We no longer need to discuss cloud

This HR leader uses cloud technology daily and her car is kept up to date with monthly updates.

Does this HR leader want to discuss within the company whether cloud technology is relevant to her HR? Hardly. She wants an HR/IT structure that resembles the possibilities of a Tesla and is, of course, up-to-date and modern.

Even three-year-olds are adept on the tablet, and students can't imagine life without cloud technology for gaming, socializing, and learning.

Students consult knowledge from the cloud and write exams over the Internet. We communicate digitally, live partnerships digitally and plan our leisure time digitally.

We exercise with the smartwatch so we can store our heartbeat in the cloud. Facial recognition at the airport is already a reality. The rapid pace of technological progress has never influenced a generation as much as ours.

If I share my heartbeat in the cloud, it should no longer be a question whether my date of birth should be stored in the cloud. The discussion about whether cloud or how much cloud makes sense in HR will seem ridiculous in the near future.

In the business world, cloud technology is still being discussed as if it were something new. There are polemics against cloud and a lot of money is spent on tenders that ask for outdated technologies.

In reality, HR has already been digital for 15 years. Recruiting platforms turned to cloud years ago because circumstances demanded it.

How should good applicants be found if not digitally? The call of the times has also been recognized in the area of MBO systems. Employee interviews are conducted with the help of tablets. Job interviews are done via Skype.

Information flows from the cloud to the cloud. And yet there is still a lot of debate about the cloud topic and artificial braking of what has long been reality. With what right does an IT senior discuss the sense and nonsense of on-premise or cloud with the HR manager?

HR has the task of attracting the best talent to the company and making the company as appealing as possible. Good recruiting fills positions with the best talents who are bubbling over with innovation and commitment.

Employees are used to mobile solutions from their free time. They bring these experiences and expectations with them into the working world. Employee loyalty and identification with the company are more important today than ever before. People want to be able to identify with a modern and agile company.

In addition, digitization and artificial intelligence have made HR more important than ever before. HR can contribute more to the profitability of companies today than ever before, as never before has so much data been analyzable. That's why IT must not put the brakes on HR.

Open-minded HR leaders are asking how to modernize and digitize talent management, salary administration, document management, or even the entire HCM.

They ask for cloud solutions that can be implemented quickly, are always up-to-date, mobile and cost-effective. But if you opt for modern HR solutions, risk management is already knocking on the door.

Yes, in the cloud world, the operational risk is shifted to the provider, but in operational HR, the risk know-how remains in the company. For example, you carry a lot of risk when several professionals leave the company.

In HR, this often affects the area of salary administration. But here, too, there are solutions. The trend comes from America and is called BPO, or Business Process Outsourcing, and is also becoming more and more widespread in Europe.

Here, a BPO provider makes state-of-the-art software available from the cloud. The software can be pre-configured and used from day one. Due to the high demand, BPO also costs only a fraction of what it would have cost ten years ago. BPO significantly reduces the risk management of cloud in HR.

Conclusion:

Discussions about cloud were held yesterday. Cloud has long since taken hold and not only dominates our private lives, but is also expected by employees in companies.

We can enjoy the benefits of cloud because they provide unprecedented development opportunities for HR. A connected world and the best talents are the guarantee for the survival of companies.

Digitization is having an impact on all areas of a company. No one need be afraid of it, only those who do not act.