HR's digital pivot is here

At a broader level, digital innovation refers to the use of disruptive digital technologies to perform various personal and professional tasks with greater efficiency.

Adopting a digital-first approach will soon become a matter of survival for most organisations, and are transforming various business functions.

Some changes in the HR processes are listed below

SMAC: The use of SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud) offers a powerful convergence of four technologies that impact business models and organisations. Recruitment (posting job-related advertisements), Employee engagement (employee recognition), Communication and Collaboration & Training (reporting and analysis)

Artificial Intelligence (AI): This involves building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence.

AI is transforming the recruitment process and also in automation of redundant and low-value tasks — updating payment information, sending payslips etc.

As employees grow more comfortable with technology, AI-based people management software will have better agility and accuracy.

AI-based HR involvements could strongly nurture employee productivity and help HR professionals boost employee performance and experience.

Conversational AI can help managers and employees track various training. Users communicate with a chatbot via the chat interface or by voice, like how they would ask to a human being.

Internet of Things (IoT): IoT is a system comprising interrelated computing devices, mechanical / digital machines, and objects. They are able to transfer data over a network without the need for human-to-human (H2H) or human-to-computer (H2C) / human-to-machine (H2M) interaction.

In HR, biometric systems synced with the attendance register eliminate the need for human input. As more machines are able to communicate with each other, they might help better manage human resources.

Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR): These technologies, which provide immersive artificial environments, can be used to enhance employee engagement and safety awareness, reduce training costs and lower learning curves.

Meetings in the virtual space can eliminate the need for a daily commute and promote remote work. It can also provide hands-on learning in a structured and interactive manner. Trainees can also practice on job activities in real-time at their own pace and flexibility.

Block chain: This is an open, distributed ledger that records transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. It is a decentralised, distributed and public digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers.

The record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the consensus of the network. The goal line of block chain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited.

It is used for background and employment-history checks, employee data security and access. Smart contracts for the contract or temporary workforce, compliance and regulations, payment and benefits can also be recorded using blockchain technology.

(The author is an educationist based in Bengaluru)