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For businesses trying to improve the overall HR experience, the solution is not always a fancy new piece of software. Sometimes, it’s connecting the systems you already use.
But when we asked companies about how they’re currently connecting their HR applications with other apps and data sources, only 40% reported having a defined HR integration strategy.
In this guide, we’ll explore what HR integration is, examples of common HR apps that can be integrated, and discuss solutions to the challenges that are preventing companies from implementing integration initiatives.
What is HR system integration?
HR system integration is the process of connecting HR applications and data, either through custom code or a third-party integration platform.
Integration can be used to connect different HR systems to each other (for example, connecting an HRIS with payroll software so that when an employee’s role is updated in the HRIS, their salary is automatically updated) or to systems in different departments, like IT and finance.
Examples of HR Integration
To better understand how HR integration works, let’s look at a few real-world use cases:
1. Workday + Salesforce = Automated Onboarding & Offboarding
When a worker is hired in Workday, the integration can automatically create a user in Salesforce. When a worker leaves the organization, the integration can update the user’s status in Salesforce, helping teams maintain accurate employee access information.
Workday + Salesforce Integration Process Template
2. NetSuite + Coupa = Faster Reimbursements
Integrating an ERP like NetSuite with an expense management platform like Coupa helps organizations speed up reimbursement processes by eliminating manual data entry and reducing delays between expense submission and payment.
When new users are set up in Coupa, the integration automatically creates new employees in NetSuite. And when expense reports are processed in Coupa, they’re automatically created in NetSuite.
NetSuite + Coupa Integration Process Template
Greenhouse + DocuSign = Simpler Paperwork
Integrating applicant tracking systems like Greenhouse with e-signature platforms like DocuSign helps streamline the hiring process by connecting candidate information with required documents. Instead of manually transferring details such as a candidate’s name, role, and other hiring information into offer letters or agreements, the integration can populate documents automatically and send them for electronic signature, simplifying paperwork.
HR Integration Benefits
When HR systems are connected, information can flow from hiring and onboarding to payroll, benefits, learning, performance management, and offboarding without constant manual updates.
- More time for strategic work: HR software integration reduces repetitive data entry by automatically transferring information between the tools teams already use. Instead of copying employee data across multiple systems, HR professionals can spend more time on workforce planning, employee engagement, retention, and other strategic initiatives.
- Better data accuracy across HR systems: Manual data entry creates opportunities for small mistakes that can propagate through payroll systems, benefits platforms, time-tracking tools, and employee records. Integrated HR systems help improve data quality by maintaining consistent employee data across connected applications.
- Smoother employee experiences: Employees feel disconnected when access takes too long, payroll updates lag; or HR teams lack full context. HR integration helps keep employee data moving through the right systems so new hires get set up faster, employees can use self-service more confidently, and HR teams can respond with better information.
- Stronger compliance and business continuity: HR teams handle sensitive employee data while keeping pace with changing employment laws, internal policies, and data protection regulations. Integrated systems help HR departments maintain more consistent records and reduce reliance on one person, spreadsheet, or custom script for critical HR processes.
- A stronger foundation for AI automation: AI in HR depends on accurate, current HR data. With integrated HR systems, AI agents can work with better context to answer employee questions, support onboarding, guide policy lookup, and automate routine HR requests. Jitterbit’s HR Agent builds on that foundation by helping employees get faster answers while reducing manual work for HR teams.
HR Integration Challenges
Cost
Integration is a long-term investment towards managing a company’s greatest asset: its employees. Still, the upfront cost of fully adopting integration across systems is a common deterrent for HR personnel, and the vague promise of “better employee experiences” is probably not going to convince any enterprise stakeholders to take the risk.
Instead of focusing on how much an integration solution costs, teams should focus on how much it will cost to continue operating without HR integration. What percent of an HR employee’s day is spent on manual data entry? How many hours are wasted fixing preventable errors every week? Multiply that by the cost of labor, and you have a much more compelling case for investing in integration.
Security & Data Privacy
HR systems that store sensitive employee information are prime cyberattack targets. The idea of making that data more accessible across a wider variety of systems through integration may seem counterintuitive, but the right integration platform can actually improve security by creating a secure pathway for transferring data between apps — a lot more secure than an employee downloading information onto their personal computer to manually transfer it somewhere else.
Centralized integration solutions like iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) can provide additional peace of mind by enforcing consistent security controls across every integration and monitoring how data flows between apps from a single dashboard.
Integration Complexity
Uncertainty around how integration services work and can be used in their company’s context is a major reason HR teams hesitate to adopt integration platforms.
Before evaluating integration solutions, HR teams should have a clear understanding of the problems they want to solve and workflows they want to automate. What systems would be involved in those workflows? Are they cloud-based or on-premise? How do you see your tech stack and integration needs changing as your business grows?
Understanding your integration needs is only half the battle, though: the integration platform you choose plays a major role in reducing complexity, too. Modern integration platforms offer visual, drag-and-drop tools for building and managing integrations, reducing HR’s reliance on IT.
How Jitterbit Enables HR Integration
Jitterbit Harmony, our unified integration and automation platform, helps HR and IT teams connect the HR applications that support the full employee lifecycle, from applicant tracking systems to expense management software. Our HR AI Agent builds on that foundation, using that integrated HR data to retrieve information, trigger actions; and automate workflows.
Explore our HR workflow automation solutions; and request a demo to see Jitterbit’s low-code integration platform in action.
