By embracing the digital revolution HR can serve employees better than ever

Unless you have been living in a cave you cannot fail to have seen the wholesale change within business and society, driven by digital transformation. Everything from ordering pizza and finding a date to managing a supply chain has been influenced and forever changed by new business models and ways of working.

The reason these new business models are so disruptive is because they perfectly encapsulate simplicity, flexibility, and access to information for the end-user, while driving down cost. Take that darling of digital disruption: Uber. Its success is down to the fact it makes ordering a taxi simple, personal, cheap and easy. It empowers the customer.

HR teams looking to enhance their contribution to the business can learn a lot from such trans-formative approaches. We all know how competitive the job market currently is and employers need to do all they can to attract and retain the best talent. Digital technology should be seen as a key enabler in this effort, due to its ability to empower employees and make them feel like they are at the centre of the organisation.

Such considerations are only going to become more important with the rise of the millennial generation. HR and the wider business will have to embrace digital transformation if they are to meet the demands of the next generation of employees. What exactly these demands will be are already clear to see.

People today demand more flexible working patterns and the ability to work from wherever suits them and this trend is only going to grow. Similarly, employees will demand more personalized services that are tailored to their unique needs. They receive such services in their personal lives after all, so why should they not also receive them at work? Similarly, employees will increasingly demand that employers provide collaboration platforms that are as easy to use as social media platforms.

The list could go on, but one thing is clear: employers will need to change their work culture to suit a generation with very different priorities, ways of thinking and ways of working.

HR must lead this change. As the guardians of corporate culture they need to show how by embracing digital transformation they can hire the best talent, engage them more effectively and increase their productivity and tenure. By so doing, HR will stake a claim at the heart of the modern enterprise and deliver against their remit as facilitators of positive change.

"As the guardians of corporate culture they need to show how by embracing digital transformation they can hire the best talent, engage them more effectively and increase their productivity and tenure. "