As everything around us is digitalizing, so is the HR universe. These few years technology has been changing rapidly and so is the extent to which it is affecting Human Resource Management. I mean nowadays we are now talking about the inclusion of Artificial intelligence in Human Resource. Indeed we have come a long way from maintaining excel sheet for managing employees to using chatbots to retain employees, but what intrigues me is how did we come this far.
During 1970’s
When SAP started in early 70’s it came along with a module which could manage an organization’s employees in more efficient and easy way. It was the first replacement to the pen and paper method of managing and tracking employees. This was the very first HR Software and it was nowhere near to the HR software we know today, based on green screen technology and mainframe computing HR system would mostly be found when it came to Payrolls. Since SAP was mostly an enterprise level product so this technology advancement was not enjoyed by small and medium-sized businesses.
The reign of SAP took a new turn when in the late 70’s they introduced the ERP system with had an integrated HR module, where employees of an organization can be managed, this was what we know today as Human Resource Management System(HRMS).
During 1980’s
As time passed by around 1987, Peoplesoft came up with the very first client-server side deployment of HRM system and later in 1990’s web deployment of HRMS system came into existence.
After 1990’s and currently running
For the next two decades, the HRMS system saw many improvements, a lot of new features were introduced like a separate HRIS system came up for handling employees, an elaborate employee performance management software came into existence, talent and learning management system were also came along and much more integrated features. The trend of client-side deployed software lost its preference and the era of Saas based system slowly overtook the HR World.
After 2010
The next big milestone in the evolution of HR technology came up was when artificial intelligence came into the limelight. When artificial intelligence popped in, the HR product architects all across the world took it as a big opportunity to solve very complex issues which were existent in the HR field.
There are various aspects where AI seemed fit in HR. Employee Retention is one of the major aspects where Artificial intelligence could be broadly used. One of the other major aspects where the architects thought artificial intelligence could be the best solution was in hiring talents.
As the generation of millennials started to take over, organization all across the world started observing a huge increase in the attrition rate, thorough studies were conducted to get more insights into this new phenomenon. The new generation was described as impatient and a generation which was highly influenced and motivated by the corporate culture and work environment. This lead to the concept of ‘Employees First’ influencers like Richard Branson, Vineet Nayar and many more backed this concept strongly. Artificial Intelligence in the form of Chatbots came in for rescue. Chatbots acted as a mentor and a counselor to the employees it helped HR team to recognize the problem faced by each and every employee so that the problem could be countered and the attrition rate could be reduced.
Recruitment is also one of the important fields where artificial intelligence is assisting a lot, this has removed the possibility of biased recruitment, has assisted in building a relationship with the candidates, and writing a perfect job advert.
This is how Human Resource has evolved over time, taking in technology as a companion which has played an overwhelming role in the simplification of HR.
