When an accountant on a modern finance team starts their day, they’re greeted with a real-time overview of company-wide accounts payable (A/P) status in granular detail. They know in an instant how much of their outstanding invoices are unpaid in any part of the world. Say, France, for example! A procurement manager can check the dashboard for any vendors who have submitted bids. But in many HR teams, busy people are still greeted with a never-ending stack of emails and two-week-old spreadsheets.

While digital transformation has revolutionized most enterprise business processes, HR has mostly been an afterthought, particularly global mobility management, which has remained a relatively manual and siloed process. Ten years ago, when mobility wasn’t quite as universal, email and Excel may have been enough. But now that global mobility and remote work are increasingly vital for business growth and recruiting success, they simply can’t cut it. The demand for efficient Global Mobility Management (GMM) is far outpacing the capabilities of this dated approach. Even purpose-built, on-premises solutions have left companies still wanting more than one-size-fits-all solutions can provide.

Fortunately, new GMM technologies are evolving to deliver the same real-time, integrated capabilities that other enterprise business solutions provide. By connecting personnel, payroll, vendor management and other data and systems into a single, cohesive platform, these modern GMM solutions are the only way to keep pace with the growing demand for talent mobility.

The downsides of disconnection

The reality is that modern day relocation can involve up to 20-25 different vendors, plus multiple agencies for tax, compliance, immigration and other services. Multiplied over hundreds or even thousands of mobile employees, the lack of data and workflow integration in most GMM programs puts a tremendous strain on HR and mobility teams who are forced to find workarounds and duplicate efforts. The lack of integration also makes it nearly impossible to analyze GMM program performance and cost data to get an accurate picture of mobility program success.

As a result, the overwhelming process of managing all of the moving parts puts the primary focus on logistics, rather than strategy. HR teams are scrambling to keep things straight, rather than developing and executing a mobility strategy based on skills mapping and matching the right talent to the right project and then figuring out who to move where. Mobility becomes reactionary rather than strategic, and HR teams—in fact, the entire company—are flying blind, investing millions of dollars with no real strategy or performance measurement in place.

The bottom line: homegrown systems simply can’t keep pace and bespoke solutions grow increasingly complex and costly with each custom integration. Moreover, most still fail to provide the visibility, efficiency and agility required to handle a strategic GMM program at scale.

Complex processes demand streamlined solutions

Modern GMM programs require modern, flexible SaaS-based solutions that offer true seamless integration and workflow automation with modular features that deliver the tools and scalability companies need on demand. The ability to configure your own platform based on the unique needs of the organization is critical for the agility and insight needed to run a strategic GMM program.  As mobility becomes more common—and more of a business necessity—GMM teams must have access to automated solutions that help them work smarter, with the elasticity to handle increasing GMM demand, as well as seasonal spikes in the number of in-process moves.

Meanwhile, maintaining data continuity and security is vital. When employee data lives in multiple systems and must be pulled out of one for transfer into another, this puts data quality at risk. Creating seamless continuity with fully integrated technologies reduces the risk of data loss or unauthorized access. Because data is often shared across borders, this consistency is especially important. Data formatting in Western systems can be significantly different from that of Eastern systems. That’s why it’s critical to choose a mobility system of record that is built from the ground up with a global perspective. This caliber of solution will accommodate global business expansion down the road, even if it’s not on the radar today.

HR & mobility professionals should demand better

While global mobility might be perceived as an afterthought in achieving the digital transformation, mobility and HR pros actually have tremendous influence in the mobility tech buying decision. With exceptional efficiency in managing moves, unprecedented visibility into future costs and real-time performance, seamless integration with companion solutions and services, and the speed and agility to respond to market forces and staffing needs on demand, modern SaaS-based GMM platforms not only make HR/mobility professionals’ jobs much easier, but also provide a tremendous competitive advantage.

By making the case for implementing innovative technology, HR/mobility teams can demonstrate their strategic value to the company through growth-oriented programs that succeed.