Integrated HR Systems

In our last class we had someone from Oracle give us a sales pitch/demo of Oracle's suite of HR systems. These systems were a mix of technology built by Oracle, and a few small companies that Oracles bought. We were given the inside scoop that when a big company buys smaller companies in order to take over their technology, that they do some quick front-end skin work to make all the platforms look alike (as if it were all one system), but there was weird patch work on the back to make the systems link up.

And therein lies the issue with finding a complete suite of HR technology to use at work: Do the systems link up with one another and share information?

The thing that drives HR and Recruiting teams crazy at my work place is that none of our HR technology talks to each other. The main HRM system does not get information fed into it by our ATS. So when we hire people (in our ATS), someone has to manually input a bunch of information into the core HRM system. If you update someone in one system, you have to manually go into another system and make the same change. Not only does this process lead to errors, but it is also incredibly slow.

So what solutions are available to us?

1. We could buy a complete suite of core HRM, ATS, performance management, etc. from a vendor like Successfactors, Workday, etc. and then all of the systems would talk to each other.
Ideally, by buying a complete suite from one company, the technology should all run on the same smooth platform. But, as we have learned, if the technology of a small company was eaten by a big company and then sold as part of a larger suite package, is that connection really a complete connection? Or is it something hastily thrown together with digital scotch-tape and glue?
This is definitely something to look out for and inspect when choosing to purchase a "complete" system from someone.
Another issue with a "complete" suite is that some functions may be better than others, so one department or team may be suffering more than others. For instance, ADP has core HRM, payrolling, and even offers an ATS. But I have never heard of anyone using ADP's ATS, because it is probably not user-friendly to recruiters.

2. We could find independent systems that have cross-comparability with other independent systems, like ADP with Cornerstone, and BambooHR with Greenhouse ATS. The issue of course is that these options are limited.

Why can't ever system just be built on the same kind of platform and everything just link up with one another?? That would make our lives so much easier!