Post updated with a change in source document
Stacey Harris sent me a preview copy of the Sierra-Cedar annual HR Systems survey. It is the 20th edition, and I particularly enjoyed the walk down memory lane when I was following HR applications at Gartner.
“20 years ago, David Link and Alexia (Lexy) Martin, the first authors of the HR Systems Survey, embarked on a journey to understand a new and emerging trend of self-service HR: the idea of giving candidates, employees, and managers access not only to data, but also to tools that they could use to help make decisions and improve their work environments. The Internet was in a state of infancy, and most organizations were still working through mainframe versus client-server application discussions. With Y2K just right around the corner, and all of the anxiety and optimism coming with the start of a new century, the industry was ripe for change. “
Get a copy of the report here for the nostalgia if you will. But especially do so for the chock full of data on the HCM market. There are 121 graphs – on average one a page. They cover wide ground from cloud adoption by HR application area, to HR analytics to mobile and social HR tools. Some of the data will surprise you – like how low cloud penetration is in many areas even though HCM has led other functional areas in cloud adoption.
After my last book, Silicon Collar about automation, I get the sense HR is in for a huge change over the next few years. Automation via AI, robotics, drones, wearables – is changing the nature of work in every profession. We will see new job titles emerge we did not anticipate just a few years ago. More of the workforce will be on platforms, in franchises and other “extended enterprise” formats. Workforce planning will increasingly factor in machines and related asset planning and maintenance. That will have a Big impact on recruiting, learning and every other aspect of HR.
I have a feeling the next few Sierra-Cedar surveys will increasingly reflect those changes. In the mean time, back to digesting all the data in the latest one. I look forward to more nostalgia as the survey reaches its 25th birthday.
