In this post I interview Dan Hilbert, founder of OrcaEyes, a Human Capital and Talent Management analytics solutions provider, about his attendance at the HR Technology Conference later this month and his opinions on what the next 12 months hold for HR practitioners.
DH> We're very excited about attending HR Tech this year and honoured to be recognised as one of the five cool new technologies to be announced at the conference. That means that we get to present our technology to HR business leaders, analysts and others.
CE> What are you looking forward to at this year's conference?
DH> In some ways this is our coming out party. Over the past couple of years we've been building the business around the concept of comprehensive human capital management and optimization while developing the product. We've now got a number of precedent setting case studies to share and we're keen to show people what OrcaEyes is all about.
CE> What else will be good?
DH> I'm looking forward to the new technology announcements and in particular the analysts panel - Jim Hollincheck. Josh Bersin, Naomi Bloom, and Lisa Rowan - sharing their insight on current and predicted trends in HR technology and talking about best practices.
CE> What will be the biggest priorities for HR/employers this year?
DH> Technology is going to lead the direction and transformation of HR as it has done in just about every other industryover the past 20 years. For HR the link between workforce performance and organizational productivity is going to be essential - and this link has to be measurable to the business. In today's challenging economic times, HR is confronted with demands for workforce optimization and productivity increases. As economies begin to recover, HR will also be dealing with a surge in recruitment demand. The use of technology, like StepStone's and OrcaEyes is critical to identify the trade off between recruiter work-levels, internal development initiatives and the measurable impact on business. Making the right selection decisions and knowing the impact on core business drivers is a priority - "hunch-based" HR decisions are too risky for organisational success in the 21st century and are no longer necessary.
With the addition of decision support and workforce planning technology to an integrated suite of advanced talent management and acquisition tools, scientific, evidence-based HR decisions can be implemented to proactively drive business performance, innovation and risk management as we have never seen before.
CE> How should HR/employers approach these priorities?
DH> Actually, the technology does much of the heavy lifting. HR need to optimise the use of the core technology solutions and talent related resources at their disposal. The process requires HR to understand the strategic objectives of the organization. That's all. The technology does the rest by analyzing data from existing HR systems and linking to strategic systems.
Direct, scientific correlation technology now exists to proactively assess and predict the measurable risk to business strategies and revenue resulting from human factors - whether that's about making the right hiring decision, succession planning, engagement or simply keeping top performers while attriting low performers from the organisation. We now have enough case studies that unequivocally show that industry leading companies lose 65%-90% fewer high performers than others. Consequently, by implementing better performance review and training systems, HR can optimize workforce productivity and reduce business risks.
If business leaders don't readily share the strategic objectives of the company, simply show them a five year gap analysis of all positions under their domain and you will not only get the strategic information you need, you will also get critical positions in order of important and leadership support. Why? Because in most cases their jobs will be at risk.
The combination of this kind of information for decision support and optimised delivery platforms are crucial - over the next decade great companies and countries will be built, based on great Human Capital Management and workforce optimization technology.
StepStone and OrcaEyes can be found in booth #315 at Human Resource Executive's 12th Annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition.
September 26th, 2009 •
by Craig Endicott •
Posted in Three To See •
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For this weeks Three To Read I've picked posts on societal shifts, value propositions and the Business Excellence model.
My first pick comes via a former colleague (from TMP Worldwide), Matt Alder, at Digital Recruiting - Did You Know 4.0 "Shift Happens Updated for 2009" a video that highlights how the increasingly rapid adoption of technology is changing the way we live. Some of the stats in the video are truly startling:
The next contribution is from Anthony Tjan who blogged on Value Propositions That Work. This post, which appeared on the Harvard Business Publishing site, is a follow up to previous favourite: Your Employees Have No Clue What Your Company Does. What I like about the piece is Tjan's contention that there are only four basic benefits that matter to consumers and these form the essence of the value proposition.
I think these four basic benefits could easily translate into the employee value proposition but I'm wondering if there are more than the four proposed by Tjan?
I chose this because it simply illustrates the link between strategy and execution - perhaps it can be applied as easily to individuals as organisations?
In this post, I interview Shelley Schmoker, StepStone's Head of Product Management, about why she is going to this years HR Technology Conference & Exposition. If you haven't yet registered here is a $470 discount code we have arranged.
SS> HR Tech is one conference I absolutely attend every year (and have since its inception) because of the calibre of the speakers and their presentations and the quality and currency of the topics discussed.
Of course it also gives me the opportunity to talk to prospective customers and partners and to take a closer look at what is happening in the market. This year we'll be sitting down with Naomi Bloom (Bloom & Wallace), Jim Holincheck (Gartner), Claire Schooley (Forrester Research) and Josh Bersin (Bersin & Associates) to share exciting StepStone news as well as to get their perspectives on things. I'm also excited to connect with our friends at OrcaEyes - Dan and his team are doing some really inspiring and innovative things that are transforming workforce planning and business performance. All of these touch points help to validate our mid-to-long term product strategy and positioning.
CE> What are you looking forward to at this year's conference?
Also, the parties at HR Tech are legendary and are great for networking and getting "creative" answers to your most pressing Talent Management questions.
When Craig decided to make the trek from London to Chicago for the upcoming HR Technology Conference & Exposition, we both agreed that he should try to bring back to our customers and readers as much of the quality content as possible.
In addition to some great written and video interviews with speakers, thought leaders, and practitioners who will be attending the event (details below), we will be doing daily wrap-up emails with our take on the day's sessions, and updating via Twitter (@stepstoneus).
It is in this spirit of taking the conference experience to you that we announce our Kindle-a-day giveaway. Because really, what is a conference without some good vendor schwag?
Sign up using the box to your upper right with your COMPANYemail address between now and October 2nd, and you will be entered to win an Amazon Kindle 2. One winner to be notified each day of the conference. You DO NOT need to be in attendance to win. Due to legal restrictions, this promotion is limited to our N. American readers only.
Here are some of the interviews we already have lined up:
Bill Kutik - noted analyst, HR Technology conference co-chair, and host of the Bill Kutik Radio Show(This interview is already available, see: Bill Kutik Interview)
In this post, Sam Higgins, interviews Bill Kutik, a leading independent analyst in the HR Technology space and co-chair of the HR Technology Conference & Exposition coming up later this month in Chicago. Bill discusses his experience organizing the show and his opinions on what the next 12 months hold for HR practitioners. If you haven't yet registered here is a $470 discount code we have arranged.
SH> During the conference last year, it was becoming apparent that the economy was in trouble, and we are just now beginning to see improvement. How has the economic climate affected your organization of this year's show, both from a promotion/attendance perspective, as well as from a content development perspective?
BK> The first thing to understand is that we have almost fanatically loyal attendees. We have people who have attend 5, 6, and sometimes 7 times in a row. During the run-up to the show, I heard from at least a dozen of them to explain why they couldn't attend this year. Most of the reasons had to do with general corporate cutbacks on conference attendance - it just wasn't being allowed across the board.
The challenge is that a show like mine involves 2 separate budgets: the training budget and the travel budget. There were people who said that they had the money to get in, but not for travel, and vice versa. As a result of this, we are seeing a historic increase in the number of people registered to attend just the exhibition. So it seems that there are many people who, despite not having the funds for a full pass, still want to be a part of the show.
In terms of content we have really focused on 3 areas. First, how to do more with less. Second, how to take what you've already got and make it do a better job for you. And 3rd, what you can do to prepare yourself for the recovery. One good thing about capitalism is that the recovery is always inevitable, and so a lot of our sessions are going to be focused on how to best position yourself when it happens.
SH> Which sessions are you most looking forward to this year?
BK> I would have to start with the session hosted by Jason Averbrook, the CEO of Knowledge Infusion, who is incidentally the first person I have trusted other than myself to moderate a panel. He does a spectacular job, and has a group of execs from excellent companies - Keybank, Nike, Dell, and Target - on his panel, "HR Technology Doesn’t Stop in a Down Economy." I am also looking forward to Leighanne Levensaler presenting the results of her year-long survey of customer satisfaction with talent management vendors. This topic is hugely important, yet rarely reported on, and certainly not with the depth that Leighanne will bring to it.
The third session, which has turned out to be our most popular, is the analyst panel which brings together many of the industry's top analysts to discuss what is going on in the market. This is always the highest attended session due to high interest from both vendors and practitioners.
Lastly, I am also looking forward to our most popular breakout session: "Cool New Technologies for HR." This is a group of five early-stage & start-up companies whom I have sought out, or ran across, or come into contact with, who have some really original and forward thinking technologies that are different from what we are all used to seeing. Additionally, if they are startups, this will be the first time most attendees will have had an opportunity to see these companies.
{Editor's note: Check out our interview with one Cool New Technology 2009 panelist, Dan Hilbert from Orca Eyes, next Tuesday)
In this post, I interview 
