The rapid digitalisation of Human Resource Management (HRM) operations in organisations, especially in recent times, has prompted organisations, regardless of their respective industries, to resort to the adoption of cloud-based HR solutions that result in improved organisational efficiency, transparency and service delivery. Though private organisations have widely applied this measure, public institutions have slowly begun adopting this trend. In this article, we examine and analyse the effectiveness of cloud-based HR software in achieving greater efficiency within organisations, both in the public and private sectors. This analysis is, as such, comparative and relies on the secondary data and the literature reviews. In addition, we propose an approach for outlining an important conceptual framework of moderating factors influencing efficiency in public and private sectors, bringing about greater efficiency through cloud-based HR software and several policy and managerial implications for effective cloud adoption, especially in the public sector. This study reveals the benefits of enjoying speed and flexibility in achieving efficiency, with the public sector enjoying high benefits such as transparency, standardisation and compliance.