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- Crucial to have technologies in place to assist with management, implementation of initiatives
- HR has to ensure CEO understands implications of implementing comprehensive digital strategy
“The HR technology market is undergoing
one of the most disruptive years it has seen this decade. . .the HR
technology industry is on the precipice of a total reinvention.” This is
how Josh Bersin of Bersin by Deloitte started his 2016 report, HR Technology Disruptions for 2017: Nine Trends Reinventing the HR Software Market.
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| Photo: Digital News Asia |
“The entire marketplace is shifting from
tools that automate traditional HR practices to platforms and apps that
make life at work better. This fundamental shift is profound in its
implications,” Bersin noted.
Bersin then goes on to identify the nine trends that he sees as key for 2017 and beyond:
1. Changes in the way performance management is conducted (and understood)
2. An overwhelming need for real-time engagement evaluation (and how this links back to performance and feedback
3. A tremendous growth of the use of people analytics
4. An ongoing increase and evolution of the learning market
5. A new landscape for talent acquisition
6. Growth in contingent workforce management, gig work, and part-time work environments
7. The growth of team management tools and their merger with HR tools
8. The explosion of wellness and fitness apps – and their potential merger with employee engagement
9. The use of self-service, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation in HR
Surprising? Perhaps not – we have already
started to see a move towards that direction – now the tricky part is
how to make sure that all of this happens in a seamless, integrated and
highly engaging manner.
For companies that are big, and those that
are planning to scale, it is crucial to have the technologies in place
to assist with the management and implementation of different
initiatives, as well as the analysis of all the data that are gathered.
Technology is a tool that HR practitioners
will have to utilise fully and depend on, in order to make their job
easier, but also more precise.
Whose job is it?
The Drive or Delegate report,
written by Andrew Staples and published by the Economist Corporate
Network, looks at how much effort and energy Asian chief executive
officers (CEOs) dedicate to turning their workplace into a digital one.
Asian CEOs believe that digital workplaces
can boost productivity from within, attract the next generation of top
talent, facilitate collaborative working and send important signals
about the type of culture the company has.
However, even though 71% of Asian CEOs
believe they are active champions of a digital workplace, 53% believe
that it is someone else’s job to execute and implement the right
processes to get there (for example IT and HR).
The report identifies some major drawbacks
that contribute to the hesitation. First of all, despite the explosion
in technologies, the technologies available are still not seamless.
In addition to that, decision-makers are usually middle managers or higher, who may feel threatened by new technology.
Lastly, the perceived need to have
“in-office” presence of employees is still there. These factors may stop
CEOs from willingly taking the front seat when it comes to driving this
digital adoption.
The CEO’s blessing is required to move
forward in the right direction. HR, however, is the function within the
company that is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring a thorough,
error-free, fair and easy-to-pull-information-from process that
successfully attracts, recruits, onboards, manages performance,
develops, retains, and eventually handles separation with employees.
It is therefore the task of HR to ensure
that the CEO sees the need and understands the implications of
implementing a comprehensive digital strategy.
Once the necessary HR technologies are in
place within an organisation, employees will have the right tools,
information – and motivation – to go on with their work with improved
productivity.
Learning and digital technologies
Coming from a learning background myself, I can speak particularly about trends 2 to 5 that Bersin highlights in his report.
Having worked intensely on digital
learning for some time now, I can see how implementing such a technology
tool can bring about a stark difference in these areas, even though it
is by no means an exhaustive attempt.
Nevertheless, it’s a great start even for
the smaller companies that are looking into scaling but cannot yet
manage a fully integrated HR solution.
Source: Digital News Asia
