HR Might See More AI Soon As Tech Spending Increases

A recent study by UK consulting firm Bain found that the majority of human resource departments and PEO’s plan to increase tech budgets within two years or less.

A large share of tech investment will go toward apps and systems that make use of artificial intelligence technology.  While many have already begun making the transition to AI for HR tasks which are time consuming or repetitious, some HR departments still heavily rely on older processes. Whether HR professionals are making use of old or new HR tools, making the most of technology can create challenges.    

The survey was conducted by polling the executives and management staff at some 500 companies around the globe. Both publicly and privately held organizations across a wide spectrum of industries located in the U.S. the UK, and the EU (Germany) were interviewed.

Paper Is Still Being Used in HR Departments Around the World

HR professionals are still dependent on many older processes to complete regular tasks. Of those participating in the survey, 23% to 31% of HR departments depend on paper forms or maintain information necessary to their daily tasks in spreadsheets like Excel, for example. Up to one-fourth of HR departments participating in the survey still use manual processes to manage compensation,

Bain’s survey indicates that with the increased emphasis on AI, more companies will begin moving in the direction of more animated processes to make their jobs easier. For some, however, it will be a slower move toward converting to AI.  The Bain survey indicates that 57% of the HR managers who participated in the survey expected to increase their department’s IT budget by at least 10% or more in the next two years.