Tip of the Day: 3 tips on tech for the price of 1

Today only, I'm giving you the recession-special deal of three tips for the price of one (free)!

According to Watson Wyatt, reviewing your tech footprint and ID'ing ways to trim inefficiencies from your IT processes can cut costs and bood productivity -- two things everyone is going for these days.

“HR technology is ripe for review,” says Steve Hitzeman, senior leader in Watson Wyatt’s tech and administration solutions practice. “The goal is not only to find near-term efficiencies but also to ensure the organization is positioned for growth when economic conditions improve.”

Here are WW's three tips to recession-proofing your tech ops:

1. Optimize HR operational and service delivery effectiveness.
WW finds 61% of companies are looking to optimize their delivery model and vendors. Conducting a review of the current HR service delivery model — which includes a mix of HR technology, call centers and vendors — can result in dramatic cost savings.

Although many HR departments have adopted models to reduce administrative costs -- enabling HR to take on more strategic work -- the effort HR spends on administration has not changed significantly because most HR departments didn't follow through to effectively integrate different technologies.

2. Review and benchmark outsourced vendor contracts.
Many companies are not seeing the full effect of process efficiencies, cost savings or improved service they expected from their human resources outsourcing and related technology and service vendor contracts -- often have a patchwork of applications and service providers that aren’t fully integrated or optimized. WW estimates you can save between 10% and 20% once you reassess all of your vendor relationships.

3. Leverage Web 2.0 technologies to create a “consumer-grade” experience.
Leveraging Web 2.0 technologies — such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and shared teamsites — is key to managing today’s information overload and engaging employees. The generation currently entering the workforce has learned to communicate and collaborate using these tools and expects the same “consumer-grade” experience at work.

This can be achieved with corporate tools similar to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube available internally, significantly improving connectivity and employees’ experience of the company intranet.

“HR can take a page from the Internet playbook and benefit from the same tools that have driven the unexpected explosion in online productivity and innovation globally,” says Michael Rudnick, Watson Wyatt’s global intranet and portal leader.