I NT E R V I EW Enhancing the employee experience isolved's James Norwood explains how HR departments can optimise Microsoft technology with conversational virtual assistants and predictive people analytics to improve employee well-being The Human Resources (HR) department is the heart of any organisation. From recruiting and training individuals, to overseeing payroll and benefits, HR executives are responsible for managing the daily operations of a company and for ensuring the overall happiness of employees in their work environment. Recently, HR leaders have been prioritising the financial, mental and physical well-being of employees by investing in new tools and solutions that focus on individuality. “Pre-covid investments in digital technology helped many organisations stay afloat during the pandemic,” says James Norwood, chief marketing and strategy officer at isolved, which is an employee-experience-based company that helps HR managers to digitise their workload. “In our recent Transforming Employee Experience survey we found that 83 per cent of businesses are making employee experience a priority this year and digital transformation is a key path for that.” Cloud-based technology is a crucial part of digitising the HR sector. isolved’s human capital management suite, People Cloud, helps to monitor employee performance, scale and security. Hosted on Microsoft Azure cloud, it allows HR departments to access the system anywhere and from any device. Although some organisations are opting for a hybrid approach to combine the flexibility of cloud-based solutions with the security of on-premises systems, Norwood argues that this is not a safe way of operating. “These holdouts to fully digitising systems are using myriad cloudbased solutions but keeping a core system on-premises, which actually opens companies up to the security risks they think they are mitigating. Instead, companies are safer if they transfer all of their systems onto the cloud.” In its survey, isolved also found that over half of the respondents who work full-time had a physical or learning disability. “Technology such as conversational virtual assistants (CVAs) within collaboration applications can support people with low vision, social anxiety, dexterity challenges and more,” says Norwood. The company’s CVA solution is available through Microsoft Teams and helps users to get answers to common questions, as well as review time-off balances or benefits through voice control. “CVAs help with employee productivity as well as HR productivity,” says Norwood. “Some BY A L I C E CHAMB E R S 110
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