For the best part of the last 2 - 3 decades, technology has completely transformed the modern workplace. From the modernisation of the office based business, to allowing employees to work remotely - technology in the workplace has truly changed the way we work.

There are very few departments within a business who do not rely on technology to function, and HR is no exception. The vast majority of leading businesses today will use some form of HR software to run a much more efficient and effective HR team - but what are the key ways in which technology in HR can help?

In this blog we take you through some of the key benefits of using technology and software to supercharge your HR team.

It allows for data driven decisions

We live in a world of data, and this is truer than ever in the world of business. One of the key goals for many leading businesses is to make data driven decisions. They are often more accurate, and likely to be more effective.

Using HR software allows a business to instantly have access to a wide variety of employee data points, and use these to make key business decisions. Without the use of a HR system, a business would have to manually export data, or worse, have handwritten data uploaded and sorted - both of which taking an incredible amount of time and effort.

With HR software, businesses can have instant access to data on employee performance and engagement, to more administrative data, such as payroll information. This allows businesses to make quick decisions, based on real world data, and not instinct or guesswork.

Saves time and money

If you were to take 100 HR professionals and ask them what the best benefit of HR software is, the vast majority would say that it saves time and money - because it does!

Gone are the days of manually inputting data to spreadsheets, such as holiday time, performance information, compliance updates, and more. Technology can save a HR team a significant amount of time, which in turn saves a significant amount of money for the business.

Many HR system options also provide employees access, so that they can update their own records - removing the need for the HR team to spend any time at all on certain tasks.

Secure data

The HR team within a business often handles the most secure of data and documents. These can include things like employees bank details and personal information - each of which are subject to strict data protection rules with standards like GDPR being a legal requirement.

Adopting HR software ensures such data is collected and stored in compliance with GDPR, compared with a less technical approach of physical company records or unsecure spreadsheets.

Using technology to ensure employee data is secure may not seem like a cost saving exercise initially, but if something goes wrong, the true cost of insecure data will soon become apparent. Business can face enormous fines and penalties for breaching data protection rules, which in many cases would dwarf the cost of HR software.