UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR SMART PHONE AT WORK

With preprocessing power doubling every year, the power of next year’s smart phone is going to be faster than the lap top you’ve used couple of years ago. And with cloud storage, your portable storage is almost unlimited. Add to this the limitless application of today’s smart phone such as capturing biometric information reading Bar & QR codes, high resolution pictures & interactive video, Heat and other sensors such as UV to ultra sonic sound, Thermal imaging, night vision and 3D imaging to name a few, .. The list of add-ons goes on and on, which gives the device in your pocket/ purse one of the most powerful devices to be held by a human being.

Long has this device been purely for pleasure, from checking your occasional email the true power of mobile devices has not yet been understood by many for its business purposes. Still we mostly rely on our PCs and Laptops to get serious work done. But as people realize the potential, we see Industry giants such as Apple and IMB getting into the band wagon of mobile based applications for business management.

What makes mobile a revolution in Automation? Well, its obvious isn’t it? I mean the word “Automation” itself means, mobile, so it’s about time to show how it’s coming full circle and we understand what REAL automation is about. Here we discuss the Human Resource division and how mobile is changing it in leaps and bounds.

It starts with data capture and filtering: unlike user generated manual reports which have to be translated into soft data, the additional errors; time utilized as well as additional costs for a dedicated personnel to do the data entry is avoided. Powerful databases are not needed because the data is already sorted and defined at the time of input. Due to the unparallel computing power of your mobile device, at the time of capture, you can automatically update the data type, location, user, time and other options such as pictures and videos. Once all this info is gathered, the Mobile solutions can automatically generate necessary reports for managers and line-of-business leaders, increasing engagement.

Mobile is a Self-service platform – for example when you look at a Mobile HR platform, it connects employees directly with the systems they need to interact with, getting HR staff out of the go-between role. Add to this Geographic intelligence which enables the Mobile solutions that provide localization and legislative support capabilities: reduce compliance risk and can decrease the deployment burden on IT. So since the phone knows where you are, it automatically aligns your execution and reporting according to that area.

Measurement such as identifying your personnel’s physical condition, (stress levels and other readings), automated Polling and on location support, helps employees to deliver with increased overall satisfaction and engagement. With mobile HR initiatives, it’s finally possible to monitor the ongoing success of the initiative and creates a virtuous cycle, thus ensuring your employee needs are met as well. Immediate feedback – due to the self service nature of the system helps you identify and manage disgruntled, undertrained or underutilized personnel while engaging at the time of incident without the help of additional staff

As more of these technologies are developed we are starting to see organizations increase in the eCommerce and Cloud sectors, which presents a yardstick for the datacenter market and the general state of the global economy thus making such solutions more user-friendly and secure

The trend is more apparent when we look at industry giants such as Microsoft which recently laid off approximately 14,000 of its staff members to clear the decks for 25k new employees coming over from the Nokia mobile acquisition (indicating that rather than backing off, Microsoft is doubling down on its cell phone initiative)

These are Saas, (software as a service) which means you don’t need any IT department to manage your software or storage; it is automatically updated and is user defined. Which means: you can create your own reports and set templates and various information based on your organizational requirements, with no technical knowledge at all. It’s a plug play type system same as downloading a mobile App or a game. So the most senior HR professionals can not only operate the applications but can install it and customized it as well.

Below are some examples of such as apps in the Human Resource management sector. They are presented below together with the functionality of the apps and solutions

Starting at the top for Employee on boarding we have apical.net, Peoples HR. You can use Sparcet to Build, Measure, and Grow Your Company Culture, recruitment application

One of the growing trends currently is managing employee health and fitness: Virgin HealthMiles Dash, Shapeup, Keas, Hotseat, Limeade and Walkingspree are some examples to improve health risk factors, and increase activity, health and wellness using technology activity tracking.

Dayforce helps with Workforce Planning, Workforce Scheduling, Time and Attendance, Human Resources, HCM, WFM, Labor Scheduling, Labor Planning, Task Management, Employee Self-Service, Online roster management. It is ideal for retail and other entities that have employees who work on a roster. Another reputed solution is Workday Inc which also helps with Human Capital, Management (Human Resources Management, Workforce Planning & Talent Management), Payroll, Expenses, Time Tracking, Procurement, Grants Management and Recruiting. Falling into this category is also Kronos Inc mobile solution which is ideal for Workforce Management Applications and Consulting, Time and Attendance, Scheduling, Absence Management, HR and Payroll, Talent Management and Hiring Solutions, Labor Analytics, Mobile Solutions, Cloud

Similar to the above, HR Concepts helps employees check health benefit account balances, transactions and claim details from smart phones, review claims requiring receipts and submit new receipts by taking a picture with their mobile devices. diversityDNA is ideal for training (on-site and eLearning) on workplace issues including harassment prevention, cultural communication and diversity, supervisory kills, conflict resolution as well as policies and procedures. You can also look into PeopleAnswers Inc If you are looking for Pre-Employment Selection, Talent Assessments, Reduce Turnover, Increase Performance, Improve Employee Development this has a Robust Coaching & Development feature which utilizes Superior Science Technology ideal for Succession Planning. Another similar solution is PeoplesHR which is ideal for: Absence management, Training and development or Performance management

To make your marketing & sales staff’s life easier you can introduce Cardmunch, Inc. (acquired by LinkedIn) which turns a Smartphone into a business card reader (automatically added to their LinkedIn connections). Evernote can do something similar such as take the person's picture, capture business card info, or jot down additional details.

If Social recruiting is what your next step is, Lookup helps you Search for candidate's data on Face book, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks and combines the results in a single profile. Continuing with the recruitment process, Successfactors goes a step further and helps you Approve offers and requisitions and track candidate feedback, (look up company organization charts, access personnel contact information, share files and collaborate on projects.) Hrmobileapps.com is also a mobile-enabled version of its online hiring assessments (job applications from Smartphone)

Ensuring employees are rewarded and appreciated is key to any business big or small, Iappreciate: Set dates for employee birthdays, work anniversaries and recognition events, and create certificates, share accomplishments on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter you can also look into GiveaWow.

Morale.Me is a Monthly survey platform to see how happy employees are.

Time Doctor Keeps track of your employees working on desktop/Laptops and reports back on their work day and time sheets.

Checkd.it is a performance management, Mobile enabled Apps for absence management, Help you identify employees and tools and other objects based on location, through mobile device and manage them)

Here are some HR information analytics and reporting tool SaaS (software as a service) providers who have mobile versions of their web applications

Kenexa 2x Mobile & Jobvite now has its mobile plug in that helps you Acquire Insight: analytics suite that uses your existing data to analyze your organizational hierarchy, trends. Trend analyses, talent measurements, and scorecard metrics and run powerful analytics-assess progress. Create charts & reports: distribute via Microsoft Office with easier visualize workforce trends and take action. These help you manage organization's promotions, transfers, terminations, new hires and workforce initiatives. Subscribers have access to dedicated workforce analysts. (Mobile Enabled -anytime, anywhere)

Vortex’s Mobile Manager helps you Manage staffing: review, edit and approve submitted time cards, violations, alerts and time off requests, review reports, perform actions on behalf of employees, such as entering time adjustments, view and edit their schedules, review and submit timesheets, punches, and job transfers, or request time offs. Easily syncs with existing HRMS, and payroll system

Rypple Feedback is a solution that helps you with Performance reviews s/w.. Recognize achievements - offer feedback, better visibility into the performance & employee activities. At the same time ensures that it is interactive, ongoing & user-friendly

HR at Your Fingertips, HR terms and concepts reference tool (270 terms and definitions), HR Laws section: federal laws, including employee eligibility, definition of qualifying events and compliance, complete how-to guide for writing an employee handbook, create company policies

Accero Cyborg solution has More than 200 predefined HR metrics, scorecards, charts and graphs illustrates actionable HR information, track your HR wherever you go, make informed decisions with integrated workforce data wherever they are

ADP Mobile Solutions Service for payroll, time and attendance, benefits and personnel records (clock in and out, look at pay stubs, request time off, review retirement savings).

RUN for small and midsize companies, it is a Mobile payroll app-use it to set pay rates, calculate earnings, deductions and taxes, preview payroll totals, enter vacation or sick time

Concur which is a part of SAP now is a Field based employees-capture images of receipts, book travel and creates expense reports, approve expense reports and travel requests, and perform audits. You can also look at Certify LLC is a (cloud-based expense reporting software)

Flexi which has also being taken over by ADP helps your employees Access health savings and flexible spending accounts, update profiles, submit claims, and view pending claims, denials, balances and transaction history

SAP Mobile HR Solutions, Mobile HR still remains the best provider of Mobile based solutions for HRM, though some not want to go into the Branded and slightly expensive solution with often too many features that ends up over complicating your workload and taking you back to where you started. Yet they offer a range of solutions which include the following: Vacation and leave requests, Expense reports, Time and attendance tracking, Pay information "Payroll", Data and analytics for managers, Recruiting and hiring, Employee on boarding, Just-in-time learning videos, Organizational understanding, Personal information updates, On-demand learning, Timekeeping and scheduling, Talent management.