Over the past 25 years the ‘best of breed’ philosophy struggled to take root in HR tech, mainly because of cost and resourcing attached to scoping, building and maintaining connections between the different HR software products.
Software vendors solved this problem by incorporating multiple modules in their integrated products, (e.g. core HR, payroll, time & attendance, recruitment).
Although this provided a solution for many clients, to others it became clear that the products were stronger in some modules than in others.
Replacing separate HR and payroll software with an integrated system sometimes led to the payroll department ending up having to use an inferior product to its predecessor, even though the benefits of a single database and double inputting were clear to see.
This same story can apply to time & attendance, recruitment and learning & development. I have seen more than a few clients with an integrated HRIS whose specialists in L&D and Recruitment had been driven to get their own software to meet their needs. Time & attendance software doesn’t always configure to work the way that operational line managers want it to.
The rise of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)1 and the greater ease of building connections between software modules has now brought the Best of Breed reality within everyone’s grasp, but it does actually pose a new, unconsidered dilemma: who will bear overall responsibility for selecting the HRIS modules?
In my earlier article ‘Three Fundamental Laws of HR technology’ 2 I posited that: “HR will take responsibility to ensure that their organisation has an HR system configurable to meet its process and information needs.”
1An API is a set of protocols, routines, and tools that enable software applications to communicate with each other. They are used to exchange data between different software systems. In conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI) they are able to automatically manage updates in the various software elements.
2 https://cezannehr.com/hr-blog/2018/03/the-three-fundamental-laws-of-hr-technology/
That, of course remains the status quo, and in my view the core HR module should still form the starting point, but the payroll department can now choose its own software, as can the specialist HR activities such as recruitment and L&D.
In this situation, it is crucial that these decisions be taken with collaboration between the vendor, the client’s technical department and the sponsors who will be using the software.
Most modern HRIS modules offer APIs, and it would be a deal-breaker only if there was no compatibility between the modules. AI has arrived on the scene to simplify and speed up the maintenance of APIs
Under no circumstances should the technical department put roadblocks in the path to selection as happened in previously for reasons of convenience (we have the accounts package, so the HR would come free).
Best of Breed is now a reality, and it is now possible to seamlessly meet all our HR tech requirements.
