The Fast Evolving HRTech Landscape

Phil Strazzulla, Founder, SelectSoftware

The world of HR software is rapidly evolving as low unemployment rates drive organizations to think in more creative ways when it comes to attracting and retaining employees.What started out as compliance based workflow tools has morphed into intelligent systems that drive business value.

This evolution has mirrored the change in the HR function as a whole, along with the people who run this part of the business. Traditionally,human resources teams were tasked with the nuts and bolts of making sure employees were paid on time, filed the right paperwork, and didn’t cause too much angst.

HR teams are nowshifting to a more strategic role with the rise of People Operations, HR Business Partners, and Chief People Officers who are business minded operators driving positive change in their organizations.

Fighting The Largest People Problems with TATech

This month I had breakfast with the CEO of a company that has doubled headcount in the last six months.At the start of the year, it became clear that the only bottleneck to meeting their financial goals was finding and hiring the right people.When I asked the CEO who owned the initiative to re-vamp their recruiting process and technology, he responded that it fell on his shoulders.This is not the first CEO I’ve run into recently that has made recruiting their number one priority.

Many companies are now constrained by their ability to attract and retain the right talent.Luckily, the world of talent acquisition technology has caught up and is able to offer a range of solutions to help companies: modern applicant tracking systems, recruiting chatbots, automated talent sourcing, and employer branding platforms are just a few of the ways an organization can meet the challenges of decreasing their cost to hire and time to fill open roles.

HRTech As The Core Operating System

The majority of HRTechsolutions have analytics to help users and managers understand their impacts.However, the most interesting trend in People Analytics is in dedicated point solutions that develop a more comprehensive understanding of the organization.

These Performance Management Systems are able to understand how each individual, team, office, and function are impacting the objectives and key results (OKRs) that will drive the future growth and profitability of the business.Now, the Chief People Officer, along with the rest of the executive team, can understand how the people are operating just as the CFO, CRO, etc have similar insights into their respective areas of interest.

It’s likely that we will see the data from these systems in annual reports soon, sitting right next to financial and operating metrics.

This Sector is Far From Done

HR technology has traditionally lagged accounting, marketing, etc technology when it comes to analytics and even core functionality.However, that is changing quickly.Companies are feeling acute pain from a lack of talent.Companies are also investing in highly skilled People Operations teams that make more money than their HR counterparts, and have a greater degree of strategic influence.

While the past five years has been mostly a story of catching up with the rest of the organization’s enterprise software choices, look to HR software to continue to drive more strategic value and innovate in its own right in the near term.