Dive Brief:

• Target has become the latest retailer to offload some human resources processes to cloud-based service Workday.

• With the help of Workday, the retailer is planning to simplify operational tasks to free up time for team members to focus on key guest initiatives, as well as gain insights for quicker, data-driven decision making to support growth and hiring efforts, among other aims. 

• Target will use the vendor’s Human Capital Management (HCM) system, which includes its Workday Learning, Workday Payroll and Workday Recruiting tools. "We believe Workday will help us harness the power of our team to further elevate Target's guest experience," said Steve Brophy, Target's vice president of human resources.

Dive Insight:

When you hear about companies using software or cloud apps to streamline processes, it sometimes means they are doing it in conjunction with job cuts, as they look to software outsourcing companies to take on the tasks that the departed employees had handled for them. That was the case when Wal-Mart said a few months ago it had signed on with Workday after announcing planned job cuts.

However, that doesn't always have to be the case. Companies can turn to outsourcing firms or systems like Workday to handle processes that aren't considered core to the competitive needs of the business. If you can free up time an employee typically spends on paperwork, and have that employee spend more time doing something that more closely relates to bringing in revenue or improving customer experiences, wouldn't you do it?

That appears to be what Target is doing here, working with Workday in a similar fashion to other retailers like Kohl's, which also used Workday to help free up employees to take on more important tasks, and helped make their jobs easier with the addition of new technology. In fact, like Kohl's, Target also plans to have employees perform human resources tasks, and access and act on other information via mobile devices. In addition to that and the other aims mentioned above, Target said it wants to provide employees with more personalized learning, training and development, so they are better equipped to help Target improve its customer engagement and experiences. 

We're going to see more retailers relying on cloud apps and tools like those Workday provides. Retailers haven't been as aggressive as companies in other industries in outsourcing mundane business functions (Sorry to those of you responsible for mundane business functions) to the cloud, but they now need to be more nimble and focused than ever.