In spite of significant corporate investment and high expectations, information systems are often underutilized.[1] This happens for a number of reasons, not the least of which is human behavior. No matter how remarkable the information technology, it only performs to potential if all employees use it—not just those few who become power users.For power users, the complexity of most ERP and HCM systems (e.g. Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft HCM, etc.), simply reflects the reality of their workflow. They need the myriad features and functions to do their daily tasks and they rely on the accumulated data contained in robust business information systems (BIS) for essential decision making and planning intelligence.For everyone else, these systems can be more painful than productive. Especially when each needle of desired information is buried somewhere inside one of many BIS haystacks! That’s why most of your employees simply ask someone in Finance or HR to do the digging for them.With increasing demand for data and related analytics capability, it’s unlikely that Oracle or PeopleSoft HCM will become less complicated any time soon. And centuries of evolution haven’t made much of an impact on human nature.So what can you do to simplify employee access to the important information these systems contain—aside from clinging to the futile hope that everyone will become a power user?For many enterprises, the answer is a corporate intranet portal and SharePoint is often the intranet technology platform of choice.Surface Essential Information with SharePoint An effective SharePoint intranet portal supports a wide range of employee activities and offers a number of business benefits: from team collaboration spaces and online employee communities; through business process and workflow automation; to efficient document management and streamlined corporate communications.What’s more, SharePoint allows you to surface key information from multiple underlying systems and share it in one easy-to-use, engaging interface. For example, on your SharePoint intranet, you might choose to push essential applications and reports; provide notifications related to daily work activities; communicate about outages or weather emergencies; and share announcements and details of upcoming events.Here are just a few of the most popular activities that organizations using PeopleSoft HCM choose to make available via SharePoint portals.Employee Self ServicePersonal information, such as Phone Numbers. Addresses, etc.View Leave Balance and Request PTOPayroll and tax: Direct Deposit View Paycheck W-4 I-9 W-2 1095 ConsentTimesheet entry and Web ClockAnd many moreManager Self-servicePerformance ManagementLearning ManagementTimesheet ApprovalsExpense ApprovalsLeave Approvals and Absence ManagementWeb ClockBenefitsBenefits SummaryBenefits EnrollmentQualified Life EventsWith SharePoint, you can create a single source of employee information that puts everything your people need to know to be informed and productive all in one place—no more time wasted digging through those data haystacks!Mobile Access to SharePoint: The Logical Next StepJust as human behavior and employee expectations are key factors in extracting value from any IT implementation, they are also driving the move to mobile at work. The use of mobile devices has skyrocketed in recent years[2]. Meanwhile, behind the corporate firewall, mobile support for core business applications and intranet portals has lagged far behind. Until now. With the swelling tide of mobile usage and changing employee expectations, things are beginning to change. One Gartner survey of over 2,000 CIO’s revealed that respondents ranked mobile technologies as their second highest technology priority, right after data and analytics.[3]The Nielsen Norman Group (NNG) comments on this emerging acknowledgement of the importance of mobile, stating: “organizations that have embraced mobile as a critical piece of their enterprise portal strategy have done so with gusto.” [4] For those who are only now considering an intranet portal, NNG offers the following reminder about mobile access: “Employees want and are beginning to expect their portals to be usable not only on desktop, but on phones with small displays and tablets.”[5]SharePoint and Mobile – Better TogetherNo doubt that’s why we’re seeing such growing interest in the many responsive, mobile-ready SharePoint themes being created with web frameworks like Bootstrap3 and Angular. Most of these highly popular themes are obtainable on a variety of websites via fast, affordable, or even free, download.With readily available, cost effective solutions, there is no excuse not to get ahead of the curve and mobilize enterprise content through your SharePoint portal. For today’s employees, an intranet portal without mobile access to key information and SharePoint workflows is like peanut butter without jelly, or yin without yang: both disappointing and incomplete!Let InFlight help make your SharePoint portal satisfying and whole—either by adding content from your enterprise systems, or by mobilizing business critical SharePoint workflows, such as case management, ticket tracking, document management and repositories, user lookups, manager approvals, and many, many more.We’re at SPTechCon 2016 in Boston — stop by Booth #403 or contact us today to book your demo. Schedule a Demo Sources[1] Claire Hall, For the Love of the Game, http://today.uconn.edu/school-stories/for-the-love-of-the-game/[2] Kate Dryer, Mobile Internet Usage Skyrockets in Past 4 Years to Overtake Desktop as Most Used Digital Platform https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Mobile-Internet-Usage-Skyrockets-in-Past-4-Years-to-Overtake-Desktop-as-Most-Used-Digital-Platform[3] Gartner Press Release, Gartner Executive Program Survey of More Than 2,000 CIOs Shows Digital Technologies Are Top Priorities in 2013 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2304615[4] Kara Pernice & Patty Caya, Intranet Portals are the Hub of the Enterprise Universe, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/intranet-portals/[5] ibid Share via: More
