We just completed another
HR TechnologyConference
and the attendance set records. While I didn't have a chance to see
everything, I had a chance to meet with quite a few vendors and see many
products and tools in the market. Let me share just a few findings and
some hot topics of interest.
Mobile Technology - Immature Market but White Hot
I conducted an expert session on the uses of Mobile technology in HR.
It was very interesting, and we all have a lot to learn here.
- Of the 150 or so people in the room, only 3 or 4 worked in
companies that had "standard mobile platforms" and a mobile device
management strategy. So even if the HR managers wanted to put together a
detailed plan for mobile, they are hampered by the lack of standards
within their own IT department.
- Exxon, Halliburton, and a few healthcare and pharmaceutical
companies mentioned that they have strategic programs in mobile, and
they are grappling with the issues of "what devices to standardize on"
and "how to secure data when employees lose their device." In each case
the HR group is partnering closely with IT, because the issues go far
beyond HR. HR, on the other hand, is getting a lot of pressure to enable
applications for "bring your own" devices.
- We discussed which applications really belong on a mobile device, and the entire group agreed that the answer is everything.
We are at a point in mobile computing where employees want it all:
email, calendaring, document editing, as well as time and attendance,
expense reporting, employee directory, training, and even some talent
management. The idea that companies will buy standalone mobile HR
applications is probably going to come and go pretty quickly - because
these mobile devices are now "complete platforms."
- Vendors like SuccessFactors, Workday, and PeopleFluent see this - and they are developing all their apps for mobile devices now. Oracle announced its mobile development toolkit, Silkroad
demonstrated its Point product for mobile, and most vendors realize
that "mobile" is the future. SAP claims they now design apps for mobile first.
- The word "mobile" probably needs to be tossed out the window. The
group agreed that these devices are no longer "mobile" devices, but
rather "tablets" or "new interface computers." They have mobile features
(GPS, location awareness, cellular networks) but the idea that they are
somehow "different" or "lesser" than PC's is obsolete. We need to start
thinking of them as "iOS" devices and "Android" devices - they just
happen to be mobile too.
- A few companies mentioned that they are standardizing on Apple, but
the general consensus among all the companies is that there are still
too many platforms in the market and companies need a "platform neutral"
strategy. Nearly every vendor promoted HTML5 as the new development
environment, so there appears to be enough momentum that we can pretty
much drop technologies like Flash and Flex as fast as we can (or hope
they get HTML5 enabled).
- Several companies mentioned that their IT departments simply "do
not trust Android." Apparently the Android apps market is fairly
unfettered and it is possible to download insecure applications, which
of course give people access to vast amounts of employee data. I am not
sure what Google is doing about this, but I'm sure they're getting the
message. Despite this issue, several retailers told us that they must
support Android, because all of the low cost phones run Android.
- I asked the group "how important are HR apps on the mobile devices?" and the consensus was very important.
The general agreement was that once a company gets its basic
productivity applications on these devices, HR applications come next.
Employees immediately want to use the device for the employee directory,
time cards, expense management, training, etc. So once a company comes
up with a mobile device strategy, the HR applications become mandatory.
- There is a tremendous interest in mobile learning and knowledge
sharing (video, audio, etc.) applications. SuccessFactors, SilkRoad, and
even IBM showed off some of their mobile learning tools, and my
personal opinion is that mobile learning will be a "killer app" that
drives even greater adoption of mobile devices.
- In the area of mobile learning, I just got back from the GP Client conference
and we saw some amazing new mobile applications being developed by GP's
mobile team. Don't think about mobile learning as "content delivery on
mobile devices" - or even "mobile LMS tools." Mobile learning means
building a real application that people use, and embedding performance
support and learning into the app.
- Lowes, for
example, has to train thousands of its retail employees how to bring
together hundreds of home improvement products to help customers design
new projects. Rather than building a training application, GP helped
them build a mobile application that lets customers design their own
"projects" at home, select materials, and then come into the store for
help. The store employees then use the customer-designed project and add
their own expertise to help the customer select, purchase, and use the
products. And in the process the employee learns about what Lowes sells
and does. That's what great modern mobile learning looks like - the
"learning" part is embedded in work.
- Bottom line: we as an industry are going to be delivering all our
HR applications on these "mobile" devices, and the sooner vendors build
multi-platform end-to-end solutions the better for everybody.
LMS and Learning Platforms Update
I had an opportunity to present our
LMS 2013 research
and discuss trends in learning technology to a fully packed audience at
the conference. (I was expecting the room to be half-empty, but it
completely filled up.) You can read our
blogs on the fast-growing LMS market separately, but here are some comments and thoughts from the audience.
- Companies are still (and probably always will be) struggling to
figure out which LMS to buy and what to do with the legacy LMSs they
already have. Quite a few companies have Taleo-Oracle or SAP and they
are looking to the vendors to make clear product roadmaps available. As
many of you know SAP has two LMSs and Oracle has four, so it's
important for vendors to clarify their product roadmap to customers.
- I highlighted many issues in this market, including the fact that
LMS platforms have to do many things; today the focus is on supporting
social learning, knowledge sharing, extended enterprise training, and
making the whole platform much easier to use.
- Our research shows that there are now more than 200 LMSs in the
market and the analogy I used was the way a garden grows. As one tree
gets bigger, it makes room for smaller plants to grow, so no matter how
fast companies like CornerstoneOnDemand, SumTotal, or Saba grow or ERP
vendors consolidate LMS systems, they simply cannot innovate in all
areas of learning technology. Thus lots of small vendors enter the
market. So despite the tremendous amount of consolidation which has
occurred, the number of vendors is still large and the biggest company
only commands 8% market share. Buyers still have to shop around, define
their requirements and use-cases, and unfortunately issue RFPs. (I know
that everyone hates these.)
- Quite a number of companies asked how to manage their "federated"
training function - ie. sales training wants their own system, but HR
owns the corporate LMS. We've written the book on this, so if this is
your challenge I recommend you read The High-Impact Learning Organization
or call us - there are some very clear best-practices on managing the
federated model. And a critical part of this is standardizing on a
"learning architecture" (a set of constrained technology choices and
practices for L&D) and making sure you have a corporate LMS that
meets your needs.
- There was a discussion about the role of content management systems
in the market, and I reinforced how this technology category has
collapsed and now only makes sense for large content development shops.
- Generally speaking there continues to be tremendous interest in modernized LMS platforms - so please do read our LMS 2013 research and we will schedule more webinars on the whole topic.
Cloud and Other Topics
Bill Kutik mentioned that there were 40+ product announcements this
week, so I won't even try to cover them. The big cloud HRMS vendors
(SAP, Oracle, Workday, Ultimate, Salesforce.com, and ADP) were all on
stage and everyone seems to have gotten religion about cloud computing
in HR. Mike Capone from ADP rightly stated "welcome to our world," as
ADP has been delivering cloud services for decades.
When asked about the big business benefits of cloud computing, Stan
Swete from Workday, Adam Rogers from Ultimate, and Sanjay Poonen from
SAP highlighted the benefits of "all customers being on the same
release, enabling customers to gain the benefits of new features
continuously." Clearly this is big benefit to both customers and the
vendors (they don't have to try to support back-level releases). But the
cloud has the potential to provide even greater benefits than
eliminating the mess of on-premise software.
I think one of the biggest benefits of cloud computing is the way we can
integrate these systems into daily work. John Wookey, the SVP of
applications for Salesforce.com, described how their strategy is not to
build an end-to-end HR system, but rather to deliver features and
capabilites into employees' already-existing work systems (in this case
Salesforce). Work.com consists of a set of embedded modules that
integrate with Salesforce to help all employees and managers set goals,
reward and recognize each other, develop themselves, and support the
performance management process.
This approach is transformational for business, because no matter how
"great" we make HR software, it is really only used "when needed." All
the wonderful things HR does (coaching, leadership development,
assessment, onboarding, training, etc.) shouldn't be locked up in the
"HR System" but integrated into employee's daily work environments.
With cloud systems becomes more possible because these systems are very
easy to buy (no capital investment) and vendors can provide integration
tools directly. The problem is getting vendors to standardize and
integrate with each other, preventing a bunch of "proprietary clouds."
I flew home from the conference wondering when there will be some form
of API-driven standards (or partnerships) that let cloud HR vendors
interoperate with each other. Oracle claims it should be based on SQL
and Java (doubtful).
In the meantime there are plenty of partnerships to be had
(Workday-Salesforce is a great example), and my belief is that cloud
computing will force vendors to create more interoperability.
Think about analytics. If you want to implement a BigData or Talent
Analytics strategy (and who doesn't), you have to pull data out of all
these systems into some central place. Again we need these systems to
interoperate - at the data level as well as the application and user
interface level.
Evidence of this trend: many of the inquiries we have right now are
questions like "How does cloud vendor X's application tracking or
learning management integrate with cloud vendor Y's HRMS?"). So as the
cloud market expands, watch vendor-to-vendor interoperability become the
next big issue.
A Healthy, Vibrant Market
The exciting news is that the HR technology marketplace is very healthy.
Workday's IPO will be a big success (despite the company's huge burn
rate), and the market cap of companies like CornerstoneOnDemand,
Workday, LinkedIn, as well as valuations for SuccessFactors and Taleo
mean that many investors are putting money into this market.
This has resulted in dozens of very interesting companies now focusing
on candidate assessment, mining the connections of people in social
networks, talent analytics tools, engagement tools, social recognition
systems, work management and feedback tools, and tools to help companies
build internal communities, career portals, and all the things that get
left out by the bigger vendors.
I also think we all should thank Bill Kutik for his tireless focus on
making this conference a huge confab for people in this market. I
sometimes feel the conference is a little "over-sponsored" (not only did
we get promotions in the hotel room, but the escalators had logos on
them and people were leaving brochures behind the urinals in the
bathroom!). As Bill said, vendors pay the bills and make this conference
possible.
Lots more to come, as we launch our talent management and HR systems
research in the coming months. I welcome your comments and feedback and
hope others share their perspectives as well.
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