The relationship between the CHRO and CIO can make all the difference in achieving organizational agility and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. By ensuring strong leadership, a positive company culture, and the recruitment and retention of talented employees, HR and IT leaders can help guide the company toward its goals.
A way to strengthen and facilitate the relationship between the two is through digital transformation and the adoption of technology that allows for more streamlined and efficient communication.
Successful digital transformation and the benefits provided can help elevate collaboration across departments and establish the processes necessary to improve companywide performance. However, it is about more than just providing new technological tools, but also preparing employees and shifting mindsets to react positively to change.
CIOs and CHROs can team up to offer learning and training for employees about new technology, and the two departments can also collaborate to ensure talent retention during transformation efforts.
Ways CHROs and CIOs can Collaborate to Align Processes and Make an Impact
There are many areas in which IT and HR can come together to create positive change and make organizational processes more efficient. Here are a few ways that synergy between the CHRO and CIO can aid organizations in becoming more agile and improve the digital employee experience.
- Automating HR Processes: Through digital transformation and adopting modern technology, companies can utilize AI and RPA technology to improve compliance, reduce workloads, and give internal teams such as those in HR and IT the time, data, and resources to be more agile and operate strategically.
The CHRO and CIO can also work as a partnership to automate processes that improves the organizations ability to provide better services to employees and attract new talent, further achieving synergy between departments.
Implementing software such as Automation Anywhere improves the overall digital employee experience and allows employees to focus on the work that really matters while automating tedious tasks. - Onboarding New Hires: Through increased collaboration between HR and IT departments, companies can elevate and upgrade the hiring process from start to finish. Onboarding new hires can be improved through digital transformation in IT, ensuring that employees have access to intuitive technology and a strong digital employee experience, empowering them with the tools they need to do their work.
The shift to cloud technology goes hand in hand with help from HR to ensure employees feel informed and supported in learning new processes. Oftentimes, onboarding and training can be confusing for new hires but through a strong partnership between the CIO and CHRO, the transition can be an easier process than ever before, and employees can be integrated into the company’s culture with ease. - Refocusing organizational priorities and strategies in hiring: Leaders in IT and HR are in a special position to support broad organizational goals through strategizing for the hiring process. By identifying which positions are most critical for company success moving forward and the unique skills needed for the role, CHROs and CIOs have a heavy hand in building the future of their organization.
In addition, data obtained through successful digital transformation helps IT leaders identify trends, reacting with agility and adaptability. Through collaboration and discussions with HR leaders, technology executives can offer insights on hiring and retention using real-time data. - Prioritizing a Diverse Culture: HR and IT professionals have a unique opportunity to work together to improve company culture and prioritize diversity. IT departments can maintain and provide the technology that HR leaders can use to gather insights on important diversity and culture metrics.
Diversity and inclusion tools such as Workday’s VIBE Index gather and analyze relevant, real-time data and provide information regarding employees such as ethnicity, gender, age, and more. These tools, obtained through digital transformation and collaboration between the CIO and CHRO, can help recruit a diverse workforce, gauge promotion metrics, measure leadership diversity, and manage employee engagement.
Working Together in the C-Suite to Improve the Digital Employee Experience
The digital employee experience influences all aspects of the organization, from recruiting and hiring to retention and succession planning. When the digital employee experience is strong, so is productivity, efficiency, satisfaction, and communication. Applaud’s Digital Employee Experience Audit found that 29% of companies need employees to access 6-10 different HR systems, and 50% of companies can’t update their HR Portal without IT. This suggests that many employees struggle with their technology, and in addition, organizations have outdated or complicated processes that need upgrading. A positive employee experience can be accomplished through proactive collaboration as well as CHRO and CIO digital transformation.
IT provides the processes and technology that support HR operations while HR takes the lead when it comes to candidate tracking, recruiting, training, onboarding, and more. When the CHRO and CIO attain synergy between their processes and collaborate seamlessly, organizations can break into another level of efficiency, productivity, and agility.
Digital transformation and the tools provided by modernizing technology serve as a catalyst for collaboration between the two departments and improve the benefits of increased communication and intuitive technology.
This post was written by Collaborative Solutions, they are an exhibitor on the HRTech247 Workday Partners floor in the Partners Hall here.
