Transformation of HR with Digital Marketing.

By Isha Adate, Symbiosis Centre for Management studies, Pune, BBA - 2018-21

Contact no- 9819055033

Digital transformation is a process and an outcome. It is a revolutionary change and an

evolutionary phenomenon. In addition to digitization, the transition to business with
technology at its centre also involves a shift in the culture and mindset of an organization.

The organizations are continuously driving towards introducing innovative human resource
practices in almost all the functions of HR starting from Human Resource Planning,
Recruitment, Selection, Training, Development, Performance Management and Reward
Management. Because of increasing complexities and dynamically changing economic,
social, cultural, legal and political environment, the management of human resources has
become more complex and challenging. Conflicting priorities, scarcity of resources, mergers
and acquisitions, resistance of employees towards changes etc. is causing the organizations to
focus towards creating business value by transforming the role of HR in the Digital
Marketing processes. Digital marketing is revolutionizing the commerce, marketing,
retailing, shopping and advertising activities of the products and services. In the era of
globalization, where the world has become a global village customer service can be improved
significantly by taking digital initiatives on a regular basis. In order to build a good corporate
image and to improve customer satisfaction, it is important that HR should inculcate required
digital skills among all employees at all levels of organization to fully achieve the
organizational goals of higher productivity and employee satisfaction. The pace of
technological change is so rapid that we have to make small incremental changes in our HR
processes and functions at a much faster rate so as to achieve business goals.

HR digital transformation is the transformation in the way HR functions, using data to guide
all areas of HR: payroll, benefits, performance management, learning and development,
rewards and recognition, and hiring.
The role of HR teams in digital transformation is binary:
1. It is responsible for its own conversion– using automation and digital data-led
processes.
2. In collaboration with the IT department, HR is now being asked to lead organizations
towards digital transformation and support its continual digital evolution. This
involves empowering employees with a digital mindset to improve workforce
processes and enhance work productivity.  

Digital transformation comprises both digitization and digitalization. It involves automating

processes and creating a culture of automation. But it goes a step further and questions which
processes are needed at all, eliminating rote tasks that held value when processes were
manual but now have no place in a digital organization.
The transformation journey involves identifying problems that need to be solved and using
technology in the most efficient way possible to solve those problems. It requires the state of
mind across the organization to be changed, and this change begins from the leadership and
trickles down to the rest of the company. As HR takes accountability for its own digital
transformation, it is also expected to take the lead in enabling the transformation of the rest of
the organization. While IT takes care of the digital aspect, HR’s role is more oriented to the
human aspect of helping change the state of mind and helping create the culture. Simply put,
as the custodian of the human experience in the workplace, HR is at the centre of enabling
digital transformation. Employees love consumer-grade experiences in their personal lives,
like chatting with a chatbot to complain about the late delivery of their food order. But in the
workplace, they may fear the same chatbot for a variety of reasons. For example, they may
fear that the information they share with these chatbots may be used against them, that this
automated tool will take their job from them, or simply believe that this trend might not last.

Nowadays, Businesses are trying to develop a vigorous digital marketing ecosystem with a
multitude of local and global players. Digital Technology is allowing the companies to gain a
competitive edge by dynamically changing the way the consumer is articulating and
expecting. In the new age of industrial revolution changes in technological innovations,
consumer demands and new marketing strategies are changing the role of Human Resources
in the organization. While Digital Marketing is having various advantages as reaching a wide
range of consumers in less time and cost effectively it also helps in efficient customer
engagement and provides different parameters to evaluate the effectiveness of digital
marketing technologies. HR should have to develop the recruitment, selection, training,
development and learning programmes in such a way to develop digital skills efficiently in
the employees. Frequent short term and long term learning and development programmes at
all levels of the organization is important to impart different digital skills to the employees.
For this Cost, competence and compliance are the parameters that company should focus on
while implementing them. What you as an HR professional can do is prepare your
organization and your team to remain engaged in this process, and adopt technology at its
peak, effectively and for that you need to be prepared yourself. Stay aware of the current
scenarios and ensure that you know what your competitors are doing in the same area. Keep
an eye on the working of the organization and what it is doing. This will allow you to initiate,
complete, and keep moving forward with your vital digital transformation in the organisation.