Perceptive HR Technology

I just returned from a trip to Europe where I met with customers in France and Finland.  I was particularly interested in evaluating whether European talent management technology needs were different from that of North America.  When I was working at PDI (which is very much a global company), I got the impression that differences functionally weren’t that great.  But at the time, I didn’t really explore how that translated to technology needs for these companies.

My unscientific survey suggests the following with respect to technology:

• The functional needs are very similar.  Both of the customers I met with were passionate about developing better insights into talent and ultimately, tying those insights to tangible business outcomes;
• They don’t have the technology they need to do it, and recognize that achieving breakthrough advances in talent management won’t come without systems to automate the processes;
• Just like in North America, they are having to start with the basics — a global employee system-of-record (in some cases that doesn’t even exist) and the establishment of attribute models (such as competencies) for measuring performance, potential and readiness;
• Time is of the essence — pressure from leadership to make real progress in these areas is intensifying, and VPs of HR have to move quickly;
• While some processes are unique by country (training administration in France, for example), the foundational components of strategic talent management look very similar.

The lesson for me:  there’s a great opportunity for talent management solutions all over the world, and unlike some of the more transactional HRMS functions (payroll being the most notable example), there’s a real opportunity to build one application that can meet an organization’s global needs.

Next month it’s off to the UK and Sweden, then Asia and Australia/New Zealand in January – I’ll keep you posted on whether the trend continues!