The features of good consulting in an HR context

Too much admin work, too little time. In many parts of Germany, HR departments are still being slowed down by operational activities. As a result, strategic tasks and staff concerns frequently don’t receive the attention they deserve. A recent Kienbaum study highlighted this. According to its findings, HR organizations are able to dedicate an average of 19 percent of their resources to strategic issues, while 43 percent goes into staff administration and processes that are primarily operational support. This highlights once again the importance of digitalizing and transforming HR processes. Yet although 61 percent of the HR specialists who responded indicated that their HR strategy includes a partial digital strategy with specific targets and projects, only 39 percent have sufficient budget or skills (26 percent) to actually implement this agenda.

As a result, the level of strategic digital readiness in German HR departments leaves something to be desired. One reason is that there is more to this than rolling out technical solutions. It takes a shift in organizational thinking – in other words, process skills. After all, it doesn’t make much sense to carry over ingrained HR department processes into the digital HR environment one-for-one. Unlocking the full potential of the HR transformation therefore involves developing and implementing process modifications. However, this is precisely where many companies have problems.

When overhauling the company-wide HR landscape, it is therefore also important to work with outstanding partners who have an in-depth knowledge of both the relevant systems and HR processes and can therefore provide the company with comprehensive advice and support during the transformation.

At the start of the implementation phase, a skilled partner will use scoping to help companies align their expectations and options. Thorough process and system design sets the stage for customized development of the future HR system landscape. While this takes a lot of work, it forms the essential basis for harmonizing project goals, requirements and implementation measures.

At the same time, HR organizations benefit from the fact that their experienced partners don’t lose sight of the HR (-IT) roadmap within individual implementation projects. In addition, they are familiar with the pitfalls and stumbling blocks and can use the projects they have already implemented and best practices to derive vital ideas.

Implementation, test phases and rollouts are often a baptism of fire for customers and consulting companies, because this is when they find out if they really thought of everything beforehand. Since it’s not unusual for implementation projects to throw up the odd surprise, a healthy feedback and error culture is key to the success of the project in these phases in particular, as is a trusting relationship between customer and consultant.

Anyone who rests on their laurels after implementation fails to grasp that there is still a lot to do beyond this point. HR systems and processes need to be continually adapted to new technical developments, legal requirements and changing user needs. A carefully formulated application management concept keeps track of both ongoing operations and innovations. This makes it a compulsory element of HR digitalization projects, not an optional extra.

As the digitalization of HR processes continues, so IT and HR grow closer together. Excellent consulting builds a bridge between the two disciplines and supports companies through the transformation they require – from drawing up the initial roadmap to operation and the systematic development of the HR system.