Human Resources software, also known as HR software, provides businesses with a digital solution for both managing and optimising HR-related tasks, processes and issues.
While many people still think of HR departments as somebody, or a few people, who hands out forms and ensures that employees are doing their jobs and behaving appropriately – Toby from “The Office” comes to mind, modern technology has completely changed the reality of human resources.
HR departments and their personnel still exist, but the purpose of HR management has shifted, becoming more complex and important in many different ways. Indeed, as this change has happened, so too have our methods of dealing with it.
These days, businesses have access to modern HR software that is able to not only take over mundane administrative tasks but also provide advanced solutions for dealing with things like recruitment, interpreting labour law, evaluating employees (including attendance, performance, etc.) and so much more.
Companies That offer human resources software solutions in the UK include:
HR Before HR Software
The first HR software was implanted in businesses in the late 1970s and early ’80s, but strictly speaking, it wasn’t widely used until the mid-1980s.
Of course, large corporations existed long before the ’80s, employing plenty of people and paying them salaries to perform specific jobs.
Since employers and management were already aware of the importance of monitoring employees’ work and managing their performance, at the very least, most people purport that the first HR departments started popping up in the early 20th century. National Cash Register Co. is most commonly dubbed the first ever company to establish its own human resources department.
However, at that stage, the function of an HR department, as well as the capabilities of HR staff, was incredibly limited, and everything they did was manual. This meant stacks of paperwork and rooms full of filing cabinets, documenting employees’ records, attendance, disciplinary history and more.
Naturally, as technology progressed and different types of organisational software began to pop up in various industries, it wasn’t long before the first HR software emerged on the market.
The First HR Software
Before the 1970s, HR was a paper-centric department, making use of mainframe computing. Indeed, at the time, the most complicated tasks they were able to perform included basic things like printing reports like employee lists.
However, this was just the function of a computer rather than a reflection of any kind of HR-specific software.
By the late ’70s, enterprise resource management (ERM) systems had hit the scene, providing opportunities for automation in business across a variety of sectors and departments, including finance, manufacturing, services, procurement and eventually, human resources.
In 1979, German software company SAP AG made history by releasing SAP R/2, the first-ever software specifically designed for HR purposes.
This monumental move by SAP AG integrated HR functionality, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) databases, financials, materials management and production planning to allow for combined data access in a mainframe environment, something that had never been done before.
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A Shift to Client Servers
Nearly a decade later, the next major milestone in the HR software industry emerged as PeopleSoft, today an HR Management System giant, released the first-ever ERP that was built on a client-server instead of a mainframe environment, as had been done in the past.
This 1987 release represented a major turning point in the industry, because not only did it provide businesses with additional functionality, but the intention behind its development was entirely different to its predecessors.
Not only had PeopleSoft been built and developed from scratch, so to speak, but it had been created in such a way that was completely optimised for HR purposes.
In other words, rather than taking an existing ERP and tweaking it to be able to be used for HR management, the software, in its entirety, was created for use in HR, making it significantly more effective than previous models.
The establishment of PeopleSoft changed the industry in a major way, and by the early ’90s, additional HR management service (HRMS) ERP vendors started popping up, creating a competitive market.
Not only did this broaden the market and increase competition, with the likes of Oracle and JD Edwards entering the scene, but it also led to, perhaps as a result of increased competition, an increase in functionality and features.
This included things like reporting, recruitment services, payroll and more, none of which had been possible on previous, more basic versions.
The Internet Transforms the HR Software Industry
At the same time as developers identified the value of designing HRMS-software from scratch, the internet was taking the world by storm and transforming just about every industry.
While the move from mainframe systems to client servers was significant, the advent and popularisation of the internet in the ’90s created the possibility of HR software becoming virtual, so to speak. For all intents and purposes, it meant that software wouldn’t need to be physically installed on site.
The advantages of this were insurmountable. It meant that HR software businesses could not only save time and money in not having to visit specific sites for installations, but it opened doors for software to become available and useable globally.
Essentially, the internet globalised the market for HR software companies, making it more accessible for clients and scaling business potential like never before.
Thus began the era of HRMS “self-service”.
Specialisation and Improvement of HR Software
Along with increased accessibility and self-service came significant improvements in software as technology became more advanced. But, in addition that software providing extended offerings, many companies started designing HR software that was specialised.
For instance, rather than designing HR software that had the capability of serving all your HR needs – from attendance, onboarding and recruitment to payroll, employee behaviour and more – businesses started releasing HR software that focused on specific aspects of human resources management.
This allowed businesses with certain focuses to choose HR software options that better suited their needs, rather than having to choose from a broad variety of offerings that provided similar, widespread services. This became especially useful for smaller companies that didn’t necessarily require the extended capabilities of traditional HR software management systems.
Human Resources Software Today
These days, HR software is utilised by all major corporations and the vast majority of businesses that have a significant number of employees.
Not only does it allow them to enjoy the automation of otherwise tedious and time-consuming tasks, but modern HR software also provides a massive extension of capabilities. That is, the software is able to do far more, far quicker than any human ever could.
From the humble beginnings of ERP-converted software to the modern, extensive, specialised software we have access to today, HRMS software has been completely transformed since its inception in the 1970s and has improved in ways that suit modern business needs.