HR Tech 2011: Key Takeaways

At the world’s largest HR Technology conference, there were  product announcements, HR/marketing best practices, and updates from industry experts.  Here are some of my brief, key takeaways from HR Tech 2011.

HR has to impact/support business outcomes.

As HR continues to move from “HR centric” to a “worker centric model tied to business outcomes”; the demands placed upon HR professionals and systems also continues to evolve.

The administrative and strategic functions of HR are intrinsically intertwined and cannot be separated and have to be performed durably well.

Vendor differentiation evolves.

The current fragmented landscape continues to evolve as the major players consolidate and race to keep pace with the advancements in technology and the demands of consumers.  First and foremost, providers have to decide whether they are Business Management Platform (ERP) or an HR Platform (Talent Management suite + core HRIS-HRMS) or simply an application that integrates into the aforementioned platforms?

Today, the HR solutions landscape is littered with hundreds of providers that have meaningful client bases, but there are only a few players that have the majority of the market share by segment and region.

Data management is a big problem.

According to Naomi Bloom, data management is a big problem not only in HR but is actually preventing the US economy from thriving because the ability to effectively and efficiently manage requires usable, actionable, secure data.

Customers are demanding ‘solutions’–not software.

The emergence of [tooltip content=”Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO)” url=”” ]HROs[/tooltip] servicing a broader scope as well as the mid-market continues to grow.  These outsourced human resource providers are filling a needed role of performing transactions for companies, providing back-office shared services, and providing expertise across the HR and human capital management spectrum.  But also, software providers have to change their thinking and approach to fit consumers’ modern demands.  Web Technology providers must think of user adoption and measurement of outputs as the end-goal versus “go-live.”

Final Thoughts…

As the buyer of HR technology has shifted towards the end-user; the future of HR technology will certainly be work centric, workforce driven, and people performance-oriented.