Working in a global business hub like London has allows me to explore and adapt advanced HR solutions. Attending key events such as HR Technologies London and People Analytics World, I observed a notable trend: while technology provides innovative solutions for maximizing business potential from human capital data, organizations are hesitant to implement these solutions.
Advancing the Workplace: The Role of HR Technology
The development of AI and People Analytics offers numerous innovative HR solutions, including the democratization of information, extensive data analysis from limitless sources, and capability-based job analyses. AI also brings advanced predictive analytics, enabling future trend predictions based on current data in unprecedented ways.
Recruitment and Selection Innovation
In recruitment and selection, automated systems conduct independent interviews and manage administrative processes digitally. These technologies provide candidates with flexibility and autonomy, allowing them to manage selection processes independently. This automation highlights the technological innovation in recruitment compared to other HR areas.
Challenges in HR Technology Adoption
Despite the significant benefits of technological innovation, its actual adoption is minor compared to the potential it promises. The dominance of traditional suites (like Oracle and SuccessFactors) focusing on organizational order solutions, such as attendance and payroll tracking, was evident at the conferences.
Similarly, classic People Analytics solutions, such as dashboard creation for business insights or real-time data management systems, dominated. The space for innovative solutions that maximize data potential was minimal compared to the change they promise.
Why is HR Avoiding Innovation?
Discussions revealed that these technologies outpace organizations’ ability to adopt them, manifesting in several challenges across different areas:
- Poor Data Quality: Organizational databases are often outdated, limiting the solutions’ ability to generate accurate insights.
- Plug & Play Challenge: The variance in data management across organizations makes it difficult for solution providers to create universal Plug & Play solutions.
- Steep Learning Curve: The steep learning curve of implementing these solutions surpasses organizations’ ability to learn and apply them quickly and efficiently.
- Ethical Challenges: The line between acceptable data usage and overreach is still being drawn, with the potential for ethical dilemmas.
- HR Doesn’t Speak Business: HR often communicates in HR terms rather than business outcomes, hindering the realization of the business potential in these solutions.
- Make or Buy: Large organizations have the capability to develop solutions independently, but development costs often exceed purchase costs.
- HR Is Not a Priority: Departments that generate direct revenue, like marketing or business development, benefit first from innovation.
- Technological Orientation, Not Business: Solutions are technologically oriented rather than content-oriented, making it challenging for organizations to utilize the knowledge for business insights.
Overcoming Challenges to Harness Data Potential
Significant efforts in organizational infrastructure, data quality, regulation, and cultural integration are required to harness the potential of these technologies. This approach will enable organizations to leverage innovative capabilities for better human capital management and gain a competitive edge.
To overcome the mentioned challenges and adopt innovative human capital management solutions, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with advanced tools and platforms like Microsoft’s Viva suite. Recognized as the most advanced suite for organizational development technologies, Viva addresses organizational oversight, employee management, goal management, and LMS and LXP management.
While tools like Teams are well-known, they are only one component of the broader Viva platform. Familiarizing yourself with these innovative platforms will help HR overcome some of the mentioned challenges, like the inability to derive business insights from data, and adopt new technologies for more effective human capital management.
O.D. Consulting stands by your side, helping you implement the most advanced People Analytics solutions to achieve significant business results from human capital data management, including:
- Cutting-edge People Analytics solutions providing automated responses and benchmarking for around 150 HR challenges. Suitable for large organizations, these solutions have been implemented for 25,000 clients in over 75 countries.
- Plug & Play solutions offering complete lifecycle management dashboards for employees.
- Customized solutions addressing specific organizational challenges or issues, generating focused business insights.
