The digital workplace is the inevitable shift to next-gen technologies encompassing Cloud, Mobility, Robotic Process Automation, Conversational AI, Machine Learning, Analytics and Insights, Gamification, and IoT.

Shailesh Singla, Country Head & Sr. Director - HCM Business and Indira Sovakar Screymour SVP, HR, Genpact India

It has been commonly observed that the HR business function, regardless of the size of the organization, has always been a relatively early adopter of innovations on the processor technology front. The term "Digital HR" carries different meanings for different organizations, based on the milestone reached in their digital adoption journey. Moving to a Human Capital Management (HCM) model was referred to as digitization a decade ago, transforming to cloud used to be digital adoption a couple of years ago, and now we believe digital HR transformation means creation of a digital enterprise which caters to the future of work by deploying a digital workforce enabled by a digital workplace.

The Digital HR enterprise is a harbinger of change in the global business environment and may be defined as an encapsulation of Cloud Enterprise, Cognitive Enterprise (Conversational UX, Intelligent Apps, Advance Analytics), and Connected Enterprise (Digital Integration, IoT, Blockchain). The digital workforce comprises a multi-generational, digitally and socially connected, tech-savvy workforce creating a compelling focus on employee experience.

The digital workplace is the inevitable shift to next-gen technologies encompassing Cloud, Mobility, Robotic Process Automation, Conversational AI, Machine Learning, Analytics and Insights, Gamification, and IoT, all of which are the building blocks for enhancing employee experience. Every organization working in a highly competitive market is required to redraw its focus on employee experience to maximize productivity.

The increased focus on HR transformation engagements has forced the organisations to fast track the employee experience to extraordinary levels. The war for talent is on a hyperbolic path where a positive and intuitive employee experience is considered critical for any organisation and it begins from one's first point of access to an organization - as an aspiring job candidate even before joining a company.

In this highly competitive market, organisations need to have HCM solutions that cover all dimensions of cloud, cognitive and connected solutions. It needs to have standard cloud offerings such as global HR, talent management, rewards, workforce management, work-life solutions, and analytics, but also need to make investments towards providing a robust platform for building chatbots, advanced AI, analytics and IoT solutions on top of HCM to upgrade user experience. Virtual HR assistants can assist in a variety of activities in the employee's journey within an organization, including helping them as candidates looking for a new position, enabling their onboarding when they join, walking them through policies, managing their absence requests with minimal inputs, enrolling them for appropriate learning programs, help with performance check-ins, and so much more. However, we need to understand that the level of automation and enrichment of employee experience varies across organizations. Therefore, bots should not be used as a 'one size fits all', ready-to-deploy virtual assistant solution, but instead should be able to showcase different facets of enabling next-gen technologies and as a framework to build custom, automated solutions for employees.

Organizations need to look beyond cloud lift and shift in their digital transformation journey and explore the usage of technology offerings to enhance their employee experience. They need to understand their digital HR maturity and then decide on the possibility of HR process automation, detailing the building of systems that can do, think, learn and beyond. Yes, change is indeed impossible without technology but it's critical to implement it with a purpose and align it to the organizations' culture and ways of working.

The above article appeared in Business World earlier