The Business Case for a Professional HR System

When it comes to managing your company’s human resources needs, a professional HR system is a solid investment that can improve your team’s efficiency and productivity. Of course, while that may be obvious to you, sometimes you need to make a more formal proposal—often called a business case—or persuade your leadership team to make a change.

What would a business case for a professional HR system look like?

1. Define the situation

Effective business cases begin by outlining the current problem or opportunity facing the company. For many companies thinking about a new HR system, the problem is usually clear: an overworked team and/or a need for help in managing a company’s many HR tasks.

Many business cases state the problem in the form of a situation statement, where

• Problem A
• Has the Effect of B
• With the Impact of C

In this case, we might say “Our overworked team is missing important HR and benefit deadlines, costing the company thousands of dollars in added fees and penalties.” Support your statements with any pertinent background or examples.

2. Identify your HR gaps

The next step of a business case is assessing the root causes of your problem, or the drivers of a new opportunity you want to pursue. There are several popular investigative techniques used by professionals to uncover these causes, including:

• The “5 Whys” Technique
• Mind Maps
• Pareto diagrams
• Scatter diagrams
• Fishbone diagrams

Maybe your company doesn’t have the resources to hire the needed staff, or you work in a field requiring specialized HR knowledge. Take your time and drill down on the specific factors contributing most to your situation.

Resist the temptation to skip this step and jump straight to a solution—if you don’t know the root cause for your problem, you’ll only treat the symptoms.

3. Outline the solution and scope

Once you have your background and causes in hand, you can recommend at least one solution, if not more. In our case, the task is to show how a particular HR system can improve your business, and what it will take to implement it.

Outline the various timelines, resources and support that will be needed for your preferred solution, and consider making a scope diagram to make sure your solution accounts for all the necessary components in your HR systems.

Future Systems offers multiple HR platforms suited to different stages of a company's growth, from our employee self-serve portal to Advanced HR, a full featured solution combining multiple programs and services including applicant and performance tracking, online benefits and new hire onboarding.

4. Lay out the costs and benefits

No business succeeds by spending more than the value they get back. You’ll need to make your case for a new HR system by outlining tangible, financial benefits, such as:

• Reduced staffing costs, by streamlining processes and file systems
• Increased employee productivity, by allowing them to answer questions through our self-serve portal
• Fewer costly compliance issues, by handling employee onboarding and tax documentation

A solid business case can make it easier for your company to see the benefits of a big change and follow through to implementation. Ready to start your journey? Call the HR experts at Future Systems for details on how their professional HR platforms can boost your company's efficiency and bottom line.