Guide to Planning and Justifying an HR Kiosk Deployment

A collaborative article by Dynatouch and KIOSK Information Systems

HR kiosk deployments represent the opportunity to leverage existing HR self-service investment and increase the ROI of self-service initiatives by extending the reach to disconnected employees of an organization.

Despite the exponential growth in new self-service applications over the past ten years, few market applications provide as compelling of an ROI equation as Human Resources. The case to be made is no longer about whether there is value in extending HR self-service to employees.   This leg of the race is already complete for the vast majority of clients even thinking about using kiosks for an HR deployment. In fact, most have achieved years of significant quantified return from existing web-based HR systems already in place with their connected workforce.

Self-service kiosk deployment represents the opportunity to reap the same level of proven automation benefit with the disconnected employees of an organization. In manufacturing, retail, health care, government, and many other corporate environments, the percentage of employees without daily access to a computer can easily represent 40 – 50% of the company’s workforce. Without extending the company’s web applications and content / services to 100% of the employee base, the solution is incomplete and, by definition, short of its full cost savings potential. How short? - Is the question many companies considering HR kiosks are trying to isolate.

As budgets continue shrinking in this recessionary window, cost reduction through increased automation and self-service in HR is an avenue many forward-thinking corporations are turning toward for immediate and long-term bottom line improvement.

Having supplied turnkey solutions with world-class clients in retail, manufacturing, health care, government, and others - KIOSK and DynaTouch have seen unparalleled ROI, customer satisfaction, and deployment longevity in the Human Resources self-service market. As new companies enter this planning and justification cycle, attention to key high-level considerations can significantly accelerate the process.

First off, it’s important to leverage existing self-service application assets. The applications selected for kiosk deployment are generally a function of what is already in place (and proven) with the connected workforce. Converting these applications over to self-service solutions for the disconnected workforce can be a turnkey event when working with an experienced software provider that has proven integration experience with the companies’ defined HRMS platform (Lawson, ADP, Peoplesoft, etc.). The early adopters of HR self-service have paved the way for today’s market, meaning all the integration headaches have been fully mastered through prior deployments. Today, turnkey applications are readily available for virtually all HR self-service applications, including:   
• Employee Profile Management
• Job Application
• Compensation
• Benefits
• Employee Request Actions
• Company Communications Information
• Life Events
• Career Development
• Time Entry
• Surveys
• Electronic Forms
• Training

Successful team member representation is key in accelerating not only the project planning definition, but also securing the funding to get the solution into motion quickly. The most effective mix of team members will include executive endorsement (for funding authority), functional experts and management representation from IT and HR, as well as marketing talent during the early deployment and communications phases.

Among the most important deliverables of this planning stage is a clearly defined set of success criteria. While it may seem an obvious step, it’s often overlooked or underdeveloped, which can undermine full project funding. Define and quantify objectives, such as:
• X% reduction in Administrative costs
• X% increase in process efficiency
• X# decrease in headcount

Building the Financial Justification for an HR Deployment:
While some companies have historically relied on intuitive benefits of deploying self-service, the current economic climate is far more likely to dictate hard-dollar cost justification. Ultimately, funding approval for a kiosk project requires creating a credible and compelling ROI equation, and sometimes proving those assumptions in a small pilot program. Successful justifications will have a tiered approach to quantifying the hard and soft benefits that come with extending self service - meaning a few highest dollar return applications provide the financial justification cornerstone, and soft benefit applications are layered on to strengthen the return.

Hard financial benefits are typically associated with automation of transaction-based interactions. Examples of applications tied to reduction of transaction costs include electronic pay stub creation and distribution, employee profile updates, or benefits enrollment automation where the deployer can isolate before (current / actual) and after (projected) costs tied to deploying kiosks.

Soft benefits such as increased process and employee efficiency can be analyzed to a level where they can be included in the justification.

For example, DynaTouch and KIOSK clients have experienced savings of $7.50 to $10 per employee per year of payroll check and check stub printing and distribution cost by deploying electronic paystubs to kiosks for access by disconnected employees. This application often serves as a cornerstone for justification, well demonstrated with a KIOSK client that deployed self-service HR in their manufacturing environment. This leading global food and beverage conglomerate rolled out their existing HR portal to 40,000 disconnected factory workers. They successfully quantified a $400,000 annual savings tied to automating the pay-stub function. As they continued to layer applications, they quantified an additional $1M annually in printing and distribution costs associated with employee communications (distribution of policy manuals, in-network provider guides, newsletters, etc.). Further, analysis of the before and after overhead associated with the 100 HR Administrators supporting profile updates manually, isolated another $600K annually in data entry cost savings. By layering the savings associated with multiple applications, the annual savings is quantified at $2M, and more accurately reflects the full bottom line contribution (800 kiosk deployment).

Citing the 2008 Cedar Crestone report, “The Value of HR Technologies: Metrics and Stories Report,” using activity based costing to analyze process expenses, it’s possible to compare current state with minimal or no self-service, with a process such as paper / form-based submission of address change, isolating differences in time and labor savings. Excerpt numbers:

As previously mentioned, thoroughly analyzing soft benefits such as increased employee and process efficiency can be key to an optimized justification. Shifting the activities of HR staff to more strategic functions (employee relations, HR data analysis, and process improvement) can result in substantial benefit in value-added productivity contribution. While re-deployment of activity is difficult to quantify, opportunity to quantify headcount change potential is not. Further citing Cedar Crestone’s 2008 report, headcount reductions associated with reducing administrative services have historically been minimal. “However, as the economy slows, organizations may once again need to find possible headcount reductions.” 

Combining unrelated, but complimentary applications, has also proven to be a resourceful kiosk deployment strategy that provides more “bang for the buck”. For example, many retailers use their kiosks as a customer- facing tool during the day for applications such as gift registry or job application, but also roll out HR solutions to employees simultaneously. Interior Health, a major Canadian Health Care Network, positioned their 100-kiosk deployment for double duty by considering the benefit of deploying both HR applications and Patient Check-in on the same hardware investment. Coupling employee and customer facing applications positions the kiosk for significantly accelerated ROI.

Along with the initial application definition and financial justification homework, the internal project planning elements make up the lion’s share of the program timeline. Actual application development and hardware manufacturing only take about 8 – 10 weeks, total. When planning the project, all of the following elements need to be taken into consideration.

Elements for an HR kiosk
The elements of a total HR kiosk solution consist of four key areas:
1. Application Software and Content
2. Kiosk Management Software
3. Hardware Configuration, Integration, Manufacturing
4. Ongoing Support of Both Hardware and Software

1. HR Application Software and Content:
The vast majority of new deployers have already invested in implementing web based HR systems and/or an employee portal, and are using kiosks to just extend the same functionality to disconnected employees and “walk-in” jobseekers. Presenting this same information to employees or jobseekers on a kiosk does, in fact, require specialized development knowledge.

While some large corporate clients may have the IT staffing and expertise to independently modify their own application software and content for use on public access kiosks, most customers find it much simpler, faster, and less expensive to contract with a niche HR kiosk application developer with confirmed experience in key areas, primarily:
• Proven integration expertise with all primary HR enterprise platforms 
• Content presentation and navigation appropriate for kiosk presentation

2. Kiosk Management Software:
Kiosk management software is essential for managing kiosk tasks (differs significantly from application software). Key functions and features include:
• System Security
• User Session Management
• Remote Monitoring and Management
• Usage Analytics and Reporting
• Hardware Peripheral Integration

3. Hardware Configuration, Integration, and Manufacturing:
Virtually all HR applications can be serviced within a standard kiosk enclosure that has a few custom peripherals integrated into the solution. Utilizing a standard enclosure design enables the deployer to achieve a quicker deployment cycle and forego non-recurring engineering (NRE) expenses associated with custom hardware design, providing greater ROI acceleration.

Companies should expect a complimentary consultation with design advice on routine enclosure configuration considerations:
• Sit down or stand up kiosk? 
• Printer requirements?
• Wireless or hard wired?
• User Privacy mechanisms?
• Keyboard and / or touch screen?

In general, as requirements documents (or sometimes an RFI/ RFP) are prepared, key high-level areas of analysis when selecting a kiosk solutions provider should fully cover the following points:
• Supplier experience with similar type HR deployments and in working with the selected HRMS software provider are both key considerations to include.
• Manufacturing capacity and competitive hardware lead-times are important to success, particularly in a high volume / nationwide deployments.
• ADA compliance and FCC / UL certification are both factors to be included in the overall solution design and timeline.
• ISO 9001:2000 Certification evidence ensures integrated quality throughout all key processes in manufacturing and support functions.
• Proven integration expertise with the defined peripherals
• Post-manufacturing support in production program management can significantly simplify the installation and deployment planning, key to initial success.

4. Ongoing Solution Support – Software, Content, and Hardware:
As in any major IT Project, a well-defined support model needs to be defined for an HR kiosk deployment to ensure operational excellence and ongoing continuous improvement.

With seven years history deploying turnkey HR solutions with Dynatouch, Tom Weaver (KIOSK CMO) concludes “HR self-service has reached a prime window of opportunity – all the factors necessary for success and ease of entry are in place, making it a much simpler and cost effective initiative than ever before. The early adopters have paved the way for integration of all the major HR platforms, which were previously the biggest time and cost hurdles to clear. Corporate clients entering the market have more experience and proven success with their first tier of web-based self service, and are now confident in extending that functionality to disconnected employees. And, finally, the number of turnkey applications that can be simultaneously extended to disconnected employees make for an ideal self-service springboard. When you look at all these combined factors, and add in a cost-crunched economy, it’s the perfect launch point for a self-service cost reduction measure.”

Partnering with experienced suppliers who can guide the way with prior HR deployment project experience can make all the difference. Ultimately, it’s about getting to the cost savings phase as quickly and efficiently as possible.

To download the full white paper on this subject, click here.

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