Category: HR SaaS

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ChatGPT – another Web 3.0 hype?

I am not sure if I should even ask who hasn’t heard or read about ChatGPT. I don’t think you can escape it? Look here or here or here. It looks like another hype is exaggerated like a year ago with NFTs, the ongoing Metaverse debate or crypto/ blockchain. All of these are OUT by now. The value of NFTs in general has bottomed. With Crypto I am not sure if it has already hit bottom with the FTX scandal or if this is still to come. There is for sure still some more money to lose. And looking at the Metaverse, I know that my friend Davis has a different view (and he could be right in the long term), with the latest changes and lay offs at Microsoft and Meta’s focus on efficiency, it is clear that there is still no use case to make it a thing for the business world just yet. 

ChatGPT is different

But ChatGPT is different, apart from it being only one of the big revelations of AI lately (and see my predictions for more to come), it lays out clear use cases. It doesn’t place AI or the product at the heart, but the application of it, the solutions it can bring to real, existing problems. The not only promise but reality of efficiencies and productivity. This is what makes it so different from the Metaverse or NFTs or Blockchain which are products still in search for a problem to solve. 

And if you needed ay further proof of that, I suggest you read the blog post from Microsoft or have a look at this interview with Satya. There is no doubt, OpenAI has managed a breakthrough and started an arms race on AI. This is fascinating and fantastic – and will bring tons of new use-cases to all of us. But before looking into the future, let’s look into the today. And this is where ChatGPT can already add value.

What to do with ChatGPT

Now, looking at ChatGPT (and wider AI), what is the game changer? What makes it a productivity driver, especially in the Experience world? Well, there are multiple areas of application where it can bring big benefits. Don’t get me wrong. Of course ChatGPT isn’t an off-the-shelf plug & play solution (yet). There is still work to do and GDPR, Privacy and further questions to answer – as well as the required computing power to make it work properly. BUT the applications I can see clearly already. 

Chat directly: utilizing the ChatGPT engine with your internal knowledge base and significantly improve your chat functionality. Just imagine if your employees could reach out via Chat to answer any of their HR questions and can interact with true conversational AI, a conversation that feels almost human, is able to answer with context of the previous conversation and can surface everything your team could do as well but always ready, always on, always right. This can deflect significant traffic from your employee-supported Tier 1 Service Desk which will help to reduce costs and focus on more value added services. And at the same time, because of how big a jump this is from the current Chat engines, it will also increase the Employee Experience. So two wins in one.

Another area is the speed to market. ChatGPT can provide additional capacity and capability in your technology teams. Have a look at this video where developers just tried to see what happens if they ask ChatGPT to develop its own integration (integrates GPT-3) with ServiceNow. Check out also what Microsoft was able to achieve on GitHub with CoPilot. AI will take hard coding work off your team and provide it quickly to review and implement. Of course, it won’t be flawless, it makes mistakes. But it will learn, will improve quality – and will further accelerate the output your team can bring. This is an amazing win. 

These are just two use cases where AI, where ChatGPT can provide almost immediate value – today. This is why it is a true game changer and will have a different, more immediate future than blockchain or the Metaverse.  

Exiting times are coming our way. 2023 will be the year of AI breakthrough and true uptake. I cannot wait to see more and to bring more value of it to our businesses. 

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How (not) to democratize digitalization in HR

In my last post I made a strong argument and case for a digital first mindset – especially in HR Operations. And I am still standing behind this – but with all transformations, you can and will often get them not 100% correct first time around. And I am seeing and experiencing the same with the digital transformation of HR.

As I wrote, digital first mindset is not only an abstract theme, but you need to experience it in practice to really see the influence, learn the outcome and see how it transforms processes and practices. One way that is often used to have the first hand look and feel experience is Citizen Development or low-code, no code applications. I love low-code, no-code Apps as they are bringing really powerful tools in the hands of many and so can bring quick digital first mindset transformation with them. At the same time, there is a considerable downside to citizen-development that must be looked at and also mitigated – especially in HR. Why are we in HR again so special you might ask? – because of the data we are processing. These data are special and require protection.

Democratize digital HR

Democratizing digital (HR) is something that you have for sure heard over and over again. And another hype you have heard over and over again is “low code, no code”. This is one of the big topics I am sure that many of you are faced with currently. Probably all at different stages. At many of these stages, I am seeing companies getting it not right, but overreaching what it should be used for and can be used for. It is not a one-size-fits-all and not a super-power to solve every problem. In fact, I am seeing it creating lots of (not new) problems in HR to solve for:

  • Data Privacy
  • Data Security
  • Support
  • Updates

One thing is clear, we need to automate and digitze more HR admin processes to drive out costs to reinvest into our function (see Employee Relationship Management). But we also need to be careful around it. The deal with low code, no code Apps is (in the good and in the bad) that anyone can create them and deploy them. There is no automatic governance in place like you have it with bigger technology solutions. You don’t need to have a separate contract, you don’t need a server or open any firewalls or similar. You can just click & play. Just create your idea and get it started. This is powerful and will easily transform your mindset to being more digital first. At the same time though you are opening up to a few concerns that you have to master – best with a reestablishment of governance.

The concerns

Low code, no code Apps in HR will very likely deal with HR data – what else would you do? And unfortunately, HR data is highly sensitive and requires special data privacy and data security protections. Out of the box none of this is in place with low code, no code. Anyone can create such App and feed it with data from your HR system (provided they have access to download data or receive reports from your HR system – but this is usually already a big group). And once the data is in there, it is as save and private as the App is – mostly not at all. 

This though is not everything. Low code, no code Apps are often ideas and deployments by a single person that was curious, had an idea and put it into practice. What happens if this person leaves the company? Or even just switches jobs? – suddenly you have a low code, no code App that is no longer looked after. There is no support in place anymore, no one that can or would do any App updates. If you are lucky, this means that the App will be automatically retired without any data in it. But this is in my experience the most unlikely scenario. More likely that it is forgotten with data – and is somewhere in your network and potentially exposed. For sure though it won’t see any updates anymore and this makes it more and more vulnerable. Worst case though, it is in continued use without anyone looking after it which means that new data is fed to it constantly without security being looked after. This is a nightmare.

The solution: Install strong governance or go for special App-development-tools. 

In my view, there are two ways how to mitigate the risk while making sure that you continue to get the fruits of such tools as well as develop a digital first mindset. One is to install a strong governance, educate everyone with access to HR data and low code, no code Apps around the security and data privacy aspects. In addition, have every App proposal and final App go through a review process to make sure that the idea is viable (and potentially scalable vs. a solution to a none existent problem, or even a solution where a different solution already exists) as well as a review process of the final App to confirm data security and data privacy. In addition, make sure you have clear App owner accountabilities defined which includes the support network for the App as well as a clear process if the owner leaves the company or changes jobs. And last but not least, build a global inventory of all low code, no code Apps and quarterly review ownership, privacy, security and version control. Like this you can also retire what is no longer in use in a save way.  If you install this sufficiently robust, you can have a great low code, no code ecosystem.

The 2nd way to get more control over it is to utilize specific App development environments that already include and apply the data privacy and security standards of your HR environment.  One of those is Workday Extend (which of course only works if you are using Workday). With such integrated platform it is seamless and easy to ensure the right governance is in place and working – and especially data is save and secure as there is no need to extract data from your save environment and within the App, the same security model is applied. Of course, it is not as versatile as other low code, no code applications. It always depends on what you are striving for and how much built in security and governance you need or prefer vs. relying on offline governance.

With any of these you can though make sure that you continue to innovate and build solutions that will increase efficiency and improve experience – at the same time you will continue to build a digital mindset with a focus of digital first. And this is what it’s all about.

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Ambient HR – putting it into practice

Already a few years back I was dreaming of Ambient HR (Link). Back then it was a nice idea, an ambition which was not possible to make reality – but now, three years later this looks different. Ambient HR is what the next step in HR Tech can be and should be.

Recap

Let’s recap quickly – what is Ambient HR. Ambient HR starts off with the idea that the HR function is a supporting function that needs to enable the business to work. It has no reason to be on its own, make its own agenda or strategy. It needs to be an enabler – and as such, it needs to stay very close to the business. This is true for strategy, for policies, for anything HR stands for – and this also includes HR Technology. Josh Bersin is seeing it in a similar way when he talks about “Systems of Work” and where the HR Technology sector should head to.

Ambient HR Technology is seamlessly integrated into the daily work routine of an employee or people manager. It is not an add on, a separate system and interface that a people manager or employee needs to log on to, it is not a system where a people manager needs to find its way around and what needs to get done – it is rather integrated into the regular workflow.

How to make it happen? – the foundation

Well, when I first wrote about it, I wasn’t sure when this will be feasible. Now I am happy that we are almost there and can actually put it into practice. It is not yet anything that comes off the shelf, but the ingredients are there and can be mixed in the right way to make it happen.

What do you need? – first and foremost you need a strong HR back office system . something like a Workday or SuccessFactors or Oracle Human Resources – or if you have a smaller company one of the more new and niche softwares like ADP Vantage or Cornerstone. These will not only provide you with the back office infrastructure – meaning the database, but also with the additional “services” you need to make Ambient HR happen. This is something that was not present in the legacy, monolithic ERP based HCM systems.

You need AI – but don’t worry, this is one of the integrated services. AI a few years back meant that you needed to have special Data Scientists and AI engineers that programmed specific solutions just for you – or that you had to search for the right and fitting add-on to your system. – Just to find out that it doesn’t work so seamlessly. Believe me been there – done that, failed. But now AI is integrated into a Workday or a SuccessFactors (and others). The only thing you need is to enable it and to have data, clean and vast amounts of data. This is where it still gets a bit tricky (a) because you need to have clean employee data for all your employees (this also means that they can be categorised) and (b) best is if you can compare and benchmark with 3rd party data. This is where GDPR and data privacy come into play and will complicate things still. But it is doable.

The AI will support you significantly on Data Analytics. This is the next steps on your way to make it happen. Through AI and Data Mining your back office system is learning what is “going well”, what is “not going well” in your workforce and provide support on these topics to bring them to action. As an example: With AI and Data Analytics, your back-office system can identify who might be at risk of leaving the firm and can let the People Manager know – or it can identify who’s salary is inadequate based on tenure, performance evaluation as well as comparison with similar roles.

The Integration

This is one part of making Ambient HR happen. The second one is as important. Until now, all intelligence is within the HR system – and people managers, employees would have to sign on to it, look through the intelligent data and take the right action. This is still clunky and takes away the focus from what needs to get done.

The Integration is key now. The question is: What is your company wide system of productivity? What is it that your company uses to get work done? – is it Salesforce? Is it Slack? Is it Microsoft Teams? – whatever it is, this needs to be the place where HR Tech and the People Manager or Employee meet. Utilising that same interface and platform where anyway a big portion of your Employees and People Managers are busy on a regular basis.

Using this, the next step is the integration – where another (not so) new technology comes into play: bots. Bots that are integrated in your productivity platform and that build the bridge between this platform and your back-office HR system. These productivity platforms know already who you are, what your job is and what you need to get done – they can use all of this information to legitimate you towards the HR back-office system and provide you with a slick interface – in fact, no interface – but a bot (or multiple bots) that will make it easy for you.

These bots should (a) be reachable for every Employee and (b) approach Employees and People Managers as well. Let’s take the above example – your HR back-office system identifies that one of your direct reports is underpaid. It can reach out to you via the bot in your productivity system, check when you have the next 1:1 meeting scheduled with this direct report and let you know in advance via a message that you should review pay – it can even let you know how much of an increase you should action. – and if you are happy with the proposal, you can just reply to the bot after your conversation with your employee and trigger the necessary actions – no need for you to log onto your HR system, no need to dig deep into an uncommon interface. The necessary action is done without additional effort from you as a People Manager.

From here

This is not rocket science – and some companies are already there. Especially productivity platforms like MS Teams are ready for this and HR 3rd party providers are building out the bots.

A nice example is jibble – a time tracking App – that allows you to clock in/ out via bot in Teams and other productivity suits. This is where we need to get to – this is bringing HR ambiently into the workplace – and making it relevant and fluent to use for the workforce.

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Too much Analytics?

What is the biggest hype in HR today? – ok, truth is, there are a few, but HR & Workforce analytics are at the top of almost every HR Pro these days. And not only there – look at the leading HR software providers of Oracle, Workday and SAP SuccessFactors. What are they telling us as top of the line innovation and differentiation? – Analytics.
I am an HR Pro for some time already and I have to say that a few years back I would have been grateful fur such armadas of analytics, was actually craving for them. Today I am in a different place – why? I am worried that Analytics alienate us from our function and that it alienates people manager from their workforces even more than before. What are the issues?
Analytics everywhere – where is the human?
We are driving into a direction where it is easy to lose the individual employee in the ocean of analytics. Loose what a single employee cares about, feels, needs, etc. – We will know more about our workforce, but less about our colleague “next door” because we rely on the numbers we have at our fingertips rather than just “ask” our colleagues.

Do you speak Analytics?
Analytics is not just a report or a few numbers. It requires a lot of understanding, of education to really be able to interpret them. The issue with analytics is that on first sight they seem to be easy to understand and you can act – it is mathematical right? A simple equation. – actually, no. It is not. Who in your organization speaks “Analytics”? Truly everyone who has or will have access to them? Most likely not – in fact, it is a new skill to learn, a new language to speak.

Are you taking your own decisions? Or do you let the numbers decide?
The danger is high that managers and HR hide behind numbers and analytics to decide and defend decisions – even if the outcome is wrong. The tendency to go down this route is easy. Analytics and numbers bring you a black on white picture of the world, what was successful in the past and what wasn’t – why shouldn’t we blindly follow? Because any number, any analytic is based only on the facts of yesterday – and on predictions from someone for the future. This someone can be wrong – or right. But in any case it needs judgement to follow or not follow what the numbers are telling.
Tell me for yourself? Are Analytics a threat or an opportunity? – I believe its both, but it needs to be learned and implemented with care. It is a new concept, a new language to learn. Check your thinking here at HBR.

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Ambient HR – the next revolution of HR Technology

In today’s world, the challenges and requirements towards HR are manifold and changing on an almost daily basis: Customer expectations, our social and cultural environment, technology – everything is changing more fast paced than ever. And that of course has a big impact on companies well. HR has to find the right answers to this changing environment – of course. But today I would like to write about a very old topic that is still very much present in our daily business and HR lives: The actual connection between HR and the business – or in more concrete terms, the connection between the people or line managers (at all levels) and what HR has to offer them to support.
There are many different areas of potential connections of course, and one specific connection that is especially frustrating and truly very rarely working seamless. The administrative pieces of people manager work.
I believe we all as HR professionals understand and advocate for people managers to be the owner of the people relationships and people management – and this ownership means that they should manage their teams and employees end-to-end. This actual accountability is today not really a big debate anymore. It is understood and accepted – but the debate starts where the act of actual management of people, the conversations, decisions, recommendations have to be turned into action – the act of initiating a pay raise after the conversation with your employee, the act of initiating recruitment after you have reached agreement with your manager about that role. This is where it often gets clunky.
Of course, modern HR systems like Workday or SuccessFactors make it easier than ever before and also very often straight forward. But: As a people manager you still have to:

  • Log-on to the system
  • Find the right process/ action
  • Understand what needs to be done
  • Fill in all required information (hopefully you have them or know where/ how to find them)
  • Send the request off… and wait

This does not feel right in today’s world. And this is where Ambient HR as an idea comes to live.
HR processes should only be there for two reasons:
(a) to support the business in what it needs to achieve
(b) to adhere to local legal regulations
(b) is something we cannot really change. But (a) is something where HR technology and processes need to seriously upgrade to toady’s technology possibilities. I imagine Ambient HR as a way to overlay the actual work that people managers are doing with the required HR actions. Let’s take the above cases.
A pay increase for example, should be initiated based on a conversation between people manager and employee. Ambient HR is connected to all systems people managers use in their daily work and so also to the calendar account. It notices that the people manager has set a career conversation with his/ her employee and automatically does two things:
(1) before the conversation happens, it pops up on the people managers computer and asks what this career conversation is about (e.g. new job, performance improvement, promotion, etc.) and based on the people manager’s choice, provides on the spot, just in time support (e.g. what needs to be taken into consideration, how the process works, how long it takes, what exactly needs to be done by the people manager  – all in context of the employee the manager is seeing) and recommendation (e.g. how high a pay raise could maximum be).
(2) after the conversation, the people manager receives the next pop-up window, asking for action with a pre-completed form based on the employee the manager has seen as well as the choices the people manager took in the first step (e.g. it is a promotion conversation). The manager just has to review and send off. All work done.
With such an integration, the administrative part for the people manager’ job to set in action what he/ she has discussed or decided to do becomes a simple, not time consuming and effective process. And similar integrations are possible with other systems at work like Time & Attendance, like your Sales System, etc. – and because of AI, contextual information and actions are easy to realise – it is like Google Now for work. Ambient HR is immersive in your day-to-day activities, not a nasty add-on, but an integral part of how you work – you don’t have to remember what, when how – it will tell you. And it will learn throughout your work day to be better every time it supports you.
Of course, you need to trust this system as it has access to all your data – but hey, you trust Google or Amazon or Facebook at home with your private data and at work such a system already houses your most sensitive data: people data. So why shouldn’t you trust it to listen in to your daily activities as a people manager?
Ambient HR is the future of HR Technology and it needs to start today.

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HRIT: Are we still converging or already exploding?

I have recently spoken about HRIT and SaaS already but now I feel that there is still much more to that topic than I have written before. When you think about HRIT and SaaS I believe that at least 90% of you are thinking Workday or SuccessFactors. That is my experience. Also, when you speak to consultants, this is what you get as an answer – take Workday or SuccessFactors, maybe Oracle Fusion. But that’s it. But if I look into the history of not only HRIT, but also consumer technology I must wonder if this still is the right answer. In addition, the clearness of consulting advice you get towards these two/ three solutions makes me cautious.
Think about consumer tech. Since the Apple iPhone introduction which is celebrating its 10 year anniversary next year (yes, time flies, and also yes – 10 years ago there were no real smartphones!), we are on a path of convergence. Most of our technology, most of our daily tech interaction is with the iPhone or any other smartphone for that matter:

  • Consumer grade cameras and also video cameras are or have been replaced by the phone
  • The Walkman, Discman, MP3 player as a separate device has disappeared and was replaced by the phone
  • Your landline phone has disappeared
  • You are utilizing your computer much less for internet browsing or similar
  • Your TV or home Hi Fi system remote controls have merged into the Phone
  • There is an App for everything
  • and more and more and more

In essence, the phone was becoming (and still is) the monolithic device that steers our lives and that we would probably miss most if we lost it. However, this trend is rapidly changing. The App industry is going down, phones now are turning modular (see here or here) or are enriched with additional, separate tech tools. The consumer tech industry is bringing back gadgets, Apps are no longer a lasting business model (except for the global big players). After 10 years of convergence, the phone is exploding and bringing back gadgets that are not multi-purpose, but specialized, that are not ok to use, but the best for a specific use-case.
And now think about the history of HR tech. The real HR tech started truly with systems like SAP HCM or (Oracle) PeopleSoft. These systems started out as “better” payrolls and converged into monolithic HCM suites for any use-case of data admin, payroll, recruiting, performance management, self-service, etc. But at some point in the years of 2000 (more towards the middle and end), these monoliths were “exploding” and the newest trend in HR tech was “best-of-breed”. You did still use your HCM monolith, but only for some core applications and only because it was the knot that hold everything together. But you mainly worked in specialized Apps for Learning, Performance Management, Recruiting, etc.
Today, it seems like we are again for a long time – at least for the last 5-6 years – back with monolithic systems. It is just that they are called different now (SuccessFactors, Workday, Fusion). But why should we be at any different point than consumer tech today or HR tech 10 years ago? – I actually believe that we are even closer to the explosion in HR tech than in consumer tech. Why so? – we are at the perfect storm of two catalysts joining up:

  • HR significantly evolving and repurposing important topics like engagement, performance, compensation, succession, learning
  • Tech significantly evolving with a multitude of start-ups that are now no longer consumer focussed, but B2B focused like tinypulse.com or everwise.com

This perfect storm will bring up the question of how the new monoliths can integrate with best-of-breed, and that at a faster pace and probably not with standardized interfaces to connect and exchange data. It will bring up the question of how we should think and prepare for that future – today.

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SaaS and the commoditization of HR Processes

In one of my last posts on HR SaaS I was referencing the inability to customize SaaS solutions as one of the major advantages. I still hold this true, however, it also means that HR processes of companies running the same SaaS solution will be more and more similar, do no longer mean a competitive advantage. This is totally fine with the major administrative processes like payroll or employee data management. It actually is perfect for these processes, for example for companies that struggle with these today, as they will get an excellent, proven blueprint when implementing a SaaS solution that they can take to fix their own process. But what about the talent processes? – what about performance management, succession planning, competence management, etc.? These processes are absolutely critical and need to be a differentiation for the company. In times where employees, the talent is the most critical ingredient for a company to be successful and build competitive advantage, processes that are designed to keep such an advantage are critical and need to be differentiated from any other competitor, right?
Well, in principle this is correct, however, I still believe that HR SaaS solutions support this differentiation more than they hinder. Why? – there are four aspects that should not be underestimated:
(1) Process blueprint does not equal content – talent processes always consist of two important aspects, the process-flow or -map which shows step by step what needs to be done and the process content which tells you how it should be done. The HS SaaS solution only brings a blueprint for the what – tells step-by-step what needs to be done and brings it into a flow, into an order. What it does not bring is the how. How these steps should be executed and filled with life. Let’s take performance management as an example. The process blueprint will tell what the steps of the process are, like target cascade, target discussion, target agreement, etc. – but it lacks the how. And this is where the differentiation for competitive advantage comes into play. How are targets cascaded, how are targets split between company and individual goals, how is the conversation between employee and people manager set up, etc. These are the real value adding activities that no HR process blueprint provides.
(2) Process blueprint and SaaS provide time to focus on what is important – and with this part (see (1)) of the work in place, the process blueprint and step-by-step guide already done, the HR organization/ project can spend its time on what really matters and what really adds value. How is (if we stay with performance management) performance management utilized within the organization, what are the goals. How should it “feel” to be part of this process, how should the conversations be run? And how do we ensure that managers and employees are ready to embrace this process? With most of the talent processes it is very little about the actual process steps that should be done, but more with how these are executed.
(3) Execution does not equal blueprint – the real differentiation, and this is more true with the talent processes as with any other processes (where it is still true though), the major factor is execution. Performance management is not successful because it is executed and followed step-by-step, but because of how it is executed. Do employees understand their goals, their target achievement and how it relates to the rest of the team and company. Does it motivate employees to bring their best to the table every day? Does it offer real life and supporting improvement feedback and methods? This is where most of the project time should be spent, not on the steps in the system.
(4) IT does not equal 100% of the process – last but not least, not all process steps will be executed within the new HR SaaS system. There are many steps outside, left and right of the system. And defining these steps as well as the content of these steps can bring additional, major value. Let’s also stay for the last aspect with performance management. Performance management often is still a three-part process: target agreement, mid-year review, end-year review. And these are the steps tracked and supported by a system. However, the real value of performance management does not really lay in any of these processes. The real value is in between. Management of performance every day, supporting employees in improving their skills and abilities every day, promoting employees into “bigger” roles – this is what really supports performance improvement and what a people manager needs to do every day with his/ her employees. Supporting people managers in doing this, building the infrastructure and competence within a company to do this, improving these parts of the process every day. This should be the focus of HR, not a system – and the SaaS blueprint supports HR in doing so by bringing an “almost-ready-to-use” process blueprint to the table.
In essence, SaaS solutions enable HR organizations to focus on what really matters and enable differentiated HR solutions to build a competitive advanced workforce.

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Intelligent self-service selection: Purpose over possibility

In my last post I have clearly voted pro SaaS solutions, also because they have self-services and customer friendliness built-in from the beginning. This, however, should not be synonymous with implementing all of what SaaS offers. And this is true especially for (manager) self-services. Not everything that is possible, does always makes sense to be implemented.
Let’s have a look at what is possible for example in Workday (SuccessFactors does not look very different), managers can for example:

  • view various reports about their team and specific employees
  • request various adjustments to their team and specific employees such as promotions, terminations, requisitions, title changes, job changes, create, freeze or delete positions, initiate transfers, adjust their organizational structure and assignments, adjust pay, start disciplinary actions, change work locations, etc.

Basically, there is almost nothing a manager can’t do by her- or himself anymore. Wow, this is fantastic, isn’t it? This really enables HR to focus on the true strategic, value-adding activities – and, it enables a lean HR organization as many activities are now self-serviced by employees and managers. And of course, once you implement Workday or SuccessFactors, you pay for the whole package, so utilize the whole package, right?
Well, let’s step back for a minute and think through what we just did…the basic idea of self-services is to enable and empower employees and managers to do what they are anyway responsible for. And yes, when it comes to employee self-services, this is almost 100% right (changing addresses, bank account details, family status, etc.). But when you look at manager self-services, this needs a closer look and discussion. I actually recommend strongly to NOT enable all manager self-services, but to be very selective around these.
(1) Yes, manager self-services enable the HR organization to be more lean as activities are taken out and into self-services. But does that really serve the organization as a whole? – No, as the activities need to be done anyway – now the manager has to do it and I believe that in most companies, manager time is more valuable and expensive than HR admin time. So basically, self-services make HR activities more expensive.
(2) HR is performing HR activities every day, they are trained to do so and know how it works – both, from a process/ system perspective but also from a policy and legal perspective. The likelihood of mistakes is relatively low. Managers though do many HR self-service activities only a few times a year, so are not really familiar with the process/ system and most important, they are not trained in HR policy or labor law, so don’t know what they can/ should do and what not. The likelihood of mistakes is much higher – and therefore, the potential savings are mostly eaten up by wrong decisions or actions taken by managers.
(3) For some of the possible manager self-service activities, HR wants to have a strategic discussion first, like recruiting new employees or change organizational set-ups. These discussion are important and I believe that HR is adding value here, but does it really make sense that managers can execute these activities in self-service then? – either they are not talking to HR and just executing them via self-services (which is not in HR’s interest) or they first talk to HR and then have to do everything on their own? – where is the logic and customer orientation?
(4) What about company culture? – does your company culture actually empower managers to be responsible for these “HR” activities? If not, don’t go down that route as it is contradictive and will fail. Of course, I am a big supporter of empowering line managers and bringing responsibility (especially people responsibility) where it belongs, but not in all cases, the line manager should be the responsible person. It sometimes still should be HR.
Basically, it all comes down to being very selective about manager self-services. Yes, enable self-services where the line managers have or should have the responsibility like performance evaluations, managing their teams, etc. – but only if managers are ready to do so, which means trained in both the technical part to do so (which is really easy nowadays with the customer friendly interfaces of Workday or SuccessFactors) as well as the actual management part. Only when managers understand what they are doing, what it means and how it integrates into the bigger picture, only when managers are enabled to talk to their employees and have real people manager capability, only when your company culture enable and promotes this – only then, enable these self-services.
And of course, there are self-services that I believe should not be enabled in any case. These are self-services where HR has a vital role to play (like deciding about how a capacity gap is filled – recruiting a new employee is not always the right choice)  and self-services where HR needs to ensure that transaction does not mess up the organisational structure of the company in the system (actually a lot is depending on this structure and once it is messed up, it usually brings hick-ups to all sorts of non-HR processes, too) like transferring employees from one department to another (yes, the decision of this is between line managers).
Intelligent, company culture and manager readiness based selection is the key to self-service success.