Information Technology for HR Planning

Presented to
Dr. Ritima Malhotra
Human Resources Planning
HRM-5504
Humber College

Prepared by
Akashada Phatak - N01409864(2.5, 3, 4)
Candice Cuillo - N01516139 (1,1.1, 4.1)
Farheen Rahman - N01495489 (4.2,6,7)
Nidhi Bhowmik - N01483604 (1,2,4.1)

1 November, 2021
Table of content

S
1 Introduction ________________________________________________________2
1.1 Purpose of Study _________________________________________________2

2 Identification of Problems ______________________________________________2

3 Literature overview __________________________________________________3

4 Analysis ___________________________________________________________3
4.1 SWOT Analysis ___________________________________________________4
4.2 Porter’s Five Forces ________________________________________________4

5 Recommendations/ Action Plan __________________________________________5

6 Implementation _______________________________________________________5

7 Lessons learnt _________________________________________________________6

8 References ____________________________________________________________6

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1 INTRODUCTION
Instead of communicating with an HR professional, these days employees are more likely to access
an HR portal through the internet (Johnson & Gueutal, 2011). With new age solutions such as web-
based HR, self-service, and Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), emerging resources
such as “big data” and artificial intelligence will be more useful and manageable to competitive
companies (Belcourt & Podolsky, 2019). With the growing usage of technology in everyday life,
it’s never been easier to collect data from the population and explore their consuming habits, as
well as track employees (Belcourt & Podolsky, 2019). But with so much data available, the issues
of storage, management, analysis and transfer become major issues due to the sheer quantity
(Belcourt & Podolsky, 2019). Many applications have also been developed to automate classic HR
functions such as payroll, health and safety practices, training, and performance appraisals
(Belcourt & Podolsky, 2019). The value of electronic HR systems has become so great that the IT
world has seen a significant shift away from the typical HR generalist roles and demand has risen
for HR specialists who are capable of using such technology (Gueutal, 2007).
1.1 Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to critically analyze Gallagher’s implementation of IT into their HR
system, and to learn from their success. Gallagher was way ahead of the “cloud” game, and the
shift solved three issues for them and their globalization:
● How will Gallagher communicate with, and regulate, the employees they gain from the
many acquisitions they make every year?
● How are employees going to update their information across different work locations?
● How will Gallagher manage the “big data”, payroll, performance reviews, and other HR
functions for so many employees from all over the world?

2 Identification of Problems
As its company strategy for growth, Gallagher acquired more and more organizations by taking a
gap of three to four years in between acquisitions in order to give the acquisitions ample time to
integrate well within the brand.
Problems
● With multiple acquired companies, it was challenging for Gallagher to have uniform
working policies around the world.
● Post-pandemic, health and safety regulations were to be implemented across the office
locations along with real-time updates on safety measures.
● If Gallagher implements a new HR solution which was a huge investment, how to
make sure, if was up and running at all times
● How to have effective performance reviews done?

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The problems were innumerable, but as the acquisitions went on so did the demand of integration
with the company brand which brought in some solutions.

3 LITERATURE OVERVIEW
https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.humber.ca/science/article/pii/S1053482212000502?via
%3Dihub
The article above talk about the shared leadership approach between ERP (Employee Resource
Planning system) and HRMS (Human Resources Management System),referring to the Gallagher
case this system of shared leadership can also be implemented in order to streamline the HR
process and keeping in mind the future demand and also with the motive of providing different
structural support. (Hoch & Dulebohn, 2013, #)
https://www.proquest.com/docview/208172212?accountid=11530&pq-origsite=summon
In this article, it is focused on the implementation of Kaizen in an organization, Kaizen is a tool
that helps service organizations to improve cycle times in the human resources selection and hiring
process.
As in the Gallagher case, automating HR operations can contribute towards minimizing the
preparation and cycle time of the work process, Kaizen JIT principle can be applied in the
inventory control for inputs and outputs of the service, by applying analysis of the value maps and
flow diagrams to recognize the activities that do not add value to Gallagher and eliminating those
activities will benefit the company in a longer run. (Barraza et al., 2010, #)
https://pubsonline-informs-org.ezproxy.humber.ca/doi/10.1287/inte.23.3.41
One of the HR tools that can be beneficial for Gallagher, can be implementation of IT in payroll.
The above article provides us the information on how it works in gathering information about the
HR community and how it affects its employees.
Implementation of automated payroll tools in HR functions of Gallagher will help in ad hoc
reporting and retrieval of important HR information which is often very difficult. Also, the payroll
system becomes easily accessible that adds value in the efficient functioning of an organization.
(Schenk et al., 1993, #)

4 ANALYSIS
In the year 2021, 98% of companies were considering a cloud-based HRIS, for reasons such as
greater functionality, increased efficiency, supporting growth, and
consolidating disparate (Software Path, 2021). So, it’s no wonder why
Gallagher joined the race to cloud implementation, when the strengths
and opportunities heavily outweigh the potential cons, as reflected in the
SWOT analysis displayed in Table 1.

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 4.1 SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths Weaknesses

-Effective at acquiring companies and allowing -Barriers in communication due to multiple

faster growth. acquisitions.
-Providing easy accessibility by Global -High reliance on a cloud network.
presence.
-New system and training will cost money.
-Exchange of information facilitates faster
decision making and provides feedback.

Opportunities Threats

-Added flexibility allows the company to stay -Risk of failing to implement cloud and losing
afloat. competitive growth advantage.
-Ability to expand the company geographically -Risk of data leaks due to lack of sufficient
without sacrificing ease of communication, data security.
sharing and accessibility (Barkat, 2020).
-Gallagher can minimize cost on HR tech.

Table 1. SWOT Analysis of Gallagher and its cloud implementation.

Naturally, many problems have risen specifically from the difficulty of dealing with high volumes
of employees and data, which is why implementing an electronic HR system would be so attractive
to Gallagher in automating HR functions such as: recruiting (Cappelli, 2001; Dineen & Noe,
2009), training (Gueutal, 2007; Johnson, 2008), and communication (Johnson, 2008).

4.2 PORTER’S FIVE FORCES

 Rivalry among the existing players:
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co operates in a heavy competitive insurance broker industry and the
survived because of following strategies:
a. Using IT planning as a sustainable differentiation
b. Proper analysis and measurement to compete better
c. Merging with competitors to upsize the market share

 The threat of new entrants:

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 By continuously acquiring new organizations Gallagher survived obstacles from new insurance
broker companies by upgrading existing products, creating infrastructure which helps in reducing
man power and encouraging continuous innovation.
 The threat of substitutes:
Gallagher can eliminate the threat of substitutes in following ways:
a. Prioritizing service over product
b. Understand and value the ultimate need of customer
c. Gluing the customer with high cost of alternate option

 Bargaining power of buyers:

Arthur J. Gallagher & co. can tackle this bargaining power of the buyer in following ways to avoid a
strain on company’s profit margin-
a. By reaching mass consumers.
b. By continuous product development
c. By launching new products which are consumer oriented

 Bargaining power of suppliers:

The higher negotiating power of vendors impacts the profit margin of Insurance brokers. Arthur J.
Gallagher & Co. can address this problem in the following ways.
a. By creating an effective and efficient chain of supply with multiple vendors.
b. By designing new products using different raw materials on a trial basis to develop
alternate options in future.
c. Creating customized suppliers whose profit depends upon the company.

5 RECOMMENDATIONS/ ACTION PLAN

After facing many issues like poor employee and manager self-service adoption, limited remote
accessibility, lack of flexibility and adaptability, and harder decision-making process due to limited
access to data and reporting Gallagher planned to move its operations online. (Sufel Barkat, 2020)
The company began the process of automating its operations. The company planned its growth by
acquisitions. The motive of the company was to set standard rules for governing salaries, benefits
and promotions.
1) The HR leaders of the company planned to transition non-critical applications first and then
phase others as they go along in the process. Training and education were provided to
employees to work on new systems.
2) Gallagher performed trial runs, prior to moving critical applications to cloud, which is
called as “coexistent cloud” these trial runs were conducted to detect if there occurs any
criticality to carry out the functions on cloud.
3) After becoming experts in this process, the company chose Oracle cloud software to move
its HR functions to the cloud. But for this the company needed an implementation partner.

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 4) After interviewing and short-listing the companies, Gallagher handed their implementation
operations to KBACE (A company acquired by Cognizant) and signed a contract with
them.

6 IMPLEMENTATIONS
After creating an action, plan Gallagher started working on its implementation process, in which
they identified three best practices (Sufel Barkat, 2020):
 Getting employee and executive buy-in before starting implementation.
 Begin the journey to the cloud slowly.
 Using this as an opportunity to streamline HR processes.

After identifying and implementing these practices, Gallagher successfully went live with Oracle
Cloud in April 2018. They added various features and modules to automate payroll and track
employee attendance and absences.
Implementation of Oracle cloud also helped the company to standardize recruiting, simplify
payroll processes and improve quality of reports to the executives.

7 LESSONS LEARNT

Adapting to the latest versions of technologies can help organizations at multiple levels. Giving
enough time for the employees to adapt to a new automation can in return gain trust. Expanding
the new mechanization in phases is the best practice to fall in line with company objectives.

8 REFERENCES
Barkat https://www.hrotoday.com/news/enabling-technology/the-case-for-cloud-computing/

Join Gallagher
https://www.ajg.com/us/about-us/mergers-acquisitions/

Lawrence Schwartz
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3163247/7-reasons-your-cloud-will-fail.html

Software Path 2021

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14YtrMk9YEgz9dBZUeHcjfMnYDiz9pLmO/edit

Richard D. Johnson and Hal G. Gueutal. (2011).

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/
documents/hr-technology.pdf

Belcourt, M., Podolsky, M. (2019). Strategic Human Resources Planning (7th ed.). Nelson
Education Ltd.

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Gueutal, H. G., Marler, J. H, & Falbe, C. M. (2007). Skill sets for the e-HR world. IHRIM Journal,
XI (2), 9-15.

Cappelli, P. (2001). Making the most of online recruiting. Harvard Business Review, 79, 139-146.

Johnson, R. D., Hornik, S. R., & Salas, E. (2008). An empirical examination of factors contributing
to the creation of successful e-learning environments. International Journal of HumanComputer
Studies, 66, 356-369.

Dineen, B. R., & Noe, R. A. (2009). Effects of customization on application decisions and
applicant pool characteristics in a web-based recruitment context. Journal of Applied Psychology,
94, 224-234.

Barraza, S., Manuel F., Pujol, R., & Juan. (2010). Implementation of Lean-Kaizen in the human
resource service process: A case study in a Mexican public service organisation. Journal of
Manufacturing Technology Management, 21(3), 388-410.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/208172212?pq-origsite=summon

Hoch, J. E., & Dulebohn, J. H. (2013). Shared leadership in enterprise resource planning and
human resource management system implementation. Human Resource Management Review,
23(1), 114-125. https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.humber.ca/science/article/pii/
S1053482212000502?via%3Dihub
Schenk, K.D., Robert L., & Holzbach. (1993). Getting the Job Done with HuRBIE: A Human
Resources EIS. Informal Journal on Applied Analytics, 23(3), 1-136. https://pubsonline-informs-
org.ezproxy.humber.ca/doi/10.1287/inte.23.3.41