I recently had a conversation with an HR manager at one of the larger universities in the state of Virginia about some of the anxieties he was feeling with his current HRM System. His story was typical. While his legacy system had been effective for decades prior, his best word to describe its current capabilities were…

“It’s klunky.”

For those administrators that share this same “klunky” experience with their current HRM System, you may be experiencing the following 3 pain points that indicate it’s time to consider an HRMS change!

Your HR department looks more like an IT department

Companies adopt HRMS in order to make their lives easier. However, when an organization begins to outgrow its current system, or its software grows obsolete and outdated, getting it to function correctly begins to require extensive IT intervention.

This investment in IT can come in direct hires, but more often it comes in opportunity costs incurred when non-technical staff deviate from their functional purpose to devise manual workarounds and processes to compensate for the system’s shortfalls. Over time, the human resource department begins interacting less with humans and more with their disparate software.

Related Blog: 5 Inefficiencies with Legacy Workforce Management Software

You’re stuck in silo-city

“Software silos” is the industry term for software that doesn’t communicate. For most organizations that were early adopters for legacy hosted solutions, this describes the current reality of their HRM system. For most employers, HRM system construction was a piecemeal process that repeatedly added new software on top of old software. In the beginning, manual workarounds were acceptable. Over time, they became a larger problem to support.

It’s for this reason research shows that 30% of employers will be changing their core HR system in the coming year. Lack of software integration has become an unsupportable drain on resources.

Your HRM system can’t automate your Affordable Care Act Reporting

In recent times, there’s arguably been no greater regulatory strain on HR administrators than Obamacare, its heavy administrative reporting requirements, and its prospective fines for negligence or non-compliance. Obamacare reporting requires annual filing which includes employee healthcare coverage data, salary information, and employee time tracking.

Related Blog: What to Look For in an Obamacare Software Solution

In the silo cities that most employers find themselves, most are unable to get their payroll, time-tracking, and benefits administration systems to integrate, auto-populate, and electronically transmit their annual 1094/1095-C reporting forms. For those who keep their current system and outsource ACA compliance, they find themselves introducing another silo’d system and manual workaround to their current disparate portfolio of software and vendors.

Related Blog: Why HR Professionals Should be THANKFUL for Obamacare

For those administrators and HR professionals that have checked “yes” next to the 3 indicators above, you’re likely also suffering from having little to no time to dedicate to true Human Capital Management and Strategic HR initiatives. Before investing in more IT, additional third-party vendors, and another manual workaround, it may be time to open the dialogue for a new and integrated HRM System.

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