The Rise of The Machines: What can HR learn from IT?

Terminator Genisys has just hit the big screens, so, as Arnie prepares to fight off robots, what can HR learn from embracing technology? 

Speaking to HR Grapevine, Paul Cash, Managing Director of Fruition Partners UK, gives his advice on how HR departments can learn from the IT function.

He says: “HR and IT have traditionally been the two corporate departments seen as the most bogged-down in outmoded technology and the least forward-thinking. While IT departments have gradually developed their role from that of simply building systems to now brokering business services, many HR departments have been slower to respond to change. Countless HR teams are stuck using document-based, siloed ‘systems’ built on out-of-date information that are rife with error and  hampering the strategic role that HR can play. To change this scenario, HR can learn from their counterparts in IT and improve their operation by embracing Service Management technology.” 

Despite one being human, and the other being ‘robot,’ IT and HR have a lot in common: “When staff contact either function it’s generally for one of three reasons: they want to get something fixed, they want another kind of help/advice or they want something new entirely. The IT Service Management (ITSM) discipline has, over the years, become adept at putting in place processes to address these questions with speed, efficiency and accountability.”