5 P’s of  Achieving HR Tech Success (Inspired by the 5P’s of Marketing by Philip Kotler)

HR technology has become an indispensable part of every HR team’s agenda, offering tools that streamline tasks such as performance management, payroll and employee feedback collection, as well as automating workflows and facilitating data-driven decisions.

With years of experience in the HR domain and involvement in HR Tech since its inception, I’ve come to understand that the success of HR tech projects is intricately linked to five vital P’s: people, process (which we’re already familiar with), and also policy, politics, and power.

Understanding the relationship between these P’s is crucial for unlocking the full potential of HR technology. 

Each P represents a fundamental dimension that influences strategy formulation, decision-making, and organizational dynamics.

In this blog, I will delve into each of these P’s and share my insights on how they can transform and shape the HR tech landscape when handled properly.

The First P: People

Human Resources centers on ‘People.’ 

HR Tech’s success depends on understanding the diverse range of people involved in the implementation process. Identifying key personas like influencers, naysayers, decision-makers, end-users, and others is essential.

Here’s how you can go about it.

Identify the influencers inside the organization. These are the people who wield influence and impact opinions. They are the first line of champions to rally support for HR Tech adoption.

Next, address the concerns of skeptics and nay-sayers. It is crucial to give them a platform to express their concerns and reservations. These concerns should be not left open-ended. It is best to address them thoroughly to mitigate resistance. This helps foster collaboration all across.

End-users are critical personas in the HR Tech landscape. A comprehensive understanding of their needs, feedback, and preferences is crucial. The need of the hour is to provide all end-users with relevant training for a smooth transition. Ongoing communication is also important to encourage adoption.

Decision-makers have the final say so far as resource allocation and strategy are concerned. They need to be on board from the word go. It is important to focus on the benefits of the ROI to help secure commitment and buy-in from concerned stakeholders.

Handling these diverse groups of people with different mindsets and approaches needs to be a top priority. Communication needs to be effective and the entire process should be handled patiently and with empathy.

It is also important to take advantage of the expertise and cross-functional collaboration of key stakeholders like Finance, IT, and other relevant departments. 

Professionals from these departments have specialized skillsets crucial for developing, integrating, and maintaining HR Tech solutions. 

This approach can streamline processes, reduce risks, and maximize value from HR Tech implementation.

The Second P: Process

We did mention process in the last line, didn’t we? So let’s talk about that. 

In most cases, organizational processes exist as two realities – one that is documented on paper and the other that gets practiced. 

When you embark on your HR technology implementation journey, allowing time to discover and document these two realities will go a long way in ensuring success. 

To bridge the gap between the two realities, you need to uncover both the formal and the informal processes and document them.

This will help companies align their HR Tech with actual workflows and user practices. With this understanding, companies can customize the technology to meet needs in real time without disrupting workflows. 

Here are some key considerations regarding this aspect:

• During the pre-purchase phase, the focus should solely be on identifying areas where HR tech can add value, rather than being swayed by the allure of the latest technologies.
• Ensure that the solutions are interoperable with other systems to facilitate smooth data exchange.

The Third P: Policy

Does your tech influence your policy or the other way around? 

Well, having absolute clarity on what is going to be your policy around data protection, data access, approval authorities, etc. are critical elements that will influence your technology implementation. 

In the absence of this policy clarity, your technology implementation is likely to just keep going in circles.

In many places, certain organizational policies like leave, attendance, etc. are also not documented and are only in certain individuals’ memories, hindering the implementation of an HR tech solution. 

To avoid ineffective and unstructured tech implementation, organizations need to start from ground zero, that’s by establishing clear policies and documenting them. It’s only then that HR tech solutions will promote transparency, accessibility, consistency, and fairness while mitigating compliance-related issues. 

A word of caution here: To ensure a robust framework, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate HR tech tools, particularly concerning data security, privacy regulations, and regulatory compliance.

The Fourth P: Politics

People play politics, irrespective of whether they say they do or not. Identifying and understanding the “political” side of technology implementation goes a long way.

This could take the shape of identifying what the leadership wants by implementing technology, then distilling that to understand what challenges the middle and the operating level will have with that vision. 

For example, leadership wants transparency, insights, and easy access to data. This may translate into insecurities at the middle and operating level, triggering panic and resistance. 

One of the ways to address this could be to ensure the middle and the operating levels understand the world after tech implementation and build a positive picture of the same. 

Many times with digitization and automation of HR processes, certain activities become redundant or extinct – proactively identifying these and their impact on the roles, structures, and people is a critical role of a good HR Tech Project manager. 

Use HR Tech to strengthen communication and promote transparency in the organization. Stakeholder engagement is a crucial investment and you can leverage technology to get all parties involved and resolve conflicts and differences of opinion.

The Fifth P: Power

In organizations, regardless of their size, power dynamics play a significant role. Those who hold influential positions may not necessarily be holding positional authority. Especially in scenarios where you are transitioning from a manual to a digital process, you are likely to find such power centers that exist.

Navigating such power centers that either have positional authority or authority due to the existing processes is crucial in HR tech implementations.  

Technology implementations are likely to shift the power balance currently operating in the organization. Understanding this shift in power balance and addressing the concerns arising out of this shift with relevant stakeholders is key.

In Conclusion

When it comes to the success of HR Tech, we often talk about the roles of people and processes. The other three P’s – Policy, Politics, and Power are generally overlooked. 

My close involvement with the HR Tech landscape has helped me understand that ignoring these three P’s is like building a skyscraper without a solid foundation.

All the five P’s of HR Tech must be comprehensively considered to drive efficacy and impact. 

Also, no doubt the interplay of these 5 P’s is pretty complex and intricate. Addressing policy, power, and politics can be pretty unsettling too. However, I’d recommend teams to push past that discomfort and address all the 5 P’s.

At Nuest, we ease teams into these discussions ensuring no gaps in HR tech implementation. Our HR tech background coupled with our OD training helps us do the HR tech implementations with head and heart. 

Need assistance from us? Feel free to Book a No-Obligation Strategy Call.