When you go to your local Wal-Mart/Meijer/Publix/Safeway/Target/etc what type of car do you drive? Is it a family sedan, a minivan or a SUV? Maybe you drive a luxury car like a Mercedes Benz, BMW or Lexus. As odd as it may sound, many people drive a Ferrari to haul their groceries from the store.
Now I don’t really mean that a large number of people drive a hard-crafted Italian exotic sports car to their local Piggly Wiggly, but rather the fact that there are a substantial number of organizations who have selected a tool to help with everyday tasks which is not necessarily best suited to their intended needs. In the world of Human Resources, this can easily be applied to the use of Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and Core HR technology.
In my experiences working with lots of diverse organizations I have observed a substantial number of organizations who have selected and implemented technology which isn’t necessarily suited to their needs. For example, if my intended need is to simply automate performance appraisals, taking a paper process and evolving it online, do I really need a high-performing solution which can do what I’m looking for and so much more? Yes, this is a trick question.
If the plan is to help leverage the technology to help drive transformational change, then simply automating performance appraisals isn’t going to get the job done – much like trying to haul home a new sofa from the store with your Mini Cooper. On the other hand, if you buy technology which is feature rich, yet only use it to automate current processes you have purchased a Ferrari to haul your groceries.
In the end, when considering a technology purchase be sure to match the solution with the need otherwise you’ll end up with a tool mis-matched to your intended purpose much like the driver of the Mini Cooper mentioned above.
This is one of my favorite posts from the HRT!!!
I was just sifting through the site to share this post with colleagues.