You Already Have an HR System – It’s Just Not a Very Reliable One.

Most businesses we talk to think they need to introduce an HR system.
They’re usually already running one.
It’s just not what they think of as a system. It lives across six spreadsheets, a shared inbox, a project management tool, someone’s notebook, and whatever the ops manager remembers. It works – mostly – because one or two people know how it all fits together. It’s reliable until those people leave. It’s resilient until it isn’t.
But it is a system.
And recognising that changes how you think about choosing software.

What You’re Actually Running

A typical informal HR system might look like this:

Recruitment. Job spec lives in one person’s email. Applications come via three different channels: email, LinkedIn, a job board. Tracking happens in a spreadsheet. Feedback goes in a group chat. Someone consolidates it into another spreadsheet for the final decision.

Onboarding. New starters get a checklist – printed or forwarded as a PDF. IT provision request goes to a third person via email. Contracts are stored in a folder somewhere. New email addresses are created manually. Access rights are requested in another email thread. Welcome documentation is a mix of templates, some recent, some several years old.

Leave management. Requests come via email or a casual message. The ops manager checks the spreadsheet she’s maintained for years. She updates it manually, sends an approval email, and keeps a running count of who has how much leave remaining.

Performance reviews. The annual cycle happens in a roughly scheduled month. Forms are stored somewhere in Drive. Managers email them back. HR consolidates them into a summary spreadsheet. Salary decisions are made based on that spreadsheet and a separate conversation with the finance director.

None of this is unusual. Most growing businesses run something like it.
The system works because it’s simple and because the people running it understand exactly how things move from step to step. It’s fragile for the same reason – it depends entirely on those people.

Why This Matters Before You Choose Software

Here’s what we see happen when a business picks software without first understanding their current system:

They automate the inefficiency.

If your leave process is currently inconsistent – some managers approve quickly, some sit on requests for weeks – automating it won’t fix the inconsistency. It’ll just make it faster and more visible. The software becomes a tool for running a broken process at scale.

They expect the software to solve problems that aren’t actually software problems.

Communication gaps, unclear decision-makers, missing documentation – these are organisational problems. A new system won’t fix them; it’ll just move them into a different tool. You’ll still have unclear decision-making; it’ll just happen in the software instead of over email.

They struggle with adoption.

When the new system doesn’t match how people actually work, people find workarounds. They keep their own spreadsheets alongside it. They continue doing things the old way because it’s faster. The software becomes something the admin has to manage rather than something the team uses naturally.

They miss the real opportunity.

The window when you’re choosing new software is the perfect moment to rethink how you actually want to work. Not just “do we need to automate this”, but “why are we doing it this way at all?” You lose that opportunity if you focus on moving the current system into a new tool unchanged.

Before You Look at Software

Before you start comparing systems, do this:

1. Map what you’re actually running now. Not what you think you should be running – what you actually do. Follow a leave request from start to finish. Track where recruitment decisions happen. See which spreadsheets are the source of truth for which processes. You’ll find that some things are intentional and well-designed, and some are just the accident of how things evolved. That matters.
2. Identify what’s working and what isn’t. You’re not trying to change everything. Some of your current processes are good – they’re just inefficient. Some are actively broken and need rethinking. Sort them.
3. Ask whether the problem is the process or the software. If your data quality is poor, it’s not because you don’t have a system; it’s because the current system doesn’t enforce data quality. Moving to new software won’t fix that unless you also change how data gets entered. If managers aren’t hitting deadlines, it’s not because you need reminder notifications; it’s because the deadline isn’t real or isn’t important to them. Understand the real problem first.
4. Get agreement on what you actually need. This is where “Need, Want, Nice-to-have” comes in. Before you look at a single vendor, sort your requirements into those three piles. When every feature looks essential because you haven’t drawn that line, the buying process becomes impossible, and the implementation becomes too ambitious.

The Real Starting Point

You already have a system. The question isn’t whether to introduce one – it’s whether your current system is serving you well enough, or whether investing in new software would actually move the needle.
Some businesses are better served by improving what they have. Others are ready to move to something more structured. And some are between the two – they need to clean up their processes first, then choose software that supports them.
The businesses that get the most from new HR software are the ones that start by understanding what they’ve already got. Then they decide whether to fix it, replace it, or leave it as is.
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