SAP and HR technologies have been enabling many organisations to achieve digital transformation as well as support its people’s well-being with intelligent technologies amid COVID-19 challenges.
COVID-19 has thrown a curveball to people, institutions, and businesses around the world, challenging relationships, systems, and processes that used to work perfectly well. In the Asia Pacific, the recent SAP Qualtrics’ survey “The Other COVID-19 Crisis: Mental Health” has shed awareness on the pandemic’s impact on employees’ mental health, which can eventually affect an organisation’s financial health. The study revealed that during the health crisis: 66{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of employees in the region felt more anxious; 64 {aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} felt more stressed, and 36{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} experienced mental health decline.
This year, many organisations’ Human Resources faced unexpected challenges and acquired learnings that are paramount in strategising for 2021. Aaron Green, Senior Vice President and Head of SAP SuccessFactors across the Asia Pacific and Japan, shared in an interview with People Matters how SAP and HR technologies can aid HR in overcoming the plight of looking after their employees’ overall well-being while driving digital transformation and achieving company’s bottom line.
“As the pandemic has dramatically impacted countries, organisations, and communities across the world, leadership has been stress-tested. There’s no question that organizations will need a disciplined focus on the viability and financial health. However, a human crisis demands a more human approach,” said Green.
He stressed that at these unprecedented times, while great leaders rethink the entire business models for the organisation’s short-term survival, it is equally pertinent to focus on building a resilient team in the long run. Green said that the three major characteristics they are seeing as key to leading the people through turmoil are empathy, decisiveness, and flexibility.
Accelerating Transformation
Green explained that though the global health crisis has compelled many organisations to fast-track their workplace restructuring, which includes embracing remote working and adopting technologies like AI, the changes in the new world of work has already been in progress even before the pandemic.
He shared that over the past decade, there has been an increase of 91{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} in the number of employees working remotely according to a 2019 FlexJobs report and AI adoption has been on a growing trend. According to a 2020 Deloitte survey, 71{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of executives plan to invest in AI in 2021.
“Overall, organisations are looking at HR technology to drive their overall digital transformation – by harmonising data, streamlining processes, and creating experiences that help employees be productive. The urgency of these transformations has been accelerated because having the right technology in place enables businesses to be agile and flexible, and quickly respond to changes,” Green further said.
SAP and HR Technologies
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, SAP has been charting the course for HR through solutions that would help leaders gain visibility into operations as well as the flexibility to adapt plans and contingencies.
“SAP is leading the HR market with Human Experience Management (HXM), which replaces top-down HR processes with experiences that put people at the center of the organisation. At a time when we are working and living with constant change and uncertainty, HXM helps make technology work better for people,” Green said.
Below are some of SAP’s HR solutions that are helping organisations survive and thrive in the time of COVID:
- SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central enables organisations to streamline HR processes with a flexible, cloud-based human resource information system (HRIS). The cloud-based core HR solution has recently reached over 4,000 customers worldwide.
- SAP SuccessFactors Learning, which provides training and certification using SAP’s visual learning guides, has reported an increase of 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} usage year over year.
- SAP Litmos, which offers a completely free Remote Readiness & Productivity Academy for anyone working remotely, has increased usage by 95{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} year over year with nearly one million SAP Litmos courses assigned in that same period.
- SAP Qualtrics Remote Work + Onsite Pulse tool has helped many organisations check in on their employees and make informed changes.
- SAP Work Zone for HR connects multiple applications from across the business into a personalised digital workplace for employees, enabling organisations to push top-down communications without IT involvement.
“At SAP, we are continuing to deliver on our HXM vision with new capabilities and solutions that help people be more productive, develop new skills, and do their best work. To excel in our new normal, organisations need to create dynamic, engaging, and employee-centered experiences that support individuals by empowering them to be in the driver’s seat of their own career journey,” Green emphasised.
