Post Chronology

October 2024
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

InFullBloom Archives

Categories

Speaking Engagements

UPCOMING
Predict and Prepare sponsored by Workday 12/16

PAST BUT AVAILABLE FOR REPLAY
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #171, 2/15
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #160, 8/14
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #145, 1/14
Workday Predict and Prepare Webinar, 12/10/2013
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #134, 8/13
CXOTalk: Naomi Bloom, Nenshad Bardoliwalla, and Michael Krigsman, 3/15/2013
Drive Thru HR, 12/17/12
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #110, 8/12
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Business Value," 5/3/12 Audio/Whitepaper
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Predict and Prepare," 12/7/11
HR Happy Hour - Episode 118 - 'Work and the Future of Work', 9/23/11
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #87, 9/11
Keynote, Connections Ultimate Partner Forum, 3/9-12/11
"Convergence in Bloom" Webcast and accompanying white paper, sponsored by ADP, 9/21/10
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #63, 9/10
Keynote for Workforce Management's first ever virtual HR technology conference, 6/8/10
Knowledge Infusion Webinar, 6/3/10
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Predict and Prepare," 12/8/09
Webinar Sponsored by Workday: "Preparing to Lead the Recovery," 11/19/09 Audio/Powerpoint
"Enterprise unplugged: Riffing on failure and performance," a Michael Krigsman podcast 11/9/09
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #39, 10/09
Workday SOR Webinar, 8/25/09
The Bill Kutik Radio Show® #15, 10/08

PAST BUT NO REPLAY AVAILABLE
Keynote, HR Tech Europe, Amsterdam, 10/25-26/12
Master Panel, HR Technology, Chicago, 10/9/012
Keynote, Workforce Magazine HR Tech Week, 6/6/12
Webcast Sponsored by Workday: "Building a Solid Business Case for HR Technology Change," 5/31/12
Keynote, Saba Global Summit, Miami, 3/19-22/12
Workday Rising, Las Vegas, 10/24-27/11
HR Technology, Las Vegas 10/3-5/11
HR Florida, Orlando 8/29-31/11
Boussias Communications HR Effectiveness Forum, Athens, Greece 6/16-17/11
HR Demo Show, Las Vegas 5/24-26/11
Workday Rising, 10/11/10
HRO Summit, 10/22/09
HR Technology, Keynote and Panel, 10/2/09

Adventures of Bloom & Wallace

a work in progress

HRM Software/Services Q1 Vendor Briefings — Capability Matters

HRM May Not Need Battlestar Galactica Capabilities

My first post in this series focused on the importance of understanding the ambitions of HRM software/services vendors and the implications of those ambitions for buyers/investors/employees/the industry.  Next came a post focused on the different strategies of these same vendors, the many moving parts that must be addressed in those strategies, and the implications of the differences in strategy for buyers/investors/employees/the industry.  Now for the fun part, at least for me — their software!   

I’d love to do an individual post on the good, the bad and the ugly of each relevant vendor’s software assets, but for that you’d have to pay me (as clients do) serious money.  I’d have to do a ton more detailed homework and then be willing to discuss every word I wrote, seven or eight times each, with vendors who took issue with my writing.  As you can well imagine, life’s too short and too full more interesting things to do.  And you can figure out all those details by yourselves using my scripted scenario demo process discussed here with with much more here as applied to your particular business needs or areas of specific interest.    

So instead of a feature/function/architecture/object model play by play — although I may yet do some version of this — I thought I’d share the list of emerging capability topics that seems to cover much of what I’ve been hearing, seeing, and thinking as I’ve gone through dozens of vendor briefings and demos (and with many more to come) and integrated their perspectives with my own.  This is my working list of topics for which all core HRMS as well as the major (as to scope of offering as well as vendor viability) talent management vendors must have a clear strategy and plans for execution.  To be viable in my eyes, vendors must have more than a powerpoint on these topics.  Vendors must have real product already in current delivery and a lot more to come in 2011 on at least some of these topics as well as a clear strategy and plan for all of them to get high marks in my eyes.  But please note that nothing here is a substitute for having true SaaS InFullBloom under the covers (if you’re trying to be a SaaS vendor) or most of the same preferred behaviors even if you’re licensed/on-premise.  Good software is a pre-requisite no matter what else is going on, at least in my book.  

 Without further ado, here’s my list as of 3-28-2011:   

1)  Mobile — this is not just about taking existing transactions and reformatting them for mobile devises but rather about rethinking HRM, especially talent management (TM), workforce management (WFM), and strategic HRM analytics/decision-making, for a mobile world.  
2)  Social/Collaboration — which types of collaboration are being built into the platform and then unleashed in what order to what HRM, talent management, and workforce management processes with what intended business impacts?  Here too, it’s not just about “socializing” existing transactions or processes but about rethinking HRM from a workforce collaboration perspective. 
3)  Global — what platform capabilities for what target markets and in what countries backed up by what go-to-market plans and “feet on the street,” to include VARs and other types of distribution relationships?  I’m particulary impressed (or not!) by how much of the heavy lifting of regulatory compliance the vendor has taken on for the covered geographies, something which many to most of the talent management vendors have avoided entirely by saying that their customers are ultimately responsible and their configuration capabilities are superb.
4)  Analytics — what types of actionable, embedded, and/or predictive analytics with what types of visualizations, e.g. network analyses is becoming quite prominent when organizations try to figure out what roles and individuals have the greatest business impact?  And I should emphasize here that this is about getting real insight to decision-makers in a form they can use when they’re in the middle of making that decision rather than just having a wonderful report-writer or business intelligence solution with which they can figure out the questions and search for the answers.
5)  Embedded intelligence of all kinds — what is the vendor really doing to deliver, “out of the box,” the type of content, guidance, exogenous data, “best” practice processes and business rules, without with self service is really distributed data entry?  If Amazon can tell me what I’ve been reading, what others who read what I read are also reading, and the status of every open order almost before I pose these questions, why can’t my TM software tell me which people to hire?
6)  Integrated HCM — this is the issue of core ERP/HRMS vendors building out TM like crazy while some TM vendors venture into core HRMS territory (absent payroll and benefits) and it’s on this list because I don’t believe that customers can afford to invest enough in talent management (and not just the technology) if their budgets/expertise/management attention/capacity for risk-taking/etc. is  consumed with maintaining legacy core HRMS’ and trying to extend them with myriad add-ons nor can they easily replace those systems of record (SORs) unless there are excellent, lower cost, easily implemented and more comprehensive alternatives.  
7)  Talent management integration — where this is about having deep process-based and event-triggered integration (so not just UI or reporting integration) across all of talent management with a clear story on what the vendor includes in TM, what they don’t include in TM, what they really have of what they include, and what their plans are via product development, partnering, agnostic integration, for what you don’t have. 
8)  Integration tools — what capabilities are provided for the inevitable integration needed across disparate HRM enterprise software components, non-HRM but interconnected enterprise software components, various HRM outsourcing providers,etc.,  to include integration “in the cloud?”   

What topics are on your list of general HRM software vendor product direction questions?  I’d sure like to improve mine, so please share your thoughts.

2 comments to HRM Software/Services Q1 Vendor Briefings — Capability Matters

  • I appreciate the mention of analytics as a capability that matters. I couldnt agree more. Data drives better decision-making. The mention of executive reporting is also something i agree with. Executives need concise, articulate and visual information. for HR and talent management analytics, my feedback is to show a small balance of efficiency (cost/activity) metrics, effectiveness (how well the function performed) metrics and outcome (the direct or indirect desired need fulfilled through the program) metrics. Doing this for major tenants of talent management (recruiting, L&D, competency management, employee engagement, leadership development, and performance management) can be powerful and show stewardship.

    Please continue to put more out there about analytics! It is appreciated.

  • […] vendors’ plates are with global, social, mobile, embedded intelligence, predictive analytics, and the list goes on.  Scott was followed by Laura Johnson and Adam Rogers talking about their product roadmap and […]

Leave a Reply