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The Future of HR Applications, Part 3
Over a month ago I published part 1 and part 2 of this series. I promised that in the 3rd and last part I would come back on the impact on the market. So it is time to get you out of suspense...
What does it mean?
HR Applications have reached a stage of maturity (see part 1 and part 2). In a mature market of talent management products it is expected that organizations want to acquire market share and increase size. Here comes the old eat-or-be-eaten concept. SAP and Oracle have demonstrated that they prefer their own course and increase by doing their own development. So the expected acquisitions will have to come from the angle of medium to large talent management systems or programs and BPO's (Business Process Outsourcers). Not really a surprise in this. Ultimately it ,yet again, comes down to traditional market share and increase.
Innovations
There will continue to be companies showing up with disruptive concepts. A niche concept which can be done differently and more effectively than one initially thought. In other words more innovation. Such small niche developments turn out to be targets for the subject in the following paragraphs.
4 columns of talent management
Some predictability can possibly be found as talent management always consisted of 4 pillars, namely: recruitment, performance, learning and compensation. From the current suppliers it is possible to trace which parties are eligible for acquisitions to extend existing applications with an existing product pillar. TechRadar assumes that more companies will opt for an integrated product versus individual solutions linked together.
Acquisitions
In one breath with the previous paragraph we can mention that acquisitions will play a role. Earlier this year we have already seen that Taleo now also acquired, in addition to Vurv in 2008, the Saas vendor "Worldwide Compensation" for 14M. Taleo expands with a Saas compensation application, which they did not have. But the acquisition of Vurv by Taleo was technology they already had, namely recruitment. So the parties will not always make acquisitions for the technology. Also BPO's will be parties that will do acquisitions of technology to expand their services.
Mentioned conclusions are probably correct but less interesting than I had hoped. Apparently the future of HR applications consist of small innovations and acquisitions instead of exciting new developments and applications of Social Media in the field. Van de Haterd, a dutch market specialist, said earlier this year on his blog rectec.nl that real innovation will come from outside. So I hope for a really new development within HR in the coming year and a half and am wondering from which angle we should expect it. Keep your eyes on us as we have several ideas ourselves.
The Future of HR Applications, Part 2
In last week's part 1 on The Future of HR Applications in this series of blog posts based on TechRadar's Forrester research report I closed off by noting that HRM Applications finally have reached a stage of maturity in technical applications. Today, in part 2, I will discuus some interesting applications from the perspective of the recruitment and talent management world.
Social Recruiting still in its infancy
People increasingly come together online to network with each other. That the Netherlands has been running ahead in Socal Media adoption is no longer headline news. Networks and communities form opinions in people's thinking and contribute to decisions people take. Social Networking has re-formed the way we share and communicate. And that will have a strong influence on recruitment.Within the recruitment and talent management market Social Communities are the talent pools of 2010 form a continuous flow of new information and new candidates. Despite these developments, companies are still experimenting with the possibilities. Even though some companies have embraced a Social Media strategy they are still testing its potential. What works and what does not? And how would it operate?
Important for the recruitment profession is that social networks provide the link to active and passive candidates. And additionally we should not forget that social networks can dramatically reduce recruitment costs.
Onboarding innovative and interesting
As a direct extension of the recruitment cycle Onboarding aims to get new employees up and running as soon as possible and to get acclimatized immediately. The usual and standard paperwork for new hires is processed and completed. Company Policies are explained, teams presented and departments introduced. Ultimately, onboarding contributes to a higher level of success and greater satisfaction with the new hire and his employer. Human Resources will be successful with improved retention for the company.Onboarding has passed through the growth cycle and will develop into a mature product over time. Although I must admit that in the Dutch and European market there is still much growth to realize when it comes to implementing this process in companies. Few companies make real use of onboarding applications since the knowledge of them is still missing. Bottom line onboarding ensures faster acclimatized workers that are more productive.
Social Media, again, has an interesting role in this product or process. Personal and department profiles on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook pages can now contribute significantly to getting to know future colleagues. Imagine what will happen when your SlideShare presentations and perhaps the personal photos of yourself or a colleague can be viewed at Linkedin and Facebook before the new hires first day at work. Meeting them IRL (in real life) would give you a head start and the feeling that you already know them and likewise in reverse.
Performance & Goal Management largest value added
The success of the company is directly linked to the success of the employees. Employees who know where they are going based on strategic goals set at company-level and broken down by department, team and personal goals will be better able to contribute to the success of the company. Goal Management and Performance Management makes this transparent and allows you to measure and report.In Europe especially the larger corporates and now also the smaller companies implement performance products and are working on it now. Some start with goals, others with performance appraisals that later deploy into career development and 360-degree feedback tools. Ultimately better knowing the competencies of the people and how they fit the goals results in better-prepared employees and lower labor costs. It is obvious that a proper implementation of such a product will contribute much to the value-add for the company.
Through good applications in the area of Performance and Goal Management companies are enabled to start measuring what they can do better year after year, and what they have achieved success with. After finding visible success stories can be copied to other locations or regions. HR will be able to claim a board member position and report directly on business value-add'.
Recruitment Systems to adulthood
The Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) have now reached a mature status and more companies are turning to such products to guide their influx of personnel and provide overview of CVs and candidates received in the database. The talent pool products help in times of a scarce market and Social Media overlap ensures talent pools are enriched with content on experience. Recruitment products ensure that top candidates can quickly be found in existing talent pools and / or communities where interested candidates have connected.In the area of Career Websites improvements have been made and grounds have been gained, even though optimization and candidate experience still require improvement. Meanwhile many organizations are working with recruitment technology. Nevertheless in the European market many projects are starting to get companies working with an ATS and Search Optimization for the first time. Those companies that already make use of ATS systems mainly look for advice on additional new functionality and how it is facilitated with the supplier.
The business purpose for an ATS is still:
- Lower cost per entry
- Shorter turnaround time of recruitment and selection
- Prevent loss of top candidates during the process
- Improve the overall quality of the process.
The increase of companies that start working with recruitment systems ensures this market continues to develop and the traditional recruitment process will change dramatically. Thanks to the rapid growth of social recruitment tools to tap into this. Applicant Tracking Systems will have three more years to grow before the 'decline' phase of the life cycle will be met. It is my expectation that social recruitment will also enable product innovation in this segment for those suppliers that can quickly integrate and adopt new web technology. This will extent the life cycle by several years after the 'decline' phase will commence.
Adoption HRM Applications
Despite the maturity of above onboarding, performance and recruitment applications it is remarkable that there is still many companies who have not made a choice how the technology should be applied or where they want to deploy it within the organization. Forrester's research of over 900 interviewed decision makers in North America and Europe confirm this picture.
Job boards fail to Web 2.0
Finally, the last notable HR product related to the recruitment and talent management market. Hence as the first product that has reached the, what Forrester calls, 'relapse' or decline stage of the product lifecycle. Although this phase will last probably 10 years, these applications must become more interactive and must integrate with and evolve to Social Media platforms.Given the simple and straight forward product offering and the high penetration within the recruitment process, these companies still have some standing time. Belangrijke verschuiving hier zal de ontwikkeling zijn naar meer expertise en niche gebieden om te specialiseren. Highly important in this segment will be the shift and development towards greater expertise and niche areas to specialize the product offering.
Conclusions
My conclusion for this second blog edition is that social recruitment will provide new innovations at all levels of the various HR applications mentioned here. That said, Social Recruitment will shoot straight through to its growth phase in the life cycle and settle permanently in Human Resource Management. This process will proceed faster (yes yes, even faster) than what we have been accustomed to for technological developments within HRM because everyone in the HR process will personally be involved and can recognize the direct impact due to the 'social' nature of social media. More so than ever before.The next and final Part 3 of this blog post series I will discuss what this will mean for the market.
Eelco Scheltinga
The Future of HR Applications, Part 1
Following the TechRadar report by Forrester Research I have made a summary about the future of Human Resource Management Applications. The expectations which must still be met but the trends are an interesting basis for discussion for companies to decide on future talent management or recruitment strategy. It is mainly interesting to look for those applications that provide the most 'value-add' to companies: 'Performance Management', 'Payroll' and 'Time and Attendance ". In the following series of blog posts I will do this from a talent management or recruitment perspective.
HRM applications range from essential tools for hiring staff, paying staff and administration of employment programs to strategic development programs. More than ever before companies see a dynamic and geographically distributed labor market creating a need for applications that improve efficiency and pro-activity in the areas of HRM support. HRM applications have been developed for years, but right now most systems have reached the stage of maturity which will lead to increased automation in the HR field. Existing systems will develop into more SaaS models (Software as a Service) and 'On The Cloud Computing' will lead to new innovations.
The following applications are briefly discussed in the full report mentioned above:
- Absence Management
- Benefits
- Compensation Management
- HR analytics
- HRMS
- Incentive Compensation Management
- Job boards
- Learning Management
- Mentoring
- Onboarding
- Organization charting
- Payroll
- Performance Management
- Recruiting
- Scheduling
- Social recruiting / networking
- Succession planning
- Time and attendance
- Virtual classrooms
The report looks at the product life cycle of each of the products and to what extent innovation or development can be expected in each of the stages: creation, survival, growth, maturity and decline.
In general it can be said that there is a clear basis in an application in which a number of key solutions and outsourced services are added. The blueprint that supports the foundation for those applications for the most critical HR processes include:
- Managing personnel expenses
- Development of efficient business processes
- Business Value-add to 'human capital'?
The future of HRM
Within the HR world, the following interesting trends are expected, where HR applications are becoming a mandatory requirement.- Adoption of SaaS (Software as a Service) is the definitive choice of large and small businesses.
- A changing labor market forces change in the way people work and where people work.
- Retention is the guiding factor for new opportunities and internal development.
- Social media will dramatically change HR processes.
- HR Outsourcing Service suppliers will become more active as technology providers.
Renewed focus on talent leads to further growth of HR apps
In shaping the future of HRM technology research by Forrester found that:- Talent Management Solutions have the greatest growth potential. Think performance, succession planning, onboarding and virtual classroom.
- In the core HR functions is the highest level of success. This relates to the mission-critical HR functions such as data administration, payroll and time & attendance.
- Recruitment technologies are regenerating. Job boards are popular but have reached the last phase of the life cycle as social networks have re-defined the market. They will have to specialize more to survive. Therefore there is still one last breath of about 10 years before they completely disappear from the Web. Applicant Tracking Systems have reached a stage of maturity but are still not in the 'decline' phase. It will still take about 3 years before the end of the product life cycle will be reached. Integrating with Social Recruiting can make a big difference here.?
Source:Tech Radar For Business Professionals: HRM Apps, Q1 2010 (Forrester Research)Recruitment Value-add
Specifically looking at recruitment and talent management products that can build the most value-add to the various business processes we see that:- Social Recruiting (and Social Networking) is still in the creation phase and has a moderate "value add" but does provide an innovative and trendy look.
- Recruitment has now grown into a mature product and has an average value-add in the critical processes.
- Onboarding has a moderate value added, but a strong growth continues.
- Performance Management & Goal Management is strongly represented in the growth phase and will realize the most value add.
Conclusion
So far we can finally conclude that HRM has become a serious player in the technology field. Many applications have grown to adulthood and for most companies it is now time for a wider roll out to other fields within HRM Applications. Personally I think that especially in the Netherlands and Europe we have much to gain in growth and many companies still need to start automating their personnel processes. In this regard, the U.S. is indeed ahead on integrating such systems into the workflow.In Part 2 of this article I will elaborate more on the individual situation of the latest HR products listed above.
Eelco Scheltinga
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The Future of the Social Web
The objective of a blog is to keep people up to date of recent experiences and new(s) facts. My visit to the Corporate Social Networking Conference 2009 in Amsterdam has already been 2 weeks ago, but it is still interesting enough to write about. I will discuss the various topics separately in different blogs over the coming period.
The first speaker of the event, Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester, made a big impression on me. He stated "that Communities will continue to evolve over the next few years to and become companies and institutions that will be in power of product brands and services". Basically not new for me, however the steps that he described on the road ahead I find very interesting. In the following article I will describe these steps.
Fact is that the Netherlands is taking the lead and is far ahead in Europe with the penetration of Social Media in daily live and work. 40% of the dutch are on Social Networks such as Hyves, Facebook, Linkedin and twitter being the most popular. Innovative companies differentiate themselves by setting up communities for their customers where they can discus products and experiences.
The whole social experience nowadays is rather chaotic or disjointed for a lot of people. People talk about, lots participate, but by far not everyone, and actually most people are still unaware of what they can accomplish or do with it. Let alone where we are evolving to. Part of the reason for this is that most consumers still have separate identities within the several social networks that they visits. These are still separate islands.
Simple technology should provide a 'portable identity' within the near future that will enable consumer to take their identity with them wherever they surf on the web. This will cause a significant transformation of marketing, eCommerce, CRM and advertizing. Mobile ID's are just the beginning of the steps in this process of independent sites towards a total social experience. Consumers will start depending on their peers and the opinions of others when they are buying online. Socially connected consumers will empower communities and pull away the decision making power from the brands itself. Eventually this will lead to communities that will create and develop the next generation of products by themselves.
Soical Networks are a representation of what we do. We connect to it and share info. Ofcourse companies and brands would like tap into this information and review our social data, profiles and friends. The problem right now is that we are all working on different islands or networks which leads to frustration with the consumers using the technology as they have to register their info over and over again as well as the brands that would like to connect to us.
The web is now evolving to a phase where the various networks can overlap in different area's and share information through SocialID's which allows for brands and people to start communication in a totally different way. The evolution of the web in this area proceeds through 5 phases or 'era's'as Owyang calls them, these are:
1. Era of Social Relationships (people connect and share).
This is the first development fase of the social web as it started in the 90's and as we now know it. Simple data is stored and can be shared with each other. This process that has already taken place forms the basis of the following four era's that will be described below.
2. Era of Social Functionality (Social networks become operating systems).
Today's Social Networks have evolved passed the stages of 'friend' networks to platforms that engage social interaction through various applications and give a new meaning to communities. But even now social relations are still imprisoned within these sites.
3. Era of Social Colonization (every experience becomes soical).
In the following fase of social evolution, that we can probably expect later this year, technologies like OpenID and Facebook will enable people to surf the web and take their social online connections along with them. The bounderies of social networks and traditional websites are beginning to fade out and every website visit will become a social experience.
4. Era of Social Context (Personal and accurate content).
Next year, when most websites are starting to recognize the personal identities of their visitors and their social relations, companies will customize the information presented to visitors of the site based on their experience, their interests and preferences, and who their friends are. In addition to these intense social application social networks will include email type functionality and form a basis for everyones online experience as they will move the information towards you. Which reminds me of the movie "Minority Report" from several years ago. Check this scene...
5. Era of Social Commerce (Communities shape future products and services).
In about two years from now, when social networks are the repository of personal identities and relationships, they become more powerful then ever and even more powerful than Corporates and CRM systems. Communities will become the driving force behind new innovations and brands. This will result in an inferior position of brands in relation to the community and will be a major turnaround in the power of the connected customer.
What do you mean Revolutionary? Democrocy rules!
-Eelco Scheltinga
First Twitter recruitment App
The first job application for twitter is there. At least, as far as I know the first. Tweepjob. Both for candidates and recruiters or actually Tweepseekers and Tweephunters. You simply place a hashtag and 'tweephunt' or 'tweepseek' in your Tweet and Tweepjob pickes up the data and puts it on Tweepjob. Tweepseekers are those who are looking to find a job and Tweephunters are those that search for candidates. Pretty obvious, I guess. Tweepjob has been intended to bring companies and candidates together as with other recruitment tools. At a positive match between hunter and seeker the interested follower automatically receives a tweet from Tweepjob to indicate that there may be an opportunity for either one. Tweepjob origins in this difficult time where also IT unemployment has become a phenomenon. The use of Twitter and awareness of the API's by developers has completed this tool. Currently it is still a beta version. Simple but efficient, this can be a good app when people use it en masse and the matches come true. The massive use of Twitter does not seem to be a problem now lets see the matches that come about, I'm curious! I have not tested it yet. I will try and see what happens by placing a #tweethunt for a coldfusion developer in Den Haag, The Netherlands. Feel free to place a #tweetseek and don't hesitate to see if the match takes place. To be continued so ...
Eelco
Ideeen top 5:
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(42 votes) Candidate search improvement:
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(30 votes) Distinction between externally and internally published vacancies
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(29 votes) Manager Notification: Add link to MGR Portal
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(35 votes) Bullet points
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(15 votes) Optimize filters
Released ideas
2010-07:
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Merge of duplicate entries in one step
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Print candidates
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Back to search results
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Notification when manager gives feedback into the form (for other contacts)
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View vacacy example from managersportal
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