Top 10 Tips for Making Your HR Technology Project a Success

Choosing new HR technology is exciting. There are slick demos, shiny roadmaps, AI features that promise to write your job descriptions and the dream of never chasing a paper holiday form again. But the software is only part of any HR technology project. The projects that succeed are the ones that get the thinking right before anyone signs a contract, and keep people at the centre once the work begins.

Here are ten lessons we see make the difference, time and again.

1. Start with the business outcome

Before you look at a single demo, be clear about the strategic business outcome you want to achieve. Better reporting, automating a manual task with AI or letting employees book their own holidays are all useful, but they are operational outcomes, not business ones. A business outcome is measurable and compelling enough that stakeholders find it easy to say yes to the investment.

This is where many an HR technology project goes wrong from the start. Research published in Administrative Sciences found that more than half of companies investing in HR technology fail to extract clear value because their technology strategy isn’t aligned with their business strategy. The CIPD makes the same point about AI, encouraging organisations to be clear on the problem they are trying to solve before adopting a tool. It’s something any good HR technology consultant will tell you before they tell you anything about systems.

2. Look hard at your processes first

Spend time understanding how your current processes really work, not how the policy document says they work. For many organisations this is an eye-opener, and it often uncovers improvements that need no new technology at all.

If you are designing new processes, get to know what modern systems can already do, so you don’t over-engineer something the software handles well out of the box. During evaluation, ask suppliers to show you which processes are standard, which are configured and which would need customising. Ask, too, whether the AI features on offer genuinely fit your processes or are simply something to sell against. Fosway Group’s research into AI in HR found that organisations see the best returns where AI is applied to practical, high-volume processes, rather than chasing transformation for its own sake.

3. Cloud, data and AI

Cloud is now the default way HR technology is delivered, so the question has shifted from cloud versus in-house to what sits behind the cloud. Understand the difference between a private and a shared cloud, how the supplier handles data residency and security, and what your obligations are if you still run any systems in-house. The National Cyber Security Centre’s Cloud Security Principles make a useful checklist for those conversations.

Embedded AI has made this more important, not less. Ask suppliers where your data is processed when AI is involved, whether it is used to train their models, and how their approach lines up with emerging regulation. The EU AI Act classes recruitment as a high-risk use of AI, and it is increasingly treated as a benchmark even outside the EU.

4. Integrated or standalone?

Many HR technology providers also offer payroll, finance and other business applications. Weigh up the benefits of one suite designed to work together against a collection of separate systems that need to talk to each other, or worse, rely on someone keying the same data in twice. The CIPD’s guidance on technology adoption favours an all-in-one HRIS where practical, because it reduces complexity and cost compared with stitching separate platforms together.

Be curious about how a supplier’s portfolio was built. Some have grown through acquisition, and products that sit under one logo don’t always behave like one system. The same goes for any AI capabilities layered across them. Ask to see the integrations working, not just listed on a slide.

5. Configure or customise?

These two words sound alike but can have very different consequences, and suppliers don’t always use them in the same way. Configuration usually means adjusting settings within the standard product. Customisation usually means changing or adding code.

Find out whether a trained systems administrator can make changes, or whether you will be relying on the supplier every time. Above all, ask what happens at upgrade time. Vendors now push more frequent releases and new AI-driven features, and a heavily customised system can turn every one of them into a mini project of its own.

6. Plan your HR technology project in detail

Nobody simply switches on a new system, loads the data and goes home early. Make sure you have a detailed breakdown of the tasks each party will carry out, and challenge the assumptions behind the timeline. Are the timescales realistic once you factor in payroll deadlines, year end and the summer holidays?

Suppliers price an implementation around an assumed schedule, so if you can’t keep to it, find out what that will cost. Make sure your own team knows what is expected of them and when, and backfill their day jobs if that is what it takes to keep the project on track. This is where structured HRIS project management earns its keep. Without it, small delays compound and the plan you started with rarely resembles the one you finish with.

Finally, create a data migration plan and start cleansing your data early. Gartner estimates that poor data quality costs organisations at least $12.9 million a year on average, and Fosway Group’s research highlights it as one of the most common reasons organisations struggle to get value from the AI features built into their new system. An HR system is only ever as good as the data you put into it.

7. Test like you mean it

Build a set of test scripts around real business scenarios and check the system works as expected for every type of user. Pay particular attention to managers and employees, who will judge the whole project on their first few clicks. Where the system includes AI features, test those against your own real scenarios too, rather than taking the supplier’s demo at face value.

Set aside dedicated time for testing in the project plan. It needs concentrated effort, so don’t try to squeeze it in around the day job.

8. Do your due diligence

References are a vital part of due diligence on any HR technology project, and the most useful ones go beyond the software to the wider customer experience. Good questions to ask include: How did the implementation compare with what you expected? What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them? What would you do differently?

Due diligence should also cover a full review of the supplier’s information security policies and procedures, a check on their financial health and a clear data processing agreement. The ICO’s guidance on contracts between controllers and processors sets out what that agreement needs to include.

If a product uses AI, ask how it has been tested for bias and fairness. When the ICO audited AI tools used in recruitment, it made almost 300 recommendations to the providers involved, so this is an entirely fair question. It’s also exactly where an independent, client-side view pays off: someone with no stake in which supplier you choose, only in whether the choice is right for you.

9. Don’t underestimate change management

A new system changes how people work every day, so managing that change deserves as much attention as the technical side of your HR technology project. Create a communications plan, involve people outside HR from the start, and consider inviting a group of business representatives to help with testing. People are far more likely to champion a system they helped to shape.

The evidence keeps pointing the same way. Gartner’s 2026 research with 426 CHROs found that organisations that make change a routine part of everyday work are three times more likely to see healthy adoption than those that treat it as a one-off event. Separate SHRM research found that the average HR system is used by only around a third of employees when change management is an afterthought. Technology doesn’t transform organisations, people do, so give your change and adoption plan the same rigour as the technical build.

10. Know the true cost of ownership

The price on the proposal is rarely the full story. Ask each supplier for a breakdown of every cost item, including optional extras and any future charges you might not be expecting. It is often the costs nobody mentions that cause the biggest headaches later on, and AI is a growing example, with many suppliers now charging separately per user for AI copilot or agent functionality on top of the core licence.

Think about the impact of:

• adding or reducing users
• the internal resource needed to support and test the system
• new releases and upgrades
• security testing, such as penetration tests
• AI add-ons charged on top of the core licence
• price rises at renewal

That last one deserves a closer look. Vertice’s SaaS Inflation Index puts software price inflation at around 14%, far outpacing general inflation, so it pays to agree price caps before you sign.

Getting it right first time

An HR technology project touches every part of the organisation. Get the outcome, the processes and the people right, and the technology has a far better chance of delivering everything it promised.

If you’re planning an HR technology project, or one is already underway and needs to get back on track, thirty minutes with a senior P&T consultant could be the most valuable half-hour you spend on it this year. Tell us what’s on your plate, and we’ll share our honest thoughts: no agenda, no obligation, just a genuinely useful conversation.

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About People & Technologies

People & Technologies (P&T) is an independent HR strategy and HR technology consultancy, helping fast-growing and scaling organisations get more out of their HR technology projects. Founded in 2017, P&T is led by John Brownhill, who brings 38 years at the forefront of the HR technology marketplace. The team works client-side throughout, typically with organisations of between 500 and 5000 employees across the commercial and public sectors.