Purpose: Digital human resource management (e-HRM) has been studied mostly in large and multinational organisations. This paper examines how HR digitalisation can be understood in a different setting: a small, field-force-driven firm in India's cosmeceutical and therapeutic-aesthetics segment, where a compact HR team supports employees who spend most of their time outside the office.

Design/approach: The paper is conceptual. It combines published market estimates, the recent Indian regulatory changes that affect HR data and employment practice, and established technology-adoption theory (the Technology Acceptance Model, Diffusion of Innovations and socio-technical systems theory). The authors' internship context in an HR department of one such firm motivates the questions asked, but no primary survey or interview data are reported.

Findings: Market sources agree on direction but not on size: estimates of India's HRMS and HR-technology market in 2024–25 range from about USD 0.87 billion to USD 1.2 billion, with projected growth rates from 7.56% to 17.34% a year. At the same time, the Labour Codes (effective 21 November 2025) and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 are turning HR systems from an administrative convenience into compliance infrastructure. The paper develops a framework and five testable propositions on ease of use in field conditions, the sequence of HRMS coverage, onboarding and training, compliance, and data quality.

Originality and limitations: The paper offers a context-specific framework for an under-studied type of organisation. Because it reports no primary data, the propositions are untested; a research design for testing them is outlined.

Keywords: e-HRM; HRMS; digital HR; technology acceptance; field workforce; cosmeceuticals; India; DPDP Act