Key summary points:
- Businesses and workforces are on two independent and highly dynamic trajectories.
- Firms have too much diverse and disconnected Human Resource technology in use, creating significant challenges in obtaining the anticipated value from these technologies.
- HR and IT professionals cannot supply their organizations with much needed workforce analytics as a result of these loosely interfaced systems.
- A new evolutionary phase is hitting HR and it requires a full, tightly integrated Talent Management Suite in order to obtain the necessary level of visibility to talent pools on a global scale.
A growing contingent of business executives are being forced to respond to an ever quickening and widening array of business challenges. Unfortunately, nothing under an executive’s control is as static as it used to be, including the workforce. As a result, businesses must be extremely agile in managing their assets, systems, and workforce within today’s rapidly changing and fickle business climate.
The next phase of the evolution of Human Resource technology is here and will require businesses to employ highly mobile and agile technology platforms. Businesses with large collections of Human Resource systems will need to reduce, standardize and fully integrate the systems within their environment. While there will still be value for certain point solutions, Human Resource systems will need to go through a consolidation and integration phase in order to drive value in a dynamic business climate.
The best and brightest workers are interconnected, socially aware, technology equipped and willing to move where they feel most appreciated. In order to captivate these workers, businesses and workforces need to be aligned, but most Human Resource technology fails to enable that alignment.
“We believe that businesses and workforces continue to evolve ever more rapidly," said Ned Waith, leader of Human Capital Services consulting for Baker Tilly. “Both are highly dynamic forces that are causing everyone (i.e., employers, consultants and technology vendors) to re-examine the contribution each should be making today."
How will you determine which certifications and trainings are required to meet a critical competency for your business? How do you make a rapid staffing decision for an emerging market when the existing performance metrics cannot be easily compared to the position requirements for fit? How do you truly pay for performance when your compensation decisions are made in a vacuum? These problems only compound themselves when a multi-divisional firm has even more systems and manual processes in support of their business.
Ann Blakely, Senior Manager of Human Capital Services at Baker Tilly, said, “When I walk around Human Resource technology shows with hundreds of unique software vendors providing one to a dozen individual products, I see a significant gap developing. I’m concerned about companies that buy 8 to 10 of these disparate products that don’t talk to each other. How will these employers be competitive in today’s work environment? Integration is a tricky word. Many clients consider an environment that is fraught with dual entry and manual data feeds as integrated. When we say integration, we mean products that share a common development platform, user interface, database design, etc. We are not talking about loosely interfaced solutions when we talk about integration."
“Our research shows that HR systems buyers want integrated talent platforms," said Dr. Katherine Jones, Director and Principal Analyst, HCM Technology, Bersin & Associates. “In fact, more than one-third of all buyers are willing to give up functional features for the benefits of an integrated platform. Organizations absolutely need better integration and analytic tools to optimize their workforce, especially in industries going through significant transformations. The resulting integrated platform can help them identify patterns of high-performance, high-potential and workforce gaps and risks."
Years ago it was common to for many firms to have 10 or more different HR products. HR software buyers often found incomplete product lines or the needed technology was not readily available or accessible. The consequence today is that organizations now know very little about their global workforce. Worse, the few facts they do have may be difficult to acquire, costly to capture and, sadly, possibly wrong. This is not world class, it is worst class.
About Baker Tilly
With staff totaling more than 1,400, Baker Tilly provides a wide range of
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consulting services. It is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and is an independent member of Baker Tilly International, a worldwide network of 150 high quality, independent accounting and business advisory firms in 120 countries, with more than 25,000 professionals. The combined worldwide revenue of independent member firms exceeds $3 billion. Baker Tilly is ranked as one of the top 20 largest accounting and advisory firms in the United States*. With 11 offices throughout the US, Baker Tilly has received numerous national and regional awards for its strong growth, solid financial position, and industry leadership.
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