HR departments responding to a Towers Watson survey saytalent and performance management technology systems will be one ofthe most critical HR service delivery issues they will face in2011.

The 14th annual survey on HR service delivery trends andpractices also found that companies are planning to increase theirspending on HR technology this year as they look for new ways toimprove their efficiency and effectiveness.

According to the Towers Watson survey, 41 percent of the444 companies surveyed indicated talent/performance systems as oneof their top three HR service delivery issues for 2011.Streamlining HR processes and systems was listed by 27percent of the respondents, while 25 percent citedgreater involvement in strategic business-driven issues as theother top three HR service delivery issues for this year.

“As the economy continues to improve, the need for robust talentand performance management programs and enabling technologies hasnever been greater,” said Tom Keebler, global leader of TowersWatson’s HR Service Delivery and Technology practices. “Companiesview talent and performance management technologies as a criticalcomponent of their workforce attraction and retention initiatives,and also as a way to enhance HR’s role in helping the business tomeet its strategic goals.”

The survey also found that companies are making greaterinvestments in HR technology. More than one-third of respondents(34 percent) said they are planning to spend more on HR technologythis year, with one in eight expecting that increase to exceed 20percent over last year. Only 16 percent plan to reducetheir spending on HR technology.

“We haven’t seen this level of increase in investment in HRtechnology since before the economic downturn. The fact thattechnology spending is up this year is a clear indication of thehigh level of return that companies are seeing when it comes totechnology as a means for improving both HR efficiency andeffectiveness,” said Keebler.

Reengineering Is Top HR Initiative

The survey found that reengineering key HR processes is by farthe top HR initiative that respondents are currently undertaking orplanning for this year, with nearly two-thirds (62 percent) citingit as their major focus. The second most reported initiative (43percent) for 2011 is refocusing the role of their HR businesspartners, while more than one-third of respondents (37 percent)indicated their primary focus is on implementing or leveragingself-service technologies.

Further, those respondents that have recently completed theseinitiatives are reporting tremendous success, including 84percent that say process reengineering met or exceededexpectations, and 81 percent that say that their recentself-service initiatives have delivered on or exceeded theirexpectations.

“It is really heartening to see this triad of processredesign, enhanced technology and rethinking the way in which HRfunctions altogether,” said Keebler. “To achieve maximum successfor the business both for the individual initiatives and for the HRfunction overall you really do need to address all three of thesesimultaneously.”

Other key findings from the survey include:

• HR organizations are using Web 2.0 tools most frequently forrecruiting (43 percent), HR communication (38 percent) and training(25 percent).
• More than three-fourths (77 percent) of the surveyed companieseither have or are working on implementing a global data warehouseto consolidate information fed from separate systems.
• Manager and/or employee self-service (MSS/ESS) is in place atnearly eight in 10 (79 percent) of U.S. respondents.