Employee Data Provides IT With Opportunity to Cut Costs, Add Value
If you’re looking for a way to prove your value to the business, go have a chat with your HR director about the problems with employee data.
Employee data integration is a major challenge for companies today, Forrester Research analyst Paul Hamerman said in a recent Industry Standard article. So, these types of data integration projects are a great way for IT to add value to the business, he said.
Employee data problems can create major business headaches, as the article’s mini-case study of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard shows. Aker had three legacy HR systems – none integrated, and all containing contradictory data. The company actually spent thousands in fees each pay period because of incorrect payroll checks – not to mention the problems caused by lost injury reports.
In 2004, the company decided to clean up its employee data and consolidate on a new solution. So far, the company has saved almost $660,000 through reduced fees, payroll errors and escrow payments, according to article. The consolidation project also decreased payroll errors by 90 percent.
How’s that for creating a nice ROI and IT/business alignment?
The article doesn’t specifically mention data migrations, but I think it’s a safe bet, given that they’re moving from three legacy systems to a new solution. In fact, according to Bloor Research, most data migrations are actually associated with some sort of change to the application environment – even in cases where your goal is to switch databases.
