In a world increasingly driven by technology, HR success hinges not on the right technology, but the right digital transformation strategy. Everywhere you look there are still failing HR technology projects impacted the productivity and efficiency of the HR function.
Josh Bersin Co. says “42% of HR Technology projects fail” while Gartner HR Investments 2024 states “26% of projects create no operational savings for HR”.
AI is an important part of your digital transformation, but it’s not the only part. The core technology requirement is still there and, indeed, today’s AI is most powerful when working with well-structured, consistent and integrated data, which many HR teams are still lacking.
So, how do HR leaders drive increasing success and adoption in their digital transformations?
The HR Tech Imperative: A necessity, not a luxury
Gartner’s Leadership Vision for 2025 underscores the importance of technology as the second highest priority of 2025. It emphasises how HR professionals must take on a growth mindset and an understanding of how they can use technology to increase their productivity. And with HR having to do more with less and in many ways lagging the tech adoption in other functions, now is the time to act.
Technology is now capable of augmenting the HR function and operations in ways never seen before including:
- Automating routine tasks such as payroll and benefits
- Opening the doors to AI enabled skills management and skills-based hiring
- Improving the employee experience through management nudge-tech which can make performance management a continuous and pain-free process
- Support the development of communication skills in teams
- Promote a supportive culture through employee well-being and remote working platforms
- Increasing employee retention through AI enabled insights into engagement and career progression
- Bias detection in talent management practices
The Pitfalls of Poor Technology Choices
While technology is essential for HR success, poorly chosen or implemented technology teamed with a weak training and adoption plan can hinder rather than help.
This often leads to numerous problems:
- Lack of Adoption: If technology is complex or not user-friendly and training is not ongoing, HR teams will resist using it. There should be a sense of enjoyment from using technology, not a feeling of burden.
- No Productivity Gains: Inefficient systems can increase workload and create frustration among teams.
- Poor ROI: When technology fails to deliver on its promises, it becomes a costly investment with little return. Often more budget is added to try and fix a project where the fundamentals are wrong. And this shows HR teams in a poor light in the boardroom.
- Tech Fatigue: Ultimately, these issues occurring regularly create a sense of apathy and confusion among HR teams, stifling innovation and effectiveness.
How to Get it Right: A Roadmap for HR Technology Success
To avoid these pitfalls, consider the following tips for success:
- Ensure you are clear on the problem(s) to be solved: Too often we see technology discussions without absolute clarity on the needs and this will always lead to issues.
- Choose the right technology: Obvious, but so often ignored. Select solutions that align with your specific needs and goals. Simply opting for the latest trend or the the “Rolls Royce will not necessarily succeed; choose what will truly benefit your organisation today but can also grow with you tomorrow. Today, the peer review platforms like G2 and Capterra can be valuable in supporting your decisions.
- Beware the demo: A demo is the easiest way to make the product look amazing. Ensure the demo covers some of the real challenges you already face. Focus on your specific use cases and don’t let the technology sales team cloud your judgement.
- Start small: As with any technology, success starts with a tight set of use cases that balance value created with the effort to deliver. Many failures stem from implementing too much technology in one go. Instead, start small but rapidly roll out new features to build momentum.
- Don’t customise: Customise great technology at your peril. It’s often easier to change your processes to fit the technology rather than spend years and millions on developers and custom features that break every time the technology rolls out an update.
- User-Centric Design: Prioritise solutions with intuitive interfaces and a positive user experience that encourage use over outdated and confused platforms.
- Smooth Integration: Ensure the technology integrates well with your existing HR systems so you create one powerful platform and not a multitude of disparate systems. Again, the demo can make the technology appear perfect at face value, but the reality of integration is often much more complex and more of a challenge for your existing systems and data than your new technology. Ask for specific reference clients who have integrated the same systems – then you can understand the true story.
- Change Management and Adoption: Effectively communicate the benefits of the technology and provide comprehensive training and support, involving your frontline teams in the decision making and implementation process as well as using them as your advocates. Many businesses fail on adoption because they believe the technology is the solution. Installing the right technology is the easy part, getting people to use it is much harder. Investing in dedicated teams with KPIs solely focused on adoption and usage could be your biggest win.
- Data Fluency: Equip your HR team with the skills to interpret and leverage data insights.
- Compliance by design: Build in your compliance needs at the start – this is much simpler and cheaper than refactoring later.
Turning Technology into a Triumph
By taking a strategic and user-centric approach to HR technology, you can empower your HR team. The product mindset is a great place to start and will help you overcome many of the challenges by driving more focus on user needs and creating value quickly.
- Reduce time to value – seeing small amounts of improved efficiency and productivity sooner wins trust and drives momentum
- Make informed, data-driven decisions – giving real power to decision making and strategic focus moving forwards
- Prove HR value to the C-suite – giving your CHRO the benefit of tangible improvements can help them win trust and unlock funding for move investment in your function, driving a greater focus on innovation
- Keep technology providers on their toes – a good implementation team can drive your vendors harder and make it easier for you to switch vendors in the future.
In the tech-driven landscape of 2025, HR success relies on embracing and effectively leveraging the right technology. By making smart choices and prioritising user adoption, you can transform your HR team into a true powerhouse of organisational growth and effectiveness.
I’d love to hear your stories of HR tech successes and failures in the comments.
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