Nuclear Restoration Services’ transformative business journey using data-driven insights from Unit4 HCM
Today's leaders are looking for ways to drive change and growth within their organizations. With data-driven insights from technology such as ERP, FP&A, and HCM, leaders can make real-time, informed decisions that can help them achieve organizational resilience, improve agility, gain better financial control, lower staff turnover, and find right-fit talent.
The power of HCM technology lies in its ability to integrate seamlessly with other business areas, providing opportunities for business change through transformational insights. In this blog, we'll explore the role of HCM technology in enabling business change at Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS), formerly known as Magnox.
NRS shifted to Unit4 Cloud for HCM and has utilized Unit4 Talent Management as part of their digital transformation. HR leaders are now able to prioritize people, by leveraging their HCM tools to identify actionable insights and drive performance through a meaningful and regular review process.
The challenge
NRS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Key to its ongoing successful digital transformation is the superiority of Unit4's solution and the services of Embridge Consulting, which assisted with change management.
The UK government agreed to transfer gas-cooled reactor sites to NRS for decommissioning. NRS needed modern software to attract and retain talent with critical skills and knowledge required for nuclear programs, especially as many employees were nearing retirement age.
NRS had a manual, paper-based performance management process for its 2,500 employees, which was carried out once a year. To achieve greater agility and drive better collaboration, leadership needed real-time workforce insights and a modern system to facilitate regular conversations and progress reviews.
During the evaluation process, the team agreed that support functions such as HR and finance needed to unite rather than take a siloed, piecemeal approach. The organization adopted the on-premise version of Unit4 ERP in 2012, customizing the new system to accommodate its existing processes instead of changing them. Migrating to the Cloud in 2020 prompted process changes and improved product functionality to better meet the organization's needs.
Unified technology with Cloud solutions makes it easy for NRS to integrate its HCM solution with other business areas. This provides comprehensive visibility into the entire employee lifecycle, while driving cost savings by eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors.
The importance of HCM technology in business transformation
HCM technology is crucial for organizations to optimize their workforce and stay competitive. It streamlines workforce management, aligns employee performance with organizational objectives, and offers a comprehensive view of the organization's workforce. With the power of data-driven insights, HCM technology enables organizations to predict workforce trends, identify potential skill gaps, and adjust their operations accordingly. It also helps gain financial control by optimizing the allocation of resources, monitoring workforce costs, and identifying areas for savings.
Moving to Cloud-based HCM technology provides a wealth of benefits for organizations seeking to transform, including scalability and flexibility, enhanced security and compliance, lower IT costs, increased accessibility, and improved system performance and uptime.
The benefits NRS gained by migrating to a Cloud-based HCM solution
- Unit4's performance management makes company goals visible to employees and aligns individual and company objectives. The new system cascades goals throughout the organization, including those established internally and by stakeholder groups.
- Employees spend 50% less time on performance management. The new system is interactive, user-friendly, and promotes joint ownership. Managers can communicate and request feedback, encouraging active participation.
- The new HCM solution's progressive approach and state-of-the-art feel demonstrate the company's investment in modern technology and a shift in employees' mindsets.
- When individual contributors control the employee review process, they feel empowered and take ownership. This leads to greater agility for the organization. An engagement survey saw 75% participation with around 22,000 comments.
- The new system enables career pathing, supports employee-manager conversations, and gives managers ownership, which was impossible before at NRS.
- Unit4's performance management system enables easy tracking of participation and enhances compliance through centralized and visible information.
- Using the system regularly will simplify year-end reviews.
- The solution has improved engagement and increased morale.
- The HCM talent management system is regularly updated with minimal impact on the business. Release notes provide notice of updates, allowing for focused testing, and new features are usable immediately upon delivery.
- Cloud migration improved accessibility by allowing NRS employees to access ERP from any device. Previously, they could only access it through NRS devices, which not all employees had access to.
Mary Kent, the Head of IT Program Delivery at NRS, said the organization had previously looked at moving their version of Unit4 ERP to the Cloud in 2017, but the idea was met with resistance. The thinking from many stakeholders was, "Why would we move anything to the Cloud? It's not secure." This was of particular concern given the sector in which NRS operates. "But if you look at how the global landscape has changed, pretty much everybody is moving to the Cloud."
How Unit4 can help your organization move to the Cloud
Cloud-based technologies like ERP, FP&A, and HCM help businesses achieve transformational change by leveraging data-driven insights to improve resilience, agility, and financial control. With the ability to leverage Cloud-based solutions and access data from anywhere, organizations can transform and gain a competitive edge in their industries.
You can read the full NRS customer success story here and watch the video for more information here. And if you want to learn more about how you can elevate your employee experience with people-focused Unit4 Talent Management solutions please check out this page or learn more about the NRS digital transformation with Unit4 here.
