Six tech-tonic shifts that are rewriting the DNA of HR
In today's world, employees have similar expectations from their employers as they have from any brand they engage with—in a sense, they have become the organisation's customers as part of the experience economy. Primitive HR applications won't cut it anymore. Here's what HR leads need to know
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Traditionally, and in some pockets even today, HR looks at technology as a tool to solve problems post-facto. From ‘registering of attendance’ to learning and development, HR technology has typically been triggered by challenges that need resolution.
However, in the past few years, the marriage of emerging technology and the experience economy has created enterprise applications that are changing the workplace. HR tech has also shifted its course to become a potent tool of mitigating business disruptions. HR leaders who fail to understand and embrace these shifts in HR applications, will lose strategic talent advantage that their businesses desperately need.
So, what are these shifts and what should the HR lead know?
- Seamless mobility – across devices and operating systems
- Full functionality – across devices and locations
- Hyper-personalisation – right up to organisation, department and the individual level
It takes years of research and huge investments to be able to deliver such an experience. Redundant technologies such as ‘native apps’, batch processing of data, specific point solutions, etc., kill the experience and result in a disengaged workforce. Ironically, a majority of HR tech buyers don’t understand the deep nuances of these developments, and that needs to change. CHROs need not become CIOs, but they need to know which technology will help them to deliver the best experience to their workforce.
In order to provide such insights, HR leaders need to lean on intelligent applications on the cloud. Such applications proactively search for data for emerging trends and patterns, assess their implications and use the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to bring actionable insights. This is the real strategic talent advantage that the businesses need.
What happened in banking, retail or even transportation a few years ago is now invading HR as a function. The DNA of HR is being re-written with technology. While many organisations are embarking on an HR digital transformation journey, a majority (74 percent per Gartner) of them are likely to fail. They will fail because of lack of appreciation and adaptation to the above mentioned ‘Tech-tonic’ shifts. Primitive HR will cease to exist in this decade.
The author is Head of HCM Applications, Asia Pacific at Oracle.