The latest workforce technology developments are proving what a large part software innovation can play in how human resources and benefits professionals do their job.

As companies move away from intranet sites and toward more complex information systems, the biggest developments of the past few years have been less about core technology and more about improving the delivery and utilization of previously existing technology. These changes in self-service, portals and workforce technologies are focused on giving HR less information to maintain, making data easier to aggregate, simplifying information distribution to the right managers and making technology more usable for the employee.

Scot Marcotte, a principal with Buck Consultants who leads the electronic communications office, says managing new HR technology "involves taking that information [personal employee information, company data or industry data] and providing it back to the relevant users so they can make informed decisions."

The biggest change in portal technology continues to be a shift from flat technology to three-dimensional, personalized systems.

"The direction things have to go in is supporting the employee benefits consumer," says Andrew Ceccon, chief marketing officer for OnlineBenefits Inc.

Integration

The essence of strategic portal design is converging benefit and HR services in order to ease employee interaction. In the past, different management tasks were kept in separate silos. Now, HR-benefits managers and software designers are seeing how the programs are interrelated, and applications are merging as all-in-one solutions. This greater compatibility of programs allows for long-term flexibility as technology changes or as specific vendor applications that feed into the architecture come or go.

"Once you deploy the portal software, you can do whatever you want with it because you have the infrastructure to add whatever applications you want to it," says Michael Rudnick, national intranet and employee portal leader for Watson Wyatt

Overall, HR departments are purchasing fewer single-task applications that interface with their current system and more suites that have multiple functions.

"We look at where all of this data can work together, where all of the third-party applications and systems can work together, and fill in any of the blanks so we can have that complete picture for the individual user, whoever the user is," says Marcotte.

The more aggregate data an HR-benefits professional can access at one location or the more transactions an employee can execute at a single portal site, the less time and money is wasted in redirecting or being assisted to find something.

"It really starts with the aggregation and accumulation of data from every possible third party and every internal source of information that may drive the decisions of each of those end users," says Marcotte.

Portal outsourcing

Increasingly, integrated HR management has made the design and maintenance of HR technology more complex, sparking a growth in outsourcing.

"The biggest evolution in the last year or two has been the trend of companies outsourcing their HR portals," says Rudnick. "The portal becomes, in a sense, another application to outsource to aggregate all this content."

The key force behind outsourcing is the realization that designing and maintaining a custom human resource management network takes more continued expense, manpower, troubleshooting attention and vendor management than the initial costs show, according to experts. Service providers cite the following benefits to outsourcing:

•  Outsourcing also allows a third party to make quick, clear decisions in a pinch, while companies handling their own HR technology may have to consult many people before making adjustments.
• While outsourcing is a major investment for companies, a company that puts its trust in a proven business process outsourcer may see a better return on investment than a company that tries to go it alone or launch a redesign constructed by its current staff.
• Outsourcing portal construction and management does not necessarily reduce an organization's technical flexibility.

"The critical importance to employers is the flexibility to choose a plan that works for them," says William Smith, vice president of sales for Benefit Software, Inc. "They are not married to a carrier." Smith says a company won't lose employee data just because they change providers or new features develop.

On-demand strategies also reassure CEOs that their investment won't be defunct in a month. These applications are programmed to update automatically by the outsourcer, via the Web, when HR personnel sign on to the system.

Recruitment

Not only is new technology helping HR personnel manage current employees, it's also helping in the area of recruiting. Rudnick says orientation programs have been Watson Wyatt's most requested service in recent months.

A job applicant's information can now be consolidated from many sources so decisionmakers can see the big picture when filling a position. The prospective employee's information can be integrated with software that organizes applicants to see where they stand among those competing for the position as well as current employees. Once the candidate is employed, the same software can help HR track the employee's progress.

"When you start at work, you're not starting from scratch because you have various forms already filled out," says Rudnick.

Watson Wyatt's orientation program is designed to give an individual more access to his employee portal as he progresses from applicant to candidate to a new employee, and after thirty days of work, to total employee access.

'Intelligent' videos

Rudnick says more companies are trying to refresh and update their content, like a general consumer Web site. He says companies should spruce up their communications because poor recruitment videos and Web sites are important to today's job applicants. Companies are using more rich media to appeal to the younger, Web-minded employees they hope to attract.

OnlineBenefits' program, Benergy, encourages recent hires to look at a benefits plan tour video that teaches them about things like health savings accounts so they can make better benefit decisions.

"It's not just a generic video. We call it a dynamic video or intelligent video that knows about your employer's plan and presents everything. It teaches you about a plan, but it also teaches you how much you're going to pay when you go to the doctor," says Ceccon.

Usability

Even if a company's workforce is not particularly computer savvy, today's user-friendly software can meet the diverse needs of employer self-service programs, manager self-service programs and HR information architecture.

"Consumer-driven health care plans have really been the influence in a lot of recent interest in portal development and particularly in personal information for employees," says Marcotte. "Employees can use their own information to make informed decisions, and we can provide all sorts of decision support tools."

A personalized portal experience is more user friendly because the user doesn't need to weed through extraneous content. Portals can be customized to either a specific user or to segments of the employee population based on department or level. Smith says the best technology provides immediate and personalized feedback of election benefits and costs, 24/7 access, links to the third parties and a complete snapshot of all benefits.

"If I am being asked to take more control over my health care spending, I need a way to track my own health," says Ceccon. "In our next generation of Benergy, we are having a personal health tracker where someone can keep their own health records in one centralized place. If, within an employer-sponsored portal, there's a private area where an employee can keep a good file cabinet of his and his family's health, we think that makes the portal much more relevant and stronger for the employee."

Single sign-on is a simple concept in advanced portals, but it can also mean lots of technical tweaking. The feature allows an employee to sign onto only one portal rather than having several password prompts as he moves through the system. No matter where in the site an employee is, he can navigate to internal company communications, personnel records, training programs, benefits information, etc. without passing through more gateways.

"Being able to go in and see your pay stub online and to capture all your earnings and vacation time and training records - employees love the kind of stuff that is specific to them versus having to call a call center or have someone mail it," says Robert Skillman, vice president global accounts, general manager portal business unit at Workscape.

Implementing new technology

As HR-benefits professionals know, keeping employees' needs met fuels productivity and the business' success. Advanced technology provides the data that allows HR-benefits managers to better meet the needs of employees, and enables employees to better understand and manage their benefits. However, its effectiveness is dependent on how often it is viewed by employees.

"At the end of the day, it's all about adoption. If you don't get people to go there, it's not going to be successful," says Skillman. And, he adds, you won't be able to show that you've increased everyone's productivity.

Choosing an appropriate program design initially may contribute to the adoption of new technology. Thoroughly assessing the workforce and HR challenges facing a company is critical to understanding what type of HR management system the company needs in order to achieve goals. If a solid plan is not laid out to analyze the current process, a company may get a management system that delivers poor results quickly rather than efficient, focused solutions. - M.B.