Rapidly rolling out a global HR system

i-PRO became independent from its parent company Panasonic Corporation in October 2019, formed by the merger of three separate group entities in Japan, the US and China. To ensure a smooth and successful merger, i-PRO looked to unify and standardize operations, and HR was a top priority.

To unify its people strategy and enable collaboration across borders, i-PRO engaged IBM® Consulting to roll out a global, cloud-based HR system based on the Workday Human Capital Management solution.

In the past, there were communication gaps between the research and development function—responsible for refining the company’s products—and sales teams, who best understood customers’ pain points. As a result, i-PRO decided to rearchitect its company structure. The aim was to optimize core business processes for all geographies and teams, and shape a future-ready organization. Today, the company is also targeting global integration for its employee compensation platforms.

i-PRO looked for a cloud-based HR system that covered everything from core HR to performance management to learning. The company targeted a solution with a simple, intuitive user interface—a critical factor for driving user adoption and unlocking self-service efficiencies.

Flexibility was another key consideration for i-PRO. By following a fit-to-standard implementation approach, the company aimed to roll out the core functionalities of its global HR system in a short period of time, with the option to integrate additional capabilities in the future.

Furthermore, i-PRO was keen to implement the successful continuous performance management strategy used in its US business—whereby employees set goals each week and managers provide regular feedback—for its operations in Japan and China. The company was confident that standardizing on global best practices for performance management would enhance the productivity of its global teams, sharpening competitiveness.

Ms. Sachiko Okamoto, Chief Human Resources Officer at i-PRO, says: “In the United States, we used a SaaS performance management tool to help managers and employees set and collaborate on weekly objectives and key results [OKR] targets. We decided to replace the tool with a global process for reviewing weekly OKR targets. Rather than follow a fit-to-standard approach, we had in-depth discussions about what the new approach to performance management should be, and what it would mean for our business.

In phase one of its HR transformation, which began in September 2020, i-PRO deployed Workday solutions for performance and talent management—a prerequisite for enabling an OKR-based approach to employee performance management.

Using the Workday solutions, i-PRO has adopted as many standard process flows and best practices as possible. The company applied a custom template from IBM Consulting containing prebuilt workflows for Japan-specific HR processes, including employee information registration for job transfers. This helped to accelerate the deployment.

The company was impressed with the speed of the implementation. It took just seven months to go from initial engagement to go-live in Japan, China and the US. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IBM Services® completed the deployment entirely remotely. i-PRO took advantage of IBM Services Dynamic Delivery™, a remote model of service delivery, to keep its HR transformation on track despite COVID-19 restrictions.

Key stakeholders from i-PRO were involved at every stage of the project and followed progress closely. Daily communication with IBM helped to keep the deployment on schedule. Despite not being able to travel onsite, the IBM team kept in close contact with i-PRO through regular video calls, emails, texts and instant messages.

With the HR system now live, i-PRO is now in the process of training administrators how to maintain the Workday solutions, with support from IBM Consulting.

Ms. Mariko Shishikura, HR DX Manager at i-PRO, says: “When we were defining the requirements during the design phase, IBM explained the Workday process flows in great detail. Sessions for our business units in the United States and China were also reassuring, and made possible by IBM’s international footprint.”