HR Systems and Social Computing
Value | No comments | October 06th, 2009
Last week I attended the HR Technology Conference in Chicago. For me it was a bit of nostalgia. Nine years ago I was the HR Information Systems Manager at GSK, so going to the conference was like a step back in time. It was great to see some people I hadn’t seen in a long time, and fun to see some of the new technology. But in reality, it seemed like not much had changed since I left the field. Even though the terminology has been updated, the underlying principles have not changed much. Most of what I saw on the expo floor was vendors with systems that “added value” by automating needlessly complicated HR processes. I guess if the processes were radically simplified, it would kill the market for these systems. (And yes I know that external forces, regulations and requirements “drive” much of the complexity.) But the industry is due for some radical re-thinking.
I went to the conference looking for movement toward (what to me seems to be an obvious opportunity) the integrating of social computing into HR Systems. I did see some progress in this direction, but those cases seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. At booth after booth, I asked the same question, “Are you looking at social computing as an opportunity for competitive advantage?” The results of my totally unscientific survey indicated a lack of innovation among most HR System vendors. Reflecting back, Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma comes to mind. (If you are not familiar with this book, it is absolutely worth reading.) I think many of the HR Systems vendors are suffering from this condition.
I will be the first to admit that social computing in not the magic bullet to move HR Systems to the next level, but a little dose of it couldn’t hurt. I think the focus really belongs to dealing with business objectives. I do believe that for the most part the HR System vendors are better at this rhetoric than the Collaboration System industry, who spend most of their time selling features. But when you really look under the hood at most HR Systems the talk of supporting the business looks superficial, as most of what is being done is simple process mechanics. There is little in these systems that promote development of new knowledge and supporting better decision making.