Build engagement with systems that stick
Executive summary
Services firms are investing heavily in talent technology but not seeing the results they want. The problem isn’t the tools themselves — it’s the approach. When firms jump straight to software selection, they create expensive, disconnected systems that frustrate employees and fail to deliver promised insights. A better approach is foundation first: aligning leadership priorities and mapping employee journeys before selecting specific tools.
Professional services firms face unprecedented competition for talent. They’re no longer just competing with other consulting firms or accounting practices, but with tech companies, fintech startups and digital service providers that offer competitive pay, flexibility and modern work environments.
To compete, services firms are investing heavily in talent technology. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise management top their investment priorities this year, according to Grant Thornton’s Digital Transformation Survey.
But many firms are approaching this backward. Instead of starting with strategy, they’re jumping straight to individual tools for each step in the employee journey. HR teams may use one platform for recruiting, another for onboarding, a third for performance management and spreadsheets to fill the gaps. This leads to individuals manually transferring data between systems throughout the entire employee life cycle — which isn’t efficient.
“The solution is building a comprehensive strategy that aligns technology investments with their processes and desired employee experience from the start — then pursuing right-fit solutions from there,” said Fred Kohm, Grant Thornton Head of the Services Industry.
Start with strategy, not software
Before investing in new technology, services leaders need a foundation-first approach that prioritizes organizational alignment over individual tools.
“Sometimes it’s not just the technology itself that needs to be fixed, it’s the process — starting with C-suite alignment,” said Nina Liggett, Grant Thornton Business Consulting Experienced Manager. “Leaders across the firm — from the CEO and CFO to the CIO and CHRO — need to be on the same page about their priorities and what to tackle first.” Without this collective agreement, teams invest in tools that fulfill their individual team needs, only to discover later that the technology doesn’t integrate or deliver expected results.
Leaders need to align on three areas:
- Assess the current landscape: Evaluate the entire employee lifecycle to identify pain points, understand process flows, map existing systems and data flows and evaluate manual workarounds.
- Build future-state design and road mapping: Design the target employee experience and build a pragmatic and prioritized transformation roadmap to modernize business processes and technology solutions needed to achieve desired outcomes.
- Establish governance and implementation: Ensure C-Suite priorities are synchronized throughout implementation, with clear accountability for both employee experience and business results.
Design seamless employee experiences
Modern ERP and human capital management systems now include built-in AI models that analyze integrated data to assess employee engagement — tracking everything from system logins to participation in internal recognition programs. But the technology only works when the employee experience is designed thoughtfully.
“First impressions matter. From the end-user perspective, it’s a disruption to their day-one experience if the technology doesn’t talk to each other and processes don’t align,” Liggett said.
For example, if your new HR technology creates manual processes for IT, it slows down onboarding and administrative processes and creates backlogs that only multiply. When this happens repeatedly, it damages leadership credibility.
“Change fatigue sets in when employees face the friction of poorly integrated systems, reactive implementations that fall short and solutions rushed into place without the proper time to validate whether they truly work for your company. Instead of the promised efficiency, they experience repeated disruptions and a growing loss of confidence in leaders, leading to potential talent loss.”
“Change fatigue sets in when employees face the friction of poorly integrated systems, reactive implementations that fall short and solutions rushed into place without the proper time to validate whether they truly work for your company,” Liggett explained. “Instead of the promised efficiency, they experience repeated disruptions and a growing loss of confidence in leaders, leading to potential talent loss.”
Effective employee journeys require strategic foundations:
- Process standardization: Map every touchpoint from offer acceptance to first-year milestones through role-based expectations to identify where disconnected systems, missing information or unclear processes create delays or inconsistencies.
- Cross-functional ownership: Establish clear accountability between leadership for different phases of the employee experience and specific business outputs with defined responsibilities and success metrics.
- Experience design thinking: Work backward from desired employee outcomes (for example, productive by day 30, engaged at 90 days, leading by year three) to determine the information, access and support they need at each stage.
- Integration requirements: Define what data types need to flow between systems and departments before selecting tools, ensuring seamless information sharing rather than retrofitting connections later.
- Strong communication and change management: Drive adoption, minimize productivity loss and ultimately protect investments in new systems by ensuring employees stay engaged, skilled and committed through transitions.
The power of strategic foundations
Many firms buy talent technology hoping it will solve their engagement and retention problems immediately. But without solid foundations, even sophisticated tools create more work for already busy teams.
“The key is being strategic about technology selection rather than reactive,” Liggett said. “Foundation work helps you identify what will actually solve your problems versus what sounds impressive in a demo.”
Solid foundations ensure your technology investments deliver the results you're looking for:
“When systems work together, you can better compete for talent. The firms losing good people to tech companies are the ones where employees spend their first week waiting for system access and their first month figuring out disconnected processes. If you get the integration right, you can offer the seamless experience that top talent expects.”
- Integrated HR systems that eliminate the need for spreadsheets to fill gaps between recruiting, onboarding and performance management platforms
- Connected employee data that flows between systems without manual transfers, so managers have complete information when making decisions
- Unified dashboards that show employee engagement alongside business metrics, enabling leadership to spot retention risks before they affect projects
- Streamlined workflows that remove the manual data handoffs between teams, from hiring through performance reviews
- Real-time insights from integrated systems rather than waiting for annual surveys to reveal problems
“When systems work together, you can better compete for talent,” said Orry Frye, Grant Thornton Technology Modernization Managing Director. “The firms losing good people to tech companies are the ones where employees spend their first week waiting for system access and their first month figuring out disconnected processes. If you get the integration right, you can offer the seamless experience that top talent expects.”
Start where it matters most
When services firms have integrated systems are integrated and their processes are smooth, they can compete with anyone for the best people.
”Integrated, seamless processes and systems are critical to competing for top services, but the most foundational thing you can do is pay your people and provide them their benefits,” Frye said. “When implementing a new HR system, focus on building a strong foundation. From there, you can add performance management, learning solutions, total rewards — whatever your firm needs most.”
Contacts:
Head of Services Industry
Partner, Risk Advisory Services
Grant Thornton Advisors LLC
Frederick Kohm, Jr. is the Head of the Services industry and a Risk Advisory Principal based in the Philadelphia office.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Industries
- Insurance
- Energy
- Services
Service Experience
- Advisory Services
Managing Director - Technology Modernization
Grant Thornton Advisors LLC
Tech strategist in Charlotte, NC, driving enterprise transformation across industries with deep IT, audit, and governance expertise.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Industries
- Manufacturing, Transportation & Distribution
- Hospitality, Construction & Real Estate
- Construction & Real Estate
- Not-for-profit & Higher Education
Service Experience
- Advisory Services
- Technology Modernization
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