Technology has afforded us a lot of comfort as it has advanced. What once required a library or encyclopedia set to find is now literally available at one’s fingertips at a moment’s notice. If you wanted to rent a movie you had to go out to the local video rental store; now you can do it without leaving your couch. The simplicity and convenience of technology is something we’ve learned to take for granted in the short amount of time we’ve had it. If you want proof of that, think of how someone from ten years ago would react to the smartphones that have become a common aspect of our lives today.
Just like other forms of technology, software applications for businesses have evolved as well. It used to be that you had a number of ungainly systems which were complicated, required powerful systems to run, and wouldn’t play nice with one another, segmenting and complicating whatever process you needed to do. The compensation management systems of today, however, allow much more convenience and ease of use than, say, the systems of even ten years ago. Many of these benefits can be broken down into two major categories: Notification and integration.
Notification is fairly self-explainatory: it equips the user with as much information as needed for them to complete the compensation process. Real-time reporting means that merit and compensation pools are updated automatically as the user goes through the system. It also allows things like proration and currency conversion to be calculated lightning-fast behind the scenes, requiring only the necessary information needed to run these calculations. And it can keep users up-to-date on whether they’ve gone over any set guidelines, what the past compensation history of an employee is, and whether or not they’re eligible for promotion or an increase – all of this at-a-glance.
Integration is where the convenience of the new systems really begin to shine. Instead of having to cross-reference various systems at once in order to plan salaries, compensation management systems today can integrate with performance management, payroll and other HRIS that an organization may already be using. Coupled with this is the ability to use single sign-on, which means that a user only needs to log in once to gain access to a number of different tools and systems. The advent of cloud-based computing and SaaS means that you no longer have to worry about whether or not your systems will run the compensation management system, as all you need is a compatible web browser.
If your experience with compensation management is like a juggling performance, it may be worth it to check out some of the new and exciting ways compensation software has evolved recently. Especially if the restrictions and requirements of past systems left a sour taste in your mouth. Technology advances so rapidly that sometimes it’s difficult to tell when it may have passed you by. If you’re still struggling with outdated systems (or no systems), then step into 2015 and see what the future has in store for you and your organization.