HR Technology isn’t a luxury, but companies often think it is. Small companies, especially, may be tempted to forego the expense of using a third-party system to handle recruiting and HR functions and do it themselves. But as HR tech continues to evolve, more small businesses are adopting it. This year, 60% of small businesses plan to invest in HR technology — a rate 7% higher than large businesses.
It’s clear that small companies want to invest in HR software, but how does the software benefit them over larger businesses? Is it worth it to invest in new technology? How does large company software scale down for smaller ones?
Nimble is Better
Where many giants of industry are looking to adopt innovations in HR technology, smaller companies have several advantages available to them that will allow them to leverage new tech more quickly. Anthony Abbatiello (@apabbatielloHR), principal of Deloitte’s Human Capital Practice, tells us more:
“The smallest and youngest of these companies have the added benefit of not being weighed down by a lot of custom designed legacy HR systems that need to be phased out before moving to the cloud… They are more nimble, which is allowing them to take advantage of the software-as-a-service evolution.”
Being able to implement new technologies quickly lets small companies keep up with bigger ones while still retaining some of the benefits of the latter, like faster prototyping and adaptable payment plans. What this means for small companies is they should look for HR Tech companies that cater to their need to move quickly, their desire for flexible payment schedules, and an easily accessible cloud-based system rather than on-premise implementations. You need a solution that fits your needs, and with Beyond, you’ll have all of the tools you want in one easy-to-use package.
Scales Tipped in Your Favor
Investing in new tools may give you something over the giants in your industry, but is it worth the investment? Most HR software tends to aim for bigger customers, and uses a flat rate suited for a large company, as well as separate rates for each individual person using the software. This works well for those businesses, but for smaller ones, the flat rate could end up being too high, especially since the service will end up being used by fewer people. It doesn’t help that growing organizations suffer some diseconomies of scale.
When looking for a sourcing platform to integrate into your business, you need something that does a bit of everything. Whether payroll is a function of HR or Finance is up for debate, but in a small business, the person responsible for filling out your time sheets may be the same one that’s going to end up paying you (to make matters more confusing, this may not always be your boss).
Divide and Prosper
Just like you can’t always find that perfect candidate, sometimes you can’t find your perfect solution. When no one product works best for them, small companies should look to go ad-hoc with some of their HR processes, creating a suite of HR tools that includes free programs for some parts of the HR process, and some paid tools that do things you can’t relegate to free programs for security reasons. This will help keep costs down, but it’s a solution that works better at smaller companies than larger ones, since this amalgamation of programs only has to be used by a few people, versus an entire team that could find the process confusing. Keep in mind, it’s better to use systems that have an open API or open source code so that you can continue to support your growing processes with technology.
Small businesses need HR technology just as much as large companies, but how they go about it is up to them. Whether you invest in new tech ahead of the competition, find your dedicated solution, or make your own from smaller bits and pieces, the biggest advantage small businesses have is choice. Create an HR Technology ecosphere that allows you to hire, manage and recruit employees easily and efficiently.
Nexxt is a recruitment media company that uses today’s most effective marketing tactics to reach the full spectrum of talent – from active to passive, and everything in between. Learn more about hiring with Nexxt.