As technology within the field of human resources advances, more and more emphasis is being put on human resources professionals to learn and adopt new technology solutions into their daily routines. There is constant discussion in the HR world over whether AI will replace the role of an HR team. From chatbots to collecting referrals to assembling data and analytics, today there are many technological solutions that help to lower costs and save resources, yet impact or even remove the need for an employee to handle specific tasks.

We have to ask- is technology really a human resource professional’s friend or foe?

If it aint broke… it could still work better

Some organizations approach the impending tech revolution in HR by ignoring it. Some do not like to spend much time and effort thinking about HR technology-- as long as everything is running smoothly, the idea seems to be let well enough alone. This can be a detrimental line of thinking for many businesses who do not wish to upgrade or advance their human resources related technologies.

For example, pre-employment assessments can be a very complicated process to navigate that can take valuable time and energy away from your HR team. By using pre-employment assessment technologies, your HR team can hand over some of the work to an online tool that can accurately assess candidates and offer metrics and analytics. At the same time, most pre-employment assessment tools are customizable, which empowers the HR time to assemble the best and most effective process for their hiring needs. By making use of a technology like this, you are allowing more accurate data and reporting, while simultaneously streamlining your organization’s hiring process.

Effective management from anywhere on the planet

Today’s workforce is increasingly global as employees are able to more seamlessly work together across borders. In the past, this would have been a potential HR nightmare. Scheduling meetings, managing payroll, and implementing new policies was once nearly impossible.

With the introduction of employee management tools, human resources teams are able to manage instant, automated, interactive, and collaborative platforms that help them to smoothly and easily manage employees. By introducing an an employee management software into your HR team’s daily schedule you are not taking away the work of a (human) employee, instead the software enables the HR team to be faster and more efficient with the details of management.

Get to know HR tech

It is estimated that by year 2020, companies will dedicate approximately twenty percent of their workforce to AI and machine learning related activities. From recruiting to success planning to employee wellness, AI and machine learning will be making a big move into the world of talent management and HR. Machine learning, a process which entails automated data analytics through algorithms that create analytical models, essentially allows for machines to to both gather data from organizations and learn from it. This is obviously a major advantageous tool for many industries.

Clearly, AI and machine learning will dramatically redesign how HR professionals operate on a daily basis. Crucial to staying ahead of the curve is education. There are a variety of conferences, web seminars and other events from which to hear about new HR software. Your team should fully understand the technologies and be familiar with them, in order to use them to their fullest possible extent.

Nothing can ever replace the human in “human resources,” but technology can empower that human with resource and time saving tools. Tech will be a friend, and not foe, to human resources professionals so long as those professionals take the time to understand, research, and push for effective new software to be implemented into their organizations.