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As an HR Director, you have probably heard many of your peers and acquaintances discussing their companies’ recent cloud migrations or plans to implement cloud-based systems in the near future. As you listen to these stories, you might find yourself wondering if your organisation should think about doing something similar.
You might even make the assumption that your organisation is on the cloud already. After all, you regularly access your payslip and enter your time-off requests via your web browser, so your HR and payroll systems must be on the cloud.
Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. While your experience as a user may be comparable to web browsing, thinking that this automatically means that you are ‘on the cloud’ could be a dangerous assumption.
In fact, what makes this possible is the VPN in your laptop that allows you to access information stored on local servers in the same way you might access Google.
Fortunately, finding out whether your organisation is actually ‘on the cloud’ is a simple thing: You only need to ask your key stakeholders a few simple questions:
- Finance Controller
- Can they explain the cost structure of your HR systems and infrastructure?
- How predictable are those costs?
- Were there any hidden costs over the last few years related to unforeseen maintenance and upgrades?
- Are those costs categorised as capital expenditures or operational expenditures?
- IT Director
- How much effort does it take to maintain servers, upgrade the platform and provide basic troubleshooting?
- How is data security managed and what business continuity plans are in place? This is especially the case if servers are inaccessible for extended periods of time, particularly during payroll cut-off.
- HR manager
- Is employee or manager self-service functionality available?
- Do they use advanced analytics when making key business decisions?
- How do they ensure compliance with the latest legal regulations in every country they operate in?
- Can employees request or approve simple HR tasks, such as time-off requests on their mobile phones?
- What is their level of data visibility in the system, both for themselves or their peers or teams?
Asking these questions will not only enable you to find out if you’re ‘on the cloud’, but will also open your eyes to the benefits cloud technology can bring to your organisation and the positive outcomes it can help you achieve.
Equipped with a clear understanding of how revolutionary cloud technology can be, it’s possible to envision a path towards transformation that will meet the needs of your business and your people, as described in this blog.
In fact, moving to the cloud is increasingly becoming more than just a preferred option. With mainstream maintenance for many SAP on-premise systems scheduled for sunset beginning in December 2025, it is, for many companies, a top priority. The time is now to determine if a move to the cloud is right for you.
Platform
Alight Worklife® for payroll is designed with insightful understanding and uses AI and analytics to ensure your people get paid both accurately and on time.
