Year of HR Technology

It’s hard to imagine life without technology these days. No matter what we do, or where our interests lie, computer applications play a significant in part in both our working and personal lives.

That’s particularly the case with HR professionals, who are evolving from the administration-driven processing of yesteryear to tomorrow’s strategy-building business partner. It’s the technology that often separates these two extremes, as it allows HR to create real analytical value from the data and information it collects. In this way, it can pinpoint problems and potential challenges like never before, giving the department the chance to step up and create working solutions.

Still, technology is not static, and HR technology in particular can evolve quickly. As new functions and requirements are expanded, technology providers have been quick to fill the voids with new data collation and analysis tools. One of the major trends for 2010 will be the continued rise of “integrated” solutions, bringing all of these functions and tools into a single application.

After the storm

Technology professionals are predicting a boom year in 2010. As the world recovers from the global economic downturn, they are expecting many of the world’s most tightly-held purse strings to enjoy a looser grip. And that will naturally mean increased investments in HR technology products – which have seen a great deal of development over the past two years.

Paul Chew, Singapore Country Manager, Stepstone Solutions, says he is expecting a gradual pick up in business activity as the world heads into 2010. “The recovery will have to be slow, steady and apparent, before any company will be willing to aggressively expand,” he says. “Budgets for HR technology will likely increase because the whole market was shaken and manpower was one of the major areas which were affected first.”

Lim Say Ping, Director, IQDynamics, agrees. He predicts a “slight uptick” in demand for HR Technology in 2010, but warns there will also be more price pressure as large numbers of firms compete for share in what will still be a reduced market. He says clients are likely to get savvier about their options, demanding “more functions for less price”.

Functionality

The list of functions that technology can assist the busy HR professional seems almost endless. From turnover and retention information to staff engagement data, a software solution is typically just a phone call away. But large as it is, the list is set to expand further in 2010, with technology professionals predicting several new big-ticket trends in store.

Chew says technology solutions to the age-old problem of succession planning are likely to be in hot demand in 2010. These should be able to analyse the skills and skill gaps within a workforce, pinpointing high-potential workers for specific positions possibly years ahead of any required succession. Enabling software for 360-degree feedback is also likely to have an impact, he says.

Lim predicts training management software will be the must-have technology item next year. While examples are now available in the present market, next year’s offerings are likely to be more advanced, more integrated and more encompassing – taking almost all of the human effort out of planning and executing learning and development initiatives. “Talent management as a whole” will also be a chief focus of both technology providers and HR buyers, he says.

Adaptability

It’s not just what HR technology can do; but also where and how it does it that will be important. More and more, technology providers are adapting their products so they can interact and feed off the internet applications people already use every day.

Lim says connecting recruitment technology to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn will be one of the most notable trends of 2010. The best technology solutions will tap into the information already available on these sites to give HR a more thorough and rounded understanding of each candidate or staff member, he says.

Further developments are also likely when it comes to linking HR technology with other business software such as accounting packages.

But the true advancement will come from integrating all HR technology solutions into a single platform. Chew says HR is looking hard for the ultimate, all encompassing, talent management solution. “We’re seeing a lot of enquiries and I believe all of these would have to be tied in with organisation’s putting more emphasis on performance management,” he said. “As such, there will be greater demand for a fully integrated talent management solution.”

Pay as you go

Technology providers are also adapting the way they deliver their products. Gone are the days of simply buying a software package off the shelf and leaving it to your own information technology department to install, run and maintain. Instead, developers are providing their skills and products as renewable services, not once-off products. The “software-as-a-service” business model has been growing in popularity in recent years and is likely to take off further in 2010.

Karen Paterson, CEO of Patersons International, says this method offers advantages for both sides of the transaction. Importantly, charges are typically on a volume basis, so offices with smaller headcounts can get the same benefits as some of the world’s largest organisations. “Software-as-a-service is hosted by the vendor so the clients pay as they go,” she says. “All clients are on one multinational platform, and there are updates for every client and every jurisdiction.” In this way, clients know and appreciate that they get the latest, updated edition of their software and have the actual developer on-call to handle any problems.

Ari Kopoulos, Sales and Marketing manager, Employee Connect, says the software-as-a-service model means HR does not need to worry about anything from an information technology perspective. All the maintenance, updates and troubleshooting is done by the vendor. “If your company does not possess the necessary technical expertise in-house to support and configure (software), then this may be your best choice,” he said.

The model means HR can effectively pay as it goes, taking away the need for it to make one-off large-scale purchases of technology it doesn’t necessarily know will function as it hopes. But in many cases, Paterson says, the overall cost is also cheaper.