Navigating the Human Resources Frontier: Digital Transformation through Service Management

Q&A with Kim Osoba

“Increasing demands from customers and competitors has amplified internal pressure for alignment and productivity across the organization. As a result, the potential impact that HR teams can have on the business has grown exponentially. HR teams are at the forefront of employee engagement, culture, analytics and the impacts of digital transformation on the workforce.” -Kim Osoba, director of Talent Acquisition at Cherwell.

As organizations look to implement digital transformation and multiple processes of automation across the company, human resources (HR) departments are getting in on the action as well. Efficient and easy to access day-to-day services are now mandatory for the modern HR team, which in turn frees up resources to truly drive the talent agenda, support business strategy, and culture.

With the recent release of Cherwell’s Human Resources Service Management solution, we dove deeper into how HR teams utilize tools to navigate changing digital landscapes.

We sat down with Cherwell’s Kim Osoba, Director of Talent Acquisition, to get the lay of the land.

What current challenges are HR orgs facing that a HR service management solution could help with?

I see the challenges that HR professionals face as falling into several buckets-most of which have to do with increasing digitization and rapid pace of change that all organizations are facing.

• On the employee engagement front, HR employees-like most, if not all!-expect a consumer-like experience that can be customized by geography and/or placement within the organization. That’s something that an HR service management tool provides.
• As we think about HR team capacity and capability, a service management solution frees up valuable time for HR execs to focus on broader initiatives business and the organization as a whole. Simultaneously, this can drive development of the HR team’s strategic capabilities and impact.
• In the realm of HR operational excellence, with the automation that a service management solution provides, we can prioritize real-time operations and problem solving. We can discover new levels of analytics on the needs of employees and demands on the HR team and optimize accordingly.
• Finally, I would say most organizations are struggling to break down of business silos to some degree. An HR service management solution bridges departmental gaps and emphasizes coordination of activities within and beyond HR. On and off-boarding is a great example.

What are some general trends that HR teams are moving towards in terms of digital transformation?

There is a renaissance of technology for HR at the moment, but most of these address individual HR functions-performance management, talent acquisition, learning, etc. These solutions are primarily employee facing and digitize specific initiatives and workflows, but very few address the broader HR operational issues across HR teams.

HR is typically thought of as a human-driven department for obvious reasons. Do you think adding in a service management solution and automating aspects of HR impacts that idea?

Actually, I see an HR service management solution placing employees at the forefront. They are given a consumer-like experience and empowered with data and the ability to have instant access and impact. With the world around us being so digitized, HR departments need to adopt the “on-demand” capabilities to match.

From a strategic perspective, a solution allows strategic HR business partnerships to form by not having to spend unnecessary time on transactional tasks. The tool also increases the analytic capabilities of the team by providing real-time data on HR operations and workforce analytics.

One way to do this is through avenues such as the Human Resources Service Management solution from Cherwell. This new solution that lives on top of the Cherwell® Service Management can help centralize employee requests and integrates payroll, benefits and other business-critical applications into a central source to help deliver HR services more efficiently.

How does Cherwell’s HRSM solution differ from others? What makes Cherwell’s solution standout?

Hands down-I think the advantage of Cherwell is the ease of configuration. Within HR teams you will find a variety of technical expertise and with Cherwell you don’t need to have a team of experts. Processes and knowledge articles can be updated by the HR team directly, and this includes dashboards that can be created within minutes. This keeps the HR team aligned on operations and metrics.

What is your favorite thing that you can do now because of the Cherwell HR Service Management solution?

Personally, I love data! The ability to have instant access to the HR operation is amazing. I can see exactly what the needs are of our employees and how we are responding. Also, we can easily spot process issues across departments. Data unlocks a tangible way to assess the effectiveness of HR processes and the scalability of HR team.

Thank you, Kim! If you are interested in learning how a tool such as Cherwell HR Service Management could help your organization on the path towards digital transformation, it’s available now as a subscription. Check it out today.