How HR Tech is likely to evolve in 2018

Deloitte’s HR Tech Disruptions for 2018, talks about the various trends that are likely to transform the landscape. We present a brief overview of these trends and what it means for Indian HR & HR Tech users and solution providers.

1. New Focus on tools for workforce productivity – The report argues that as more organizations move from hierarchical to team-based working, workforce collaboration tools will gain prominence instead of email. This will mean HR Tech solutions would need to be able to integrate with these collaboration tools for various HR activities like performance, talent management, & learning.

2. The cloud has a lot of headroom – The report suggests that only 39% of large companies and 49% of midsized companies currently use their core HR platform (defined as a system of record for Payroll, compliance, & benefits) in the cloud. This indicates that there is a lot of headroom for cloud-based core HR platforms.

3. From talent management to people management to team management. According to the report the talent management has space has evolved from a simple ATS + PMS + LMS + Compensation tools to include tools like continuous performance management, employee engagement, wellness, Organization network analysis, culture & sentiment assessment and new age learning platforms. It argues here the competition will be between traditional ERP players who are building talent management suits and earlier talent management solution providers who are now broadening their solution set. Both these categories will compete against each other while also competing with niche players in each category. The author argues that currently available traditional talent management tools won’t be able to keep up with the changes in the workplace especially with respect to managing a network of teams.

4. Contingent workforce & project management – The author states that as companies increasingly rely on gig or project-based workers, the need for software solutions to manage those relationships will increase. He believes that this is a likely growth area and many VC’s are likely to fund ideas in this space.

5. The arrival of continuous performance management. The author states that with many organizations looking to reinvent their performance management process, this particular space within HR tech is very hot. While he acknowledges efforts taken by ERP vendors to build solutions in this space, he also cites niche players who have created innovative & engaging solutions.

6. An explosion of feedback, pulse surveys and analytics tools – The author argues that ideally these tools should be part of the core HR system however states that the market is not there yet. It also predicts that this will soon overlap with wellbeing and may even collect personal data like location, mobility, and heart rate. The author postulates that the game on anonymous employee reviews has been played out by Glassdoor and new entrants need to focus on niche markets or specialized geographies. It further predicts to see a lot of integration with performance management in the years ahead.

7. Reinvented corporate learning – stating past behaviours author argues that L&D spending comes in waves and buyers wait to see new solutions to be proven effective. This means that the current solutions of new age LMS, MOOC, learning experience platforms and micro learning platforms including new VR solutions will drive more adoption with more clarity in the minds of buyers. With multiple options in content, internal and external, the author argues that AI can help tagging content & recommending relevant one to users based on past behaviour. He does emphasize on the fact that with team-based management learning will need to happen where the employees are & it might happen within the collaboration platforms.

8. Rapidly changing recruitment market – The author defines the talent acquisition market as a broad set of solutions encompassing a wide array of activities including building employment brand, candidate marketing, sourcing, and Onboarding. The author claims that given the various niches and enormous size of the market, most players in this market will grow. He states that 55% of companies are increasing investment in video assessments indicating a new trend. He finally talks about Google’s entry in this space & how big data will transform this space.

9. The Wellbeing market – The author claims that a simple idea that if people don’t show up to work feeling well and present, our organization simply can not perform effectively, is at the heart of this growing market. He claims to have identified the following categories of solutions: technology platforms, self-assessments, training programs, medical & nursing networks, biometric and other monitoring tools and full-service health care providers. He predicts that this will become part of performance management & coaching solutions.

10. The people analytics markets growth & maturity – The author claims that people analytics is now a well-known discipline and a must have domain within HR & IT. He reckons the main reason for slow growth in this market is a mess of HR systems that most companies have. In the next phase, however, he claims we would see industrialization of people analytics. He predicts that over the next few years AI will redefine the marketplace for analytics solutions with vendors becoming intelligence providers than just analytics providers. He talks about Organization Network Analysis (ONA) & expects these to come from performance & talent management platforms.

11. Intelligent self-service, communications & employee experience tools – Here he talks about 2 disruptive forces being – more vendors looking to make their existing products easier to use and the other being cognitive employee self-service. He claims that vendors who do not adapt to this will fall behind.

12. HR departments are becoming digital and innovative – The author states that the days of bureaucratic and unhelpful HR are truly over. The HR of today is creative, innovative, experimental, and technology savvy. He claims that being digital is the core of high impact HR. He refers to the Deloitte HR maturity model and states that only 1/3^rd of organizations are at level 3 & 4.

As one can see most of the trends mentioned in the report are visible and present in India. The report, in fact, has mention of India based vendors & innovative solution/s developed by them. The Indian HR tech space has room for growth in terms of many niches mentioned in this report while also presenting opportunities for companies to create unique solutions for the Indian market. The Indian HR tech buyer is facing the same challenges as its global counterpart of choosing the right solution and whether to look at end-to-end solutions or best of breed solutions. Overall however we feel this is a great time to be in the Indian HR tech industry and help buyers solve real business challenges.