Brewing the NextGen HR Tech at Azilen – HRDT 5.0

An interesting panel discussion with HR Tech evangelists exploring HRDT 5.0

The industry of Human Resources is in the middle of a significant transformation toward process automation and digitization. All the traditional means of managing HR Ops have been challenged to their maximum extent and hence have given birth to Digital Transformation. That is why technological innovations are here to facilitate many procedures which HRs used to do manually.

According to Deloitte’s 2017 Human Capital Trends report: ‘It’s about HR teams taking up the dual challenge of transforming HR operations on the one hand, and transforming the workforce and the way work is done on the other.’ So, rather than HR digital transformation being just about HR, it’s a metamorphosis that involves organization as well as people in a comprehensive manner.

A glimpse of the Panel Discussion @Azilen (HRDT 5.0)!

Infusing the concept of HRDT 5.0 with continuous and constant observational analysis, Azilen covered diverse concepts of HR Tech Lifecycle in the Panel Discussion held on 22^nd April 2022.

With our HR Tech subject matter experts empanelled, concepts like Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Onboarding, Background Checks, Performance Management, Career Transitioning, and much more were brainstormed. More than 250+ viewers were engaged in the knowledge-sharing discussion, HR Tech fun quiz, and live QnA session.

Having such a successful event, inspired us to share the insights with a larger audience. Hence, Azilen brings you excerpts from the panel discussion on Digital cum Transformational Changes in the HR technology world. Have a look at our experts that enlightened us with their experience in the field.

Decoding HRDT 5.0, Evolution of HR Tech over the years and what does the future look like?

HRDT 5.0 is all about HR Tech, Digital Transformation, and next-generation products in the HR Tech Ecosystems. The term digital HR refers to the digital transformation currently affecting the human resources industry at large, driven largely by advancements in data collection and analysis in various technologies.

The infographic below indicates a decade-wise transformation of how HR Technology has evolved over the years and what lies ahead for the market.

After gathering huge volumes of data, event scenarios, work patterns, and user base, it is now time for us to create products that are more User-Centric in nature and are adhering to every process possessed by it simultaneously.

For the user experience of any HR technology product nowadays, intelligence by default is the primary characteristic to be considered while developing it 

– Swapnil

Emphasizing the importance of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in making any User-Centric product – which gives the user the best experience, Intelligence by default is the new trend that should be considered a new normal in the world of HR Tech.

Along with this, Integrations with external systems will play a huge role in the upcoming times for which companies have to gear up and be ready with the integration capabilities.

There has been a massive scale and pace of transformation in the HR Tech segment which was accelerated by the pandemic. If we pick up different segments of the HR Tech domain such as Recruitment, Onboarding, Background Checks, Assessments, Employee Engagement, Performance Management, Career Transitioning, and many others, we will see that there are multiple products that are fully process-oriented.

Combining this with the user-centricity of any other product in the market, there has to be more focus on the overall experience a user gathers after using the product.

There are so many HR Tech start-ups backed by strong VCs that are blooming in every corner of the world. Multiple players in the Employee Engagement domain are facing major challenges in accelerating their product engineering initiatives, their quality engineering processes, and in innovating faster with the consumer demands.

HR Tech segment is brimming with opportunities, and there is a need for Engineering talent who understands the HR Tech domain and has experience resolving HR Tech business problems 

– Vishvanath

The fact of the matter is that the industry is already facing a deficit of Engineering Talent, who understands the HR Tech domain. Constantly building diverse capabilities in the HR Tech segment is a strategic move for any organization to withstand its position in the HR Tech market.

What are the core areas in the HRTech which aren’t still fully resolved efficiently? (When we focus on the end-user experience of the HRTech products in an HR ecosystem)

It is indispensable to know how we, as an HR Tech Product Engineering org. are building solutions that have strong architecture and are user-friendly concurrently. This will help our clients to achieve their goals at the right time with the right pace.

When we talk about the user-friendly perspective and products revolving around it, we can look at three major areas of HR Tech solutions that play a vital role in making any product successful.

A recent study highlighted the fact that a company having ~50 people is using anywhere between 5 – 20 different HR Tech solutions. This is where automation of HR operations and processes significantly improves the work efficiency of any organization’s daily tasks.

Integrations are a vital need of any organization wherein there is a need to move data from one application to another, along with keeping the synchronization intact throughout the transfer.

Employee Experience (EX) is not just a concept but an ideology many organizations follow which shows how much it cares for its people. EX is not far from customer experience (CX). Just as a stellar CX drives loyalty and revenue, an excellent EX attracts top employees and increases employee engagement, commitment, and productivity.

The goal of any mature product should be to cater to its users, and having a good self-service portal is to give people what they need quickly.

– Jaynesh

To cut a long story short, an organization can only make successful HR solutions, when it focuses on the Automation of processes, the integrations of multiple products within a single ecosystem, and on providing the best Employee Experience across platforms.

We cannot connect dots looking forward, we can only connect them looking backwards!

HR digital disruptions have given rise to unprecedented growth in HR Eco-system with Specialized HR Tech products solving targeted problems. It has established a need to ensure seamless communication between these disparate systems which are catering to a full-service HR lifecycle. The most challenging problem for today’s HR Tech products is to cater to these integration needs.

There is a common concern that we have observed, specifically in the HR Tech market, that the data which is going to flow between different systems and applications is secured or not, what are the special checks while implementing those APIs, and what are the security measures in place, etc. As the world moves toward more automation and multiple products, it becomes significantly important to connect all of them securely in an Integrated Ecosystem.

APIs and the nature of these APIs change frequently and we need to make sure that the architecture that we are building is scalable enough 

– Dipen

Data authorization and encryption has become a vital factor. Due to this, there are many SOC implementations and ISO certifications that are kept in mind while performing any integration.

It is of paramount importance that the architecture that we build is of a nature that can be released in real-time and can also be utilized to release any piece of code at any point in time while delivering an HR solution.

In the talent economy world, what areas within the ATS product segment are going to be critical for firms?

An Applicant Tracking System is a software application that enables the electronic and automatic handling of a variety of different recruitment needs with the goal of making the process more effective for the recruiter and candidate. Generally, more powerful ATS platforms are cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, meaning they can be accessed anywhere and at any time.

Two major areas where today’s ATSs are innovating a lot are Candidate matchmaking, wherein new age ATSs are trying to bring Semantic Search algorithms into their products to fulfil the need of automating the matchmaking process for Recruiters. This was earlier done by the Boolean-based search algorithms. All of this helps a recruiter to reduce their time to connect and reach more candidates within a short time frame.

Secondly, Screening is also gaining a lot of traction as there are substantial changes and innovations going on by the new-age VC-backed startups. In parallel with this, areas like Employee Engagement and EX are in the spotlight presently.

ATS was initially considered a “Nice to Have”, finding limited usage within large-scale companies. Now this has turned into a “Necessity” to ensure speed, scale, and experience 

– Swapnil

On the whole, these are some of the areas where AI and Machine Learning can also play an influential role and the products in these segments can be taken to a next level if the advanced technologies are utilized smartly.

What are the big gains observed with AI in HR? Are companies really winning? 

We need to understand that the HR processes require a high level of quotient in terms of emotional intelligence and personalization. A common preconception is that it’s very hard to augment, let alone automate.

Although you won’t see every segment picking up AI, there are some major segments where we see the adoption of AI is significant 

– Vishvanath

Over the last 5-6 years, with data-driven approaches penetrating more and more human resource practices. With the cost of AI adoption reducing and the data science community growing by the minute, business leaders are starting to reach out to process automation and augmentation opportunities in the people operations realm.

Clearly, AI has penetrated.

If we look at the products in the employee engagement space, adopting AI is a necessity and no more a feature list to draw attention. The AI-based inputs are making the recruitment & candidate assessment process more efficient and helping reduce the overall bias. AI is finding its applications in business-critical HR Functions such as:

To achieve a more sustainable and smarter environment in the HR tech world, it becomes imperative for the domain to carry highly secured solutions. This can improve the skill-set of new and existing employees, who will ultimately handle the tasks of HR, for them to work on other priority undertakings.

We all face challenges while implementing a smarter HR Tech Solution, don’t we?

There is not a single product in the market that can cater to all the HR requirements and this is where the need for an integrated HR ecosystem comes.

Identifying the right product for a particular problem statement is a major challenge, for example, ATS, there are a lot of ATSs in the market, they all have different features and functionalities but to come to a conclusion on which is the best suitable ATS for your organization is very tough and mind-boggling exercise. Similarly, in the case of AI, it is imperative to have valuable data so that the ML algorithms can be trained, generating accurate results.

Companies invest in HR Tech implementations with a long-term view. Modern-day products need to be future-ready, easy to adopt, and sustainable in nature to bring a better experience that will add value to the core HR processes

– Jaynesh

Another major challenge is Adoption, because any HR Tech solution once implemented in an organization, would stay for a longer duration of time. To shift from one solution to another is a very complex process as there are multiple change management processes and data management risks associated with it.

In order to identify the right product with easy adoption in a secure way, it is very essential for the new-age HR Tech product companies to build solutions that are scalable in nature. They should not just gratify the prevalent needs, but also have the ability, configurability, and customization to serve future perspectives.

In a nutshell

Technologies and tools designed to revolutionize HR operations can offer things like interactive training programs online, and self-service-based applications for all the employees. It offers agility for HR and all the staff involved and helps provide stability for everyone during times of disruption.

Moreover, HRDT 5.0 is all about people, processes, and experiences. This is where HR becomes indispensable as it plays a major role in shaping company culture. HR technology can be utilized to help create a more open-minded and transparent culture in the workplace, enabling all the employees to get on board with other digital transformation strategies and collaboration. HR tech can be the number one ally when it comes to creating an intelligent, open, and dynamic workforce.

Now is the time to ride the wave of HRDT 5.0, building an eco-system of specialized products, solving complex HR problems in a manner that is adaptable, expandable, and sustainable, along with bringing an integrated experience within the HR World.