➢ Data for this report were collected in 2010 from 1,289 respondents representing over 20
million employees. The sample represents companies from throughout the globe,
including North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The major findings of this study
(in shortened form) are as follows:
1. Organizations that have more automation across all categories of
technologies outperform those organizations with less automation on the
important productivity measures of net income growth, sales growth, and
sales per employee.
4. Organizations are increasingly choosing to rent access to applications
instead of purchasing and installing these applications on site.
5. Organizations are continuing to invest in applications across all HR
functions. Administrative HRIS software for core HR recordkeeping,
payroll, and benefits is still the dominant class of technology, with
worldwide average use at 90%.
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8. Among organizations that have installed multiple talent management
9. Organizations have begun preparing to use service-oriented architecture
(SOA) to automate business processes (e.g., applicant tracking).
CHAPTER SUMMARY
As noted early in this chapter, forecasting the future is very difficult. However, students
focusing on understanding the field of HRIS must never forget the human issues involved
in developing and implementing an HRIS. The field of HRIS continues to evolve, and it
is important for those studying it not only to understand what is occurring today but also