Feb 27, 2015
The Evolution of Workforce Analytics
In my capacity as a consultant to those with aspirations in Workforce Analytics space it is not unusual to be asked for advice on appropriate supporting enablement technology. There is rarely a definitive response; the upfront answer is "well, it depends...."
It depends on who your customers are, it depends on what those customers need now to support their regulatory, people, business and investment decisions – and what they'll require in the future. It depends on the capability of the analyst community to maximise any investment in new technology and it depends on where your organisation is, and wants to be, on the workforce analytics maturity curve.
Once you've established this, my advice is to seek out others how have trodden the same path and faced the same dilemmas relating to technology choices. Attend conferences, make personal contact, ask questions - and seek the counsel of a trusted advisor, such as EPI-USE, to help you understand and catalogue your options. This will help you take a holistic view and avoid some of the typical pitfalls. In the meantime, I can offer 5 suggestions:
1) Do not seek the 'golden bullet' – if your proposed proposition ranges, for example, from regulatory reporting in the form of operational listings, through to predictive analytics based on the correlation and interdependencies metric clusters, it is unlikely that one vendor will provide a top-quartile solution across the board.
2) Consider a balance between content, functionality and front-end reporting features – and the differing agendas and skills sets of those who may seek to draw insight from the solution.
3) Do base your decision on a solution (or solutions) that is broad enough to report and analyse the workforce's contribution to business initiatives – a solution focused solely on HR processes or functions will have a limited shelf life.
4) Seek advice from, but do not abdicate the final decision on enablement technology to, the IT community.
5) Ensure that any investment in technology is matched by an investment in expertise to utilise, and optimise output from, the technology - to do otherwise would be folly.