Key Criteria for Evaluating Human Capital Management Solutionsv1.0

1. Summary

Human capital management (HCM) has become an increasingly popular discipline across virtually all industries. It focuses on realigning and advancing core human resources (HR) competencies to help treat employees as an organizational asset rather than a cost. Research has proven that creating an engaging and satisfying workplace is a win-win for employees and businesses alike. HCM software suites look to digitize these concepts through intuitive applications that strive to create an ideal work environment. HCM applications are prepackaged for seamless business integration and dramatically enhance core HR functions with a focus on usability, automation, and scale.

HCM consists of advanced capabilities that leverage predictive analytics, complex automation, and expansive integration suites. These enhance existing HR applications while also adding new prepackaged software. The main modules included in these platforms are shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Human Capital Management Applications

These modules help organizations support core HR processes while ensuring their workforce is optimized in terms of capacity, productivity, and skill. And for the employee, automated modules optimize how an individual experiences their organization to ensure satisfaction is maximized. HCM suites also help scale HR support through ticketing queues, digital assistants (chatbots), and configurable surveys.

Organizations deploying a full HCM suite benefit from having a single, centralized source of employee data that can be leveraged across all HR-function applications. In addition to providing a cross-application workflow and a wide range of integration points, HCM solutions help HR teams predict risks in skill-set gaps, develop highly targeted recruiting campaigns, and automate personalized action plans for any individual. HCM solutions are also valuable to business users: employees can self-manage their data profile and have more tools to support their career path and goals. This improves organizational efficiency and ensures employees are up to date with compliance requirements.

HCM packages range from narrowly focused HR functions to fully-fledged analytics platforms. Solutions can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. Organizations should evaluate which functions are required for their use cases as add-ons will impact subscription costs. Common limiting factors include the current state of HR domain systems, whether all applications can be centralized in one cross-integrated suite, and whether data can be exhaustively stored in a central location.