If you want your HR software purchase to be successful, you must include the right people on the buying team. Although the process can be complex, it is necessary to have effective software. You can involve multiple stakeholders in your decision-making process.
After all, excellent HR management software is crucial for the success of the company’s HR strategy. You can provide a great employee experience and have a long-lasting and positive impact on them.
It might be difficult to get funding for various HR initiatives if the HR application or system doesn’t display the planned Return on Investment (ROI). The success and failure of the software can positively or negatively impact the budgets and resourcing of different departments.
So, keep reading for some advice on bringing a successful purchasing team together and factors to consider when buying the best software.
What are the roles and responsibilities of the HR software purchasing team?
Generally, the team is brought together by a stakeholder or a sponsor. But you can also delegate to a senior HR professional. You must remember that it entirely depends upon the types of activities and structures within the organization.
In the HR software purchasing team, you will obviously require your HR team, your company’s IT professionals, and representatives from different departments. Although the primary user of the software will be the HR team, you will require the IT team to integrate the system.
The software can gain formal approval and funding from the key stakeholders when the representatives of each department understand the advantages of the HR management software. Each team member has a typical role when it comes to purchasing the software.
Read on to know the roles and responsibilities of the purchasing team.
- Sponsor: Being a sponsor means looking at the larger picture and defining strategic goals. The sponsor must be present in every session related to the software or demo. This person must be a key decision-maker. Depending upon the project, a sponsor can be CFO or CIO. They can also be an HR director or a chief HR officer (CHRO).
- Selection manager: The evaluation and selection process is run by the selection manager. This person organizes meetings, delegates tasks to various team members, and keeps a project plan.
- Selection advisor: Sometimes, selecting the right software can be challenging. Hence, you require a selection advisor. The complex process becomes simple due to the help received by the selection advisor.
You can outsource an expert selection advisor or find someone with that expertise within your company. This person must guide the team on various topics like defining key questions to vendors, creating a timeline, and establishing the requirements.
- Subject matter experts: For expert guidance, you will require subject matter experts. Since there are different applications for evaluation, this person can be a payroll manager or processor, compensation and benefits manager, a learning and development specialist, a succession planner, or a recruiting manager.
You can also include more team members of the same function as a part of the subject matter expert team. For instance, a compensation coordinator might join the compensation and benefits manager if the compensation management tool is being evaluated.
- Demo team: Although many subject matter experts and HR professionals might not participate in the software evaluation process, they must be present for demos and product presentations. During the demos, you will be able to ask important questions and understand the functionality of the software.
What advice can be given to the HR buying team?
If you purchase a learning management system, you must ensure that it is integrated with the development planning system. You must be able to hire candidates successfully into the core HR system.
The current financial planning system must be integrated with the HR management software. If you purchase from different vendors, you might have different integration points and UIs. Your payroll system must extract some deductions, which the pension provider must receive.