HR initiatives can fail if employees are not engaged by the software they are required to use in the workplace, says Ian Lee-Emery CEO and Founder of Head Light. He believes that business software providers must design business apps that have the same compelling interfaces as those we have come to rely on in our personal lives.
Ian says, “HR initiatives often rely on employee buy-in to succeed and many of these are driven by HR software. But if employees are not compelled to use the software, or if the software is too clunky to use whenever and wherever the need arises, success can be limited from the start. Nothing stops the roll-out and engagement in HR processes faster than the deployment of old-fashioned tools, especially with an increasingly young and mobile workforce.”
“Many HR software providers have rushed to provide mobile apps for their software so they can deliver some form of mobile user experience for their customers. Typically these are just cut-down versions of the wider software, and often present real security and upgrade problems for enterprise customers. In many senses, it goes back to the 80’s where desktop installs were all too common and a real problem for enterprise customers to deploy and manage.”
Head Light has taken a different approach. It has introduced in its talent management software suite, Talent Cloud® 8.0 – a mobile, responsive and total user experience, whilst retaining the security and deploy-ability of its award-winning Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.
Ian says, “We took a bold step in 2014 to commit to leapfrog current practice and go straight to a mobile native design to make it as quick and easy for employees and managers to use our software as if they were using a native app on their phone or tablet.”
Ian said, “This is very much a step-change – and not just a visual refresh. We took the opportunity to look at what mobile devices offer in terms of screen shape and orientation, interface, connectivity and mobile behaviour and redesigned how users interact with our software. But we are mindful that certain tasks are more efficiently completed when using a more traditional desktop and, as such we have optimised the interfaces for the tasks typically carried out by different people.”
Selected clients have been trialling the new design in parallel environments to their live system. “Talent management software, unlike general HR software, needs to be designed with the employee and their manager in mind. We have had great feedback from end-user communities about our mobile talent software and have been able to prove that this new interface works well for them whilst ensuring there is a robust, reliable, secure and scalable platform to meet the requirements of their enterprise IT teams.’
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