APAC businesses are catching up with their Western counterparts in HR tech adoption, a new study finds. Source: Shutterstock

APAC businesses are catching up with their Western counterparts in HR tech adoption, a new study finds. Source: Shutterstock

What is driving APAC’s rising HR tech adoption trend?

IT COULD be argued that organizations within the APAC region match up quite evenly when it comes to digital transformation efforts.

Much of the progress in the region is attributed to the strong push by regulators who have propelled businesses to embrace emerging technologies and solutions such as ERP, CRM, and HR tech, to modernize business processes and improve operational efficiency.

Findings from one recent report are consistent with this trend — showing that 70 percent of organizations in the APAC are seeking to increase their HR tech spending.

The survey, which provided interesting insights into the over HR tech landscape in the region, found that businesses in the APAC are currently lagging behind their counterparts in the US and the EU.

However, they are expected to close the gap rather quickly, if the double-digit growth in HR tech spending over the past three years is any indication.

“The region is also bypassing many of the early mistakes made by organizations embarking on enterprise technology implementations by investing in critical HR Technology practices such as implementing an HR Systems Strategy, investing in standard approaches to integration, and developing continuous change management models,” the report read.

Mobile-enabled solutions are now mainstream

Among the most commonly deployed HR tech functions in the APAC are payroll (89 percent) and attendance (88 percent) while career planning (34 percent) and business intelligence (32 percent) apps ranked among the least used.

Further, the report asserted that small organizations are the fastest growing segment among the new HR tech adopters.

Tech vendors may need to work on providing more economical options that bring high value to them, as 58 percent of the companies classified as ‘small’ are expected to continue spending on HR tech this year.

Meanwhile, mid-sized companies registered the most significant growth, with 47 percent of them planning on increasing spending compared to last year, which is a whopping 20 percent increase.

Beyond that, more than half the respondents also said that they are looking increase spend on talent management and core HR function applications, specifically.

Another key takeaway from the report is the fact that adoption of mobile-enabled HR tech solutions are no longer considered emerging but has reached a tipping point, with over 50 percent of organizations are already using them.

It is well on its way to becoming the universal way that will facilitate workforce communication, and the cost of not adopting the technology is steadily rising. Among the HR functions that are mobile-enabled, HR management, leave management, payroll, and talent acquisition are most effective.

All in all, to reflect the changing role of HR professionals in the digital age, companies are bound to adopt new digital tools to prepare them for it.

By deploying HR tech solutions, companies will not only increase their operational efficiency but also will transform the HR department from being an administrative division into a strategic partner that better aligns with the organization’s business goals.