Countdown to the 2013 HR Technology Conference

Gary Bragar, HRO Research Director, NelsonHall

This year’s HR Technology Conference, less than 10 weeks away, will be back in Las Vegas October 7-9 (please note onsite rooms are going fast, I had to stay at alternate hotels the past two years!).

With 6,000 people from 28 countries attending last year, I continue to find it an invaluable investment of my time to:

• Attend presentations
• View technology exhibits
• Network with peers
• Meet individually with companies that I do business with and others I want to learn more about.

Presentations: Session topics include:

• Strategic View
• Talent Management
• Social in the Enterprise
• Workforce Analytics and Planning
• HCM and Workforce Management
• Recruiting
• Service Delivery
• Expert Discussions & HR Tech Talks.

Be sure to check out the agenda at: http://www.hrtechconference.com/agenda.html

Highlights of just a few of the many presentations include:

• High-Tech/High-Touch RPO: What the Doctor Ordered for Boehringer Ingelheim – presented by Corry Ioli, Executive Director, Talent Management & Acquisition, Boehringer Ingelheim and Sue Marks, CEO, Pinstripe
• Goldman Sachs Buys RPO Eyes (and Hands) for a Quarter Million Resumes! – presented by Tom Osmond, Global Head of Talent/HCM Solutions, Goldman, Sachs & Co and Regina Lee, Division President, ADP
• HR Tech Talks, presenters: I Come From the Water: Evolution of the Modern Manager, Kris Dunn, CHRO, Kineti; Clowns, Sharks, Anemone and HR – What Do They All Have in Common? Mary Sue Rogers, Global Managing Director, Talent 2
• How Mobile, Social and Gamification Tools are Improving Employee Health – presented by Barry Hall, Principal and Innovation Leader, Talent & HR Solutions, Buck Consultants and Scot Marcotte, Managing Director, Talent & HR Solutions, Buck Consultants.

Whether your company has outsourced or continues to do everything internally, there are bound to be several sessions where you can learn how to improve HR in your organization and be a better business partner. When I was on the buy-side prior to joining NelsonHall, I would attend such HR conferences to:

• Learn about the broader industry
• Think about how our HR outsourcing contract compared to others
• Get ideas on improvements we could make.

Technology Exhibits: Since technology is changing so rapidly, it is often difficult to keep up with new applications that are available. The conference is a great way to get exposed to a broad-range of recent innovations. You can stop by any booth and see a demo. There is no pressure and vendors are excited about their new products and services and are happy to show you more.

So here is your chance to make a difference at your organization; you might stumble onto a better, more user-friendly technology for example. Even if you are not the decision-maker, you can always tell your organization about it when you return and request a customized demo. Alternatively, if you are already outsourcing, you might see something that you don’t have and can bring it to your provider’s attention.

Network: The conference provides an opportunity to expand your network with others, including HR practitioners, buyers, providers and analysts, etc. In addition to the daytime events, there are evening socials too. HR deserves to have fun!

As a reader of my blog you are entitled to a discount. Just use the Promo Code HRO13 (all caps) when you register online at: http://www.HRTechConference.com/register.html to get $500 off the rack rate of $1,895. The discount does not expire until the conference ends on October 9, 2013.

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Finding it Hard to Keep Up with HR Technology? Plan to Attend HR Tech This Year

After attending last year’s HR Technology Conference in Chicago, I blogged about my positive experience with themes that included portals, platforms, and self-service and highly recommended attending this year’s conference.  Well, the time to plan for this year has come!   This year’s HR Technology Conference and Exhibition is October 3 – 5 in Las Vegas.  I’ve been given a special discount code for attendees to use when registering.  Enter HRO11(all caps) as the promotion code when you register online to get $500 off the posted rate.  The discount expires September 19^th.

Why do I think this is such a worthwhile event? We live in a technology world, but I continue to be amazed at the number of new HR technology offerings that are announced each month, sometimes weekly! As a former HR buy-side client, I can resonate quite well with the masses that are thinking about whether or not to invest in new technology. There are so many things to consider including:

• What is the latest technology for HR and payroll services, be it an applicant tracking system, a talent management system, an e-learning or multi-country payroll platform, benefits enrollment technology, etc.?
• Who is providing what?
• How easy and user friendly is it?
• How will it benefit my business?
• If I’m interested in a particular product or service, how do I know who to contact to get a demo for other members of my organization, etc.?

What I really liked about the conference is that you can walk the exhibit floor and attend whatever demo you like and speak with representatives knowledgeable about the products and services and not feel like you are being swarmed upon by vultures.  This is because the exhibit floor is loaded with many other curious HR practitioners and often the booths have so many people interested that group demos are given, so you can watch, learn, and ask questions with others.

Equally as good if not better are the conference presentations.  For example, let’s say you are the director of employment of talent acquisition for your company and you have been hearing about video interviewing.  Further, maybe you heard about Kenexa’s recent alliance with GreenJobInterview to integrate its virtual video interviewing capability into Kenexa’s 2x BrassRing so candidates can be interviewed virtually.  Well, this all sounds good, but isn’t it better to learn more about the benefits and results obtained by video interviewing from another buy-side client?  Well, you can on October 3^rd from Mike Grennier, Senior Director of Corporate Recruiting at Wal-Mart, at his presentation titled “Wal-Mart Embraces Video Interviewing for Job Applicants.”

If you read my colleague Linda Merritt’s blog earlier this week on analytics and are interested in learning more, then on October 4^th Randy MacDonald, SVP of HR at IBM, will give a presentation on technology and analytics and how IBM helps clients quantify HR results.  I’m a big proponent of technology, but I’m a bigger advocate in my belief that technology is only as good as it is utilized and produces results.  Here, we will learn how IBM helps its clients.

I hope to see you there.

Gary Bragar,  HR Outsourcing Research Director, NelsonHall

Plan Ahead to Attend the HRO and RPO Summits

As a reader of our blog, you know that we don’t normally advertise events.  Rather, we provide our own commentary on the HRO market.  However, since this is the first time the HRO Summit and RPO Summit is being combined, plus MSP and the HR Demo, I thought I’d pass along the details: HRO Today Forum.

The RPO Summit 2011 is all about managing global talent and improving the business value of recruiting and staffing. The Summit aims to put the right people together to discuss how recruitment can lead the corporate agenda, including expert speakers, targeted presentations, in-depth case studies, and hands-on workshops focused on the solutions and technologies that will unleash the true potential of the HR-Powered Enterprise.

You can register now for the RPO Summit at http://bit.ly/fhSKDS and save 30% using promo code SPSAV30.

I’ll be at the RPO Summit in Las Vegas on May 24^th presenting my latest RPO research with an emphasis on benefits to buyers and critical success factors to make RPO a success.

In the meantime, I can’t resist sharing some news on the RPO front. This week, Futurestep won a 5-year RPO and consulting contract in New Zealand and Australia with Fonterra, a large dairy exporter, performing ~2,000 permanent and fixed-term hires per year, demonstrating that all industries globally are engaging in RPO.  Hope to see you in Vegas!

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall