The dream of the perfect HR suite

The answer right away: no.

There are a number of efforts on the software market to combine the various HR tools. As of today, however, no solution covers all HR functionalities. Of course, it is debatable what "all HR functionalities" means. We at HR Campus have defined this for ourselves as follows:

But let's take a step back: if an HR department has the vision to become 100% digital and offer employees an unforgettable user experience, what options are there? We talk about three strategies for this digitalisation path: best-of-breed, suite or a combination of the two.

Best-of-breed

Translated into German, best-of-breed means "the best of its kind". Applied to the digitalisation strategy, it means that a company uses the most suitable tool for each HR topic. For example, a tool from provider A for Payroll, a tool from provider B for Time Management and a tool from provider C for Recruitment. This has the advantage that the functionalities precisely meet the needs of the company and the user experience within the individual topics is excellent. At first glance, this can often be the most cost-effective option. A company has a modern and affordable solution for every theme. Doesn't that sound great? Unfortunately not only. Because the various tools are isolated solutions, they do not communicate with each other. If this is a requirement, the company has to build interfaces, which results in further clarifications and costs.

Let's take the example of an onboarding process: a candidate has already entered a lot of master data and submitted essential documents during the recruitment process. If the recruitment tool does not talk to the master data tool, the data has to be entered a second time. In addition, the documents have to be manually dragged from the recruitment tool into the digital employee file. What's more, HR has different contact persons and support centres for each tool, which is very time-consuming and can cost a lot of nerves.

For candidates and employees, the user experience in the individual tools is good and they don't notice the additional work in the background. What they lack, however, is a centralised entry portal. In which tool do you have to enter the change of address again? And where is the application form for unpaid leave? Employers can counteract this with wiki platforms and links. However, this means extra effort and investment. Best-of-breed therefore means excellent individual solutions at the expense of additional work for HR, IT and other areas of the company.

The all-encompassing suite

"The suite always wins", Bill McDermott (former SAP CEO) once said. Suite means that all HR tools come from one provider and - this is important - that the tools are interconnected. There are also concepts where all HR tools come from the same provider but do not communicate with each other. This would not correspond to the suite approach. For HR, a suite means automated processes and seamless transitions between the tools.

Let's take the onboarding example again: a candidate's data is automatically transferred from the recruitment process to the master data tool. From there, it flows into the onboarding tool and HR starts the entire onboarding process at the touch of a button. Everything that new employees submit during this process is easily transferred to the personnel dossier. Where HR wants - or needs - to, checks can of course be added before data is automatically adjusted.

Employees have a central location for all HR topics. In this portal, they can find answers to all their questions, submit applications, change their data, etc. An absolute user experience dream. The suite approach therefore means a fully integrated, optimised HR software landscape from a single source that is fun for employees. But as is the case with dreams: they are often too good to be true. This is also the case with the all-encompassing HR Suite. At HR Campus Suite, we are not yet aware of any software solution that covers all the relevant topics and requirements from our graphic in one suite. If you know of one, please get in touch with us.

The combination: an individualised suite

So what remains is a combination of the best-of-breed and the suite approach. As a company, you choose a comprehensive and suitable suite and supplement it with the best tools. In contrast to the best-of-breed approach, there are only a few interfaces, which also minimise media disruptions. In addition, suites often offer a central HR portal from which jumps to the other tools can be set up. Switching tools is made easier for employees with single sign-on. For HR and employees, everything feels like a single, integrated solution. A company can thus put together its own customised suite. This offers the advantage of being able to choose the most suitable software provider. The disadvantages of this strategy are the effort still required for interface configuration and maintenance as well as the different contact persons and support centres for the individual tools.

At HR Campus, we found the situation unsatisfactory for our customers that there is no dream HR Suite on the market. That's why we developed our own suite: the HR Campus Suite. In the HR Campus Suite, we combine the best HR systems for us with standardised interfaces to create an end-to-end HR system landscape. As everything comes from a single source, there is only one contact person and one support organisation for the HR departments - an "all-round carefree package", so to speak.

Are you wondering what the best strategy approach is for you? We always recommend to our customers: As much suite as possible!

Find out more about our HR Campus Suite .

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