“Self-service” business software has gone through the classic Hype Cycle, as described by US IT analyst Gartner.

The concept of employees, line managers and other stakeholders taking direct control of data entry and validation of their own records first caught on among corporate early adopters around the turn of the 21st century.

For very large organisations, there are some impressive savings to be made – as much as 80% if self-service is implemented as part of a wider HR transformation process, according to PA Consulting Group.

But for all the buzz created around self-service, the technology climbed towards the “peak of inflated expections” and then slumped into the trough of disillusionment. All that has changed now, suggested Nick Crouch of software selection consultancy SpecIt, and self-service “has become a fairly standard offering for HR solutions”.

Increasingly, organisations are seeing the advantages of web-based applications, stimulated by the arrival of a new buzz-phrase: software as a service, where the application is maintained by a service provider and users log on over the internet using web browsers.

“There is a much greater amount of application hosting going on in the SME market,” Crouch noted.

While finance and other functions are more protective of their data jewels, sales and HR managers have been leading the charge as a result of what Crouch calls the “Salesforce.com” effect.

“HR is often managed outside a company’s core systems so managers can go with someone like Vizual HR, who will offer a hosted solution as a monthly cost – so there isn’t a massive capital outlay.”

Exhibitors at the HR Software Show at Olympia bear this out. More than half of the 50 or so software developers will be exhibiting web-based programs across the entire spectrum from payroll admin to appraisals, talent management and e-recruitment.

Some of the highlights include: