The Story of HR Tech Implementation

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

Why

Ravi is a senior HR leader in a leading Indian organization. The organization has been in the business for the past 40+ years. Ravi himself has been working with them for 10+ years. He started as a management trainee after graduating from one of the premier B-Schools in India. The responsibility to drive the digital agenda in HR is on his shoulders after rising through the ranks. Today is his first meeting with all business leaders and his boss, the CHRO.

The CHRO is an industry veteran having spent 35+ years in the same industry. He has worked across multiple functions including manufacturing, service and now HR. The past 5 years under his leadership, HR has consolidated its position in the organization. Known for his firm belief in the philosophy – the more we change things, the more they stay the same.

The owner’s daughter Ishita has recently returned from the USA after completing her master’s studies. She has started working in the business and is very keen to drive the digital transformation of the business.

Ravi is to present a business case for the implementation of digital technologies in HR.  Currently, the entire HR department works on MS -Excel for everything. He is very nervous.

The Meeting

Ravi enters the room. He has prepared a business case assuming process simplification and transparency as benefits. He had learned about some of these in one of the conferences he attended earlier in the year.

The CFO, Krishna, interrupts Ravi midway and asks him to clearly state the investment asked for and the ROI metric. While Ravi knows the amount he would need, it quickly turns out that he has not considered all costs. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is missing. The ROI is also on shaky ground. Ravi sinks further.

Ishita, the owner’s daughter, comes to Ravi’s rescue and argues that investing in technology is not an option anymore. We must invest or else be left behind and die. She cites several examples from companies in the US in similar industries. There are some nods and some head shakes in the room.

Ravi manages to get 50% of what he asked for as pilot investment and is asked to show results in 6 to 9 months. The CHRO has clearly stated this is a priority for him, yet he was actively disengaged in the conversation leading up to the decision.

The Plan

Armed with the budget and the timeline, Ravi starts calling his friends and asking if anyone has done something similar. He wants to know which vendor they used and how was their experience. After checking with HR folks in other companies in his industry for references, he assigns the task to Nidhi in his team. Nidhi must find the vendors and set up demos.

She is very good with Google search and comes up with a comparison between global and Indian vendors. They realize only a few meet the pre-selection criteria. 5 vendors are called for a demo in the office. After sitting through their demos for hours together, she finalizes on 3 vendors that would go to round 2 with Ravi.

In this round, Ravi is only focused on cost, timeline and previous track record (PTR) in his industry. He relies heavily on references provided by the vendor, especially from similar industries. They draw a comparison on features including the above data and present the same to CHRO with their recommendation. Several meetings are held internally and with the potential vendors before they finalize.

The Implementation

Ravi makes an aggressive implementation plan. He must show results in 6-9 months. Plans are made to go-live with multiple modules in a short span of time. He believes that process standardization and technology implementation can be done in parallel. The team is motivated due to the high visibility of the project internally.

The first few modules get implemented in no time, building the team’s confidence. They had started with simple ones. But as they get in complex modules, they realize multiple stakeholders are asking for multiple things. A lot of time and energy is being spent on getting everyone on the same page. Some modules get implemented and then stakeholders start to ask for requirements they always had from technology.

The vendor is now inundated with multiple requirements from multiple stakeholders and is struggling to meet those in the given timeframe. The noise in the system is very high. Ravi is very nervous. His reviews with the CHRO and other senior leaders are not going as he thought they would.

What Next

Well, this is where we ask you to recommend next steps to Ravi. Have you been in a similar situation in your implementation? What has been done well and what needs to be re-looked at here?

What advice would you give Ravi at this stage?

We would love to have your responses in completing this story.