People on a chalk board

The HR Delivery Dilemma

ByAnita Lettink

Ever heard of the HR Delivery Dilemma? It’s when you have seen so many 3- and 4-letter abbreviations that you don’t know what to do any more: SAAS, PAAS, BPO, SSC, the list goes on and on.

Fortunately, it’s not all black and white, and you don’t have to look at this from an either/or point of view. The good thing about open architecture is that you can mix and match. Maybe you still want to have your HR systems inhouse (OnPremise). Maybe you have seen a wonderful best-of-breed solution that you would like to use within your company (onDemand). And maybe, there are certain services that you really do not want to perform yourself anymore (BPO). There is no single right model; you need to determine the combination that best fits your business needs.

There are many ways to profit from the best technology has to offer.

When choosing the right model for your business,think strategic:

  • Long term is as important as short term
  • Does the solution fit in with your current landscape?
  • Technology alignment
  • Easy to integrate
  • Supplier risks – not many cloud suppliers have a long, profitable history
  • Level of dependency – what can you determine yourself and what is decided for you?
  • Business Continuity – what happens when the system breaks down?
  • Options and costs – what’s included in the pricing and what is add-on? Recurring? One-time?
  • Cost of Ownership – over a period of 5 years
  • Assess hidden costs – especially hidden resource cost
  • Cost of compromise – there is no perfect solution, so what is the value of compromising?