Revealed: Case studies on how technology impacts HR

Riding the digital transformation wave

Words by Kieran Howells|Design by Jonathan Balallo

For many organisations, prioritising digital transformation will form a large part of strategy for 2020 and beyond. HR isn’t exempt from this. According to IDC, 85% of enterprise decision-makers say they have a time frame of two years to make significant inroads into digital transformation or they will fall behind their competitors and suffer financially. The same study states that 40% of all technology spending will go toward transformation. In addition, it was estimated by Seagate that two-thirds of global CEOs would start focusing on digital strategies by the end of 2019, whilst 44% of companies have already moved to a digital-first approach to align HR strategies with overall business goals.

HR crucial to transformation

For those who have taken the plunge, the future looks bright. According to Gartner, 56% of CEOs said digital improvements have led to revenue growth over the past year – inspiring greater investment and experimentation whilst 68% of executives believe that the addition of collaborative working between HR and AI will lead to significant financial gains. In fact, so essential is the march of technological innovation in the field of HR, that 40% of respondents to 2019’s PTC study of HR leaders named improvement to operational efficiency through digital transformation as the most essential element in their business plan.

Internal communications

With more and more emphasis being placed on the significance of HR practices to overall business success – nearly 80% of Millennials look for a cultural and people fit over salary, according to Zety research – it’s essential that companies of all sizes have effective ways to communicate. Whilst traditionally this may have been through townhalls or individual site visits, much of these internal communications have undergone a digital transformation. For example, professional communications platform Slack has over 10million active daily users from 85,000 paid organisation users, whilst competitor Flock, which emphasises its ability to create digital project silos is set to add 8,000 new paid business customers this year.

Best of both worlds

Whilst some employees may be weary of digital transformation and AI due to its infamous reputation, the vast majority of businesses aren’t looking to replace current staff due to its presence and won’t any time soon. A PwC study found that 80% of businesses and tech leaders say that AI will boost productivity and create jobs going forward. The research also concludes that 72% of business decision-makers state that AI will enable humans to concentrate on more meaningful work. In addition, according to PTC, six in 10 enterprise executives believe digital transformation-enabling technology will play an essential role in their business strategies from 2020 onward.

Case Study

IBM

IBM is not only a supplier of digital-first HR technology, it’s also a consumer. In the company’s HR department, AI is currently being leveraged to not only reactively improve productivity and reduce the margin for errors, but also proactively give employees much greater insight into their future careers within the firm.

Being a tech giant itself, the company looked inward to create its own resource called ‘Watson Career Coach’, which is freely available to all employees and which acts as an advisor to those who are considering their own future growth within IBM.

It works by integrating questions; it asks employees with historic knowledge such as CV information and company records to provide job opportunity matches. Since being introduced, the resource has not only helped match workers to their optimal career path, IBM claims that it has also boosted employee engagement across the company.