Eighty percent of corporations in the survey are putting their money where their mouths are. "The survey shows that HR technology spending remains steady and strong despite cost reductions in other areas of HR," Towers Watson reported. "More than half of organizations (53 percent) indicated their investment in HR technology this year will match last year's investment levels, while more than a quarter (27 percent) will either increase or significantly increase their HR technology investments."

The survey also offers support for something that most HR professionals already know: that technology usually takes root elsewhere within the enterprise, and works its way through the HR door.

"More than 60 percent of respondents now provide mobile access via (a) smartphone to employees, and almost a quarter (24 percent) offer tablets. But HR-enabled applications are in their infancy: Only about one in 10 organizations currently use mobile applications for HR purposes," Towers Watson reported. "This trend is expected to accelerate, as 25 percent plan to offer HR-enabled applications in the next 12 to 18 months. However, fully half of organizations have no plans to leverage mobile applications before the end of 2014." 

The increasing focus on technology fits with respondents' priorities for improving the HR function. They ranked "streamlining business processes" as their top objective (cited by 32 percent of those surveyed), with improving  "talent and performance management systems" and "greater involvement in strategic business-driven issues" tied for the No. 2 spot at 29 percent.

Other major findings include a distinct shift toward "shared services."  

"Almost half (49 percent) are moving toward a shared services environment with HR centers of excellence and HR business partners. The shared services model is the most prevalent among available options, followed by organizations' intent to outsource additional functions (17 percent) or move to a single HR function for the entire organization (12 percent)," the survey noted.

"Without question, HR service delivery is in a state of change, and organizations need to embrace that change as the new constant. This means they can change the game by modifying their structure, rethinking long-held processes, adopting new HR technologies and processes, and extending capabilities to the organization via manager self-service and shared services. In the end, it means using new concepts, approaches and technology to provide better HR services," said Mike DiClaudio, global leader of HR Service Delivery practice at Towers Watson.