SAAS users– surviving in the VUCA world

This article is for those who have already embarked on their Cloud SAAS journey. There are several events during the business lifecycle, when internal system owners need to concentrate on what they do best for their end customers & remain competitive in their chosen business areas, while not being able to deal with VUCA hitting their back-office systems.

Cloud SAAS application software is today designed with highly intuitive usability and modern UI features to enable end users to effectively leverage the available system functionality. A basic computer savvy employee, who uses B2C applications on a regular basis (like Facebook, Amazon, Uber) can easily complete the self-service transactions or workflow tasks as part of using the back-office cloud HCM, ERP or CX applications on a day to day basis. Every new version of the software released on a periodic basis also brings improvements in look & feel / navigation, in addition to net new business functionality – this makes usability easier and easier for the end user with each passing year and increasing product maturity.

A VUCA World

End users can therefore go about their tasks and use the application implemented at the time their organization subscribed to the cloud software. However, the times we live in is VUCA – Volatile, Unpredictable, Complex, Ambiguous. Over a period of time there will be changes to the business environment due to several factors like expansion to new geographies, mergers & acquisitions with other business entities, policy changes with evolving industry best practices, statutory changes as frequent as every quarter, organization restructuring, market enforced adjustments, technology disruptions etc. Any or many of these are a very likely business scenario for an organization and they need quick reconfiguration of the back-office applications to align to the changed situation.

 

Cloud HCM example

If one takes examples for Cloud HCM application users; simplicity in technology, functionality and usage does not necessarily mean straight forward implementation of a new technology. The new systems not only support HR processes, but also serve as global backbones for employee master data and business flows for all employee related organization touch points. These applications require to work in tandem with many internal or vendor systems, and new interfaces in turn need ongoing maintenance. Below are examples of likely impacts due to rapidly changing business situations:

  1. Changes in Leave policy because of employees in a new state or country or statutory region.
  2. New or changed approval workflows for a business process due to people change or reporting hierarchy change or organizations restructuring.
  3. Compensation structure change due to statutory reasons like inflation in minimum pay or new benefits introductions.
  4. Change in benefits service vendors and related integrations.
  5. Including large number of employees from an acquired company into the system or movement from one department to another.
  6. The performance appraisal process changes from the time of original implementation to the upcoming cycle.
  7. In an effort to continually improve the product, Cloud vendors release new versions of the application software and upgrade patches need regression testing of the already implemented system.

Dealing with Changes

Most or all of the above scenarios are not something that Cloud HCM application owners face as part of their day to day routines. Their internal team of HR Administrators will typically be skilled in operational tasks and to deal with these changes need to be trained in a variety of areas. They may also not have the domain or technical expertise to fully utilize the tools provided by the Cloud software to realign the application. They also do not have the opportunity or platform to bring industry best practices while dealing with change. Hiring full time internal team members in each of the different skill sets turns out to be prohibitively expensive, as the organization cannot keep them productively engaged on a full-time basis. Business applications need to be implemented or maintained by experts specialized by business functions like (again an HCM example) Payroll & Absence, Compensation & Benefits, Performance Management & Succession Planning or by technical expertise like integration specialists, reporting specialists, online customization specialists.

SOAIS’ Experts value

Over the last 11 years of our existence, SOAIS has been working with multiple Oracle clients and crystallized all our learnings to design a service offering well equipped to take on the VUCA world. SOAIS Shared Services pool has helped customers derive higher ROI and make bigger business impact with their technology investments. For all customers who brought SOAIS on board, run & maintain of their business is no longer a head-ache. This model is typically loved because

  1. It’s a pay-per-use model
  2. Gives predictable control on budget spends
  3. Gives access to a complete bouquet of expert skills
  4. Has ultimate flexibility to ramp up or down team people needs on a month on month basis
  5. Services accessible via dedicated email, support portal or phone without time restrictions

Sounds too good to be true? Contact your SOAIS’ business partner to know how you too leverage our experience.

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