When making a technology purchase, many decision makers ask important questions up front to ensure the solution not only meets the specific needs of the organization today, but will also deliver value in the future. To ensure new technology doesn't become obsolete, and to avoid the surging influx of software sprawl, credit unions need to invest in flexible solutions that will grow and expand along with their organization.
Putting the Enterprise Back in Enterprise Information Platform
A concept I've focused on lately is the idea of a connected credit union – where mission-critical technology is leveraged to the fullest in every department. When you think about the concept of using technology to its fullest, it doesn't seem like a ground-breaking idea. Of course an organization should use its assets to the fullest. But more often than not, different departments request software to solve specific pain points, not knowing that they may already have solutions in place that can meet their requirements.
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It's a downward spiral from there. Soon, every department is investing time and resources to investigate software that may not be needed. That's why I like to discuss the enterprise scope of an enterprise information platform during our first conversation with an inquiring organization. Although credit unions are known as early adopters of new technology, sometimes they can't see the full scope of the technology beyond what is needed today. That's where knowledgeable vendors come in, showcasing the ongoing benefits of information management software to streamline enterprise operations, bringing additional efficiencies to areas such as human resources.
The goal of every HR department is to hire and retain the best candidates, and to ensure business operations are completed in a timely manner and member satisfaction remains high. Yet, every day this same department spends hours searching, scanning and refiling documents by hand. From managing new hire paperwork to maintaining employee files, HR departments need to reduce the administrative burden of employee file management and audit preparation by capturing and storing documents electronically.
Five Reasons Your HR Department Needs Information Management
1. Disaster Preparedness
It seems like every spring the theme of disaster preparedness or resiliency is a trending topic. But threats to an organization and its resources come in all different forms, not just natural disasters. And as too many credit unions already know, relying on paper through these events leaves the organization at increased risk.
This is where an enterprise information platform helps strengthen disaster recovery or business continuity plans by ensuring documents and data are stored in a centralized, protected system. Managing information electronically ensures access to information is available, via a secure website, when users have online access. In addition, more credit unions are implementing cloud information management solutions, which provide uninterrupted access to data at any time from anywhere because data is not tied to a physical location.
2. Audit Preparedness
Receiving audit letters can throw the most prepared credit union into a frenzy. Without the proper preparation, finding files, collecting information and searching for missing documents takes up far too much time for the HR department.
Enterprise information platforms reduce the stress of audit processes by providing auditors with what they need, when they need it. Beyond the basic document search and retrieve functionality, employees can also run proactive reports to identify any missing information and address content gaps prior to an audit.
3. 1-9 Compliance
Appropriate management of employee files is essential to meet the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services guidelines, which include keeping a detailed index of all data so both the organization and auditors gain immediate access to records.
Using an enterprise information platform, credit unions have auditable trails of actions taken on their content, showing any changes to a document. In addition, managers have the ability to implement controls to detect and prevent unauthorized document creation, alteration or deletion. They can also determine if any information is missing, ensuring you are fully prepared for the next 1-9 audit.
4. Security
Hundreds of employee documents, filled with sensitive information, are stored at organizations large and small. Leaving information on paper presents credit unions with increased risk, which affects both the organization and the employee. Using an enterprise information platform, credit unions put an extra layer of security on employee information, controlling who has permission to access information by assigning rights by role or function, including which documents and folders employees can view, create and update.
5. Policy and Procedure Management
Too often we see credit unions storing company policy and procedure information on desktops or within individual or shared network folders. It becomes nearly impossible to appropriately manage the distribution of information, provide visibility into what documents employees have or have not seen, and manage delinquencies when information isn't stored in a central location. Native functionality in an enterprise information platform helps address these issues with sophisticated document acknowledgement functions to see which employees have reviewed information.
Credit unions everywhere rely on technology to bolster their efforts to attract and retain members. By selecting flexible technology solutions that can grow and extend into new departments, credit unions will connect information throughout the enterprise to deliver greater value. For the HR department, the benefits of a more connected solution with an enterprise information platform include gaining greater resiliency, audit preparedness, compliance, security, and policy and procedure management to ensure employee information is always accessible, secure and in compliance with employment requirements.
Michelle Harbinak Shapiro is Financial Services Marketing Portfolio Manager for Hyland. She can be reached at 440-788-6803 or [email protected].
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