Posted tagged ‘talent management’
June 14, 2013

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
This week I attended Mercer’s always well managed and informative analyst forum in Boston, MA. The meeting was focused on the talent consulting line of business.
Talent Management on the Rise
Mercer research indicates that human capital issues are a top CEO concern and managing talent is becoming a board of directors’ issue, moving beyond the traditional CEO succession planning and compensation to overall talent and workforce planning. The new Mercer Talent Barometer Survey, which was introduced at the 2013 World Economic Forum, reports that 60% of the 1,200 global companies surveyed are investing more in talent, but only 30% feel that their workforce plans are highly effective.
The business of talent has become both exciting and disruptive, with possible new entrants, globalization, media, innovations, and opportunities. (Talk about new entrants, eHarmony is considering getting into the talent matching game!)
With a possibility of double-digit growth, the talent group looked at how to grow across the talent value chain by expanding its services, tools and technology offerings for talent, rewards, and communications to increase growth and leverage Mercer’s depth of experience and capabilities.
The answer will become apparent over the next few months as more packaged solutions are launched that combine consulting, information, and technology to meet the needs of clients that want a less-customized consulting approach with “off-the-shelf” packaged and reusable services and tools.
Workforce Planning Versus HR Analytics
Some elements that will be leveraged are already mature and solid revenue producers. Surveys, benchmarks, and analytics for compensation/total rewards and job structures are a more than $200m line of business. Globalization of the revenues is already well on its way, with about equal distribution from North America, Europe, and emerging markets across 57 countries.
Instead of focusing on HR analytics, Mercer is emphasizing data acquisition and integration, data modeling, as well as data visualization as it applies to a wide range of workforce and data that drives business results. This may mean a consulting and outsourcing services engagement, it may mean workshops and training, or self-service use of integrated SaaS technology platforms with one or more Mercer products.
Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast
There are a lot of moving parts in Mercer’s strategy to create an integrated talent solutions portfolio.
It is brought together under the go-to-market Talent Impact label that includes new and existing products and services to forecast, engage, mobilize, reward and assess talent. Behind the scenes Mercer will be streamlining its own architecture into fewer and more integrated technology platforms to support the new offerings.
There is a lot to be done in a short time, but that is in alignment with the “think big, start small, and move fast” philosophy of Orlando Ashford, senior partner and president of Mercer’s talent business. Mercer is on the move!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: EMEA, Global Targeting, Global Workforce, HR, HR Administration, HR Analyst Events, HR analytics, HR Metrics, hr outsourcing, HR Outsourcing Association, hr outsourcing research, HR SaaS, HR Tech, HR Technology, hr tools, hro, HRO acquisitions, HRO Activity, HRO contracts, HRO emerging trends, HRO Governance, HRO Growth, HRO Innovation, HRO provider alliances, HRO provider partnerships, hro research, HRO Services, HRO Staffing, HRO Strategy, HRO Vendors, Human Capital Management, IT Recruiting, Mercer, MPHRO, Multi-Process HR Outsourcing, multi-process hro, nelsonhall, offshore hro, outsourced learning, outsourced training, outsourcing, outsourcing alliances, Outsourcing Recruitment, performance improvement, performance management, Private Sector HRO, public sector HRO, recruiting services, Recruiting Technology, recruitment process outsourcing, Staffing, Talent, Talent gaps, Talent Management, Talent Shortage, Training, Workforce administration, Workforce Investment, Workforce Management, Workforce Productivity, workforce retention, Workforce Software, Workforce Solutions, Workforce Talent, Workplace Changes
Tags: Analytics, benchmarks, Boston, Business, business results, communications, compensation, Consulting, data acquisition, data modeling, data visualization, eHarmony, emerging markets, Europe, globalization, HR analytics, human capital, human resources, innovations, integration, job structures, line of business, LOB, Management, media, Mercer, Mercer Talent Barometer Survey, North America, opportunities, rewards, SaaS, self-service, Surveys, talent, talent consulting, talent management, talent matching, talent solutions portfolio, talent value chain, total rewards, training, workforce, workforce planning, workshops, World Economic Forum
Comments: Be the first to comment
March 28, 2013

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is one of the younger HRO service lines and it is both growing and maturing quickly. The March issue of HRO Today recognizes the emergence of RPO 2.0. NelsonHall’s RPO specialist, Gary Bragar, would certainly agree. Gary’s October 2012 Targeting Recruitment Process Outsourcing market analysis highlighted many of the same developments in this rapidly growing HRO segment.
What is New in RPO 2.0?
The rapid growth and incorporation of social media for recruiting is a big part RPO 2.0, one that keeps pushing RPO to the leading edge of innovation in the HRO space.
RPO services are rapidly moving up the value chain, and changing client expectations is the key. While reducing the cost of service provision is always on the table, it is no longer the number one issue. Flexibility and scalability will always remain important as well, given how quickly hiring needs can change.
Today’s RPO 2.0 clients are looking for more value:
- Improved quality of hires
- The latest tools and technologies for social and mobile
- Expertise in accessing talent pools and passive hires
- Greater focus on candidate experience
- Analytics and insights, in addition to metrics and reports
- Improved retention
- Access to advanced services including employment branding, talent management, talent engagement, and integration with workforce planning.
Clients Simply No Longer Want To Do It
In the last few years, many buyers reduced internal recruiting staff in line with the reduced volume of hires, and they do not want to rebuild and reinvest in the rapidly evolving technologies and advanced skill sets it takes to succeed in today’s competitive, social, mobile, and global recruitment process market.
Buyer Choice is Broad
For every large staffing company that does RPO including Adecco, Kelly, Manpower, and Randstad, there are smaller vendors that specialize in RPO such as Ochre House and Pinstripe. Most leading RPO vendors of all sizes can offer services in most of the regions of the world as they have partnered and made acquisitions to make their footprints global.
Not long ago, major multi-process HRO (MPHRO) providers either did not provide end-to-end RPO or saw it taken out of contracts. Now, more MPHRO providers have full RPO services strong enough to be offered as standalone services including ADP, Aon Hewitt, Infosys, and IBM.
With RPO 2.0 You Can Have It All
While having it all may still be a bit aspirational for most of us, we are finding evidence that successful client / provider RPO partnerships can improve process efficiencies (e.g., reduce time to hire 20% to 50%), reduce the total cost of hire (often 20% to 30% or more), along with increasing hiring manager and candidate satisfaction.
Imagine what we can achieve with RPO 2.0!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: recruitment process outsourcing, rpo, RPO 2.0
Tags: Adecco, ADP, Aon Hewitt, •Analytics, candidate experience, employment branding, Gary Bragar, global recruitment process market, hro, HRO Today, IBM, Infosys, internal recruiting staff, Kelly, Manpower, ManpowerGroup, metrics and reports, MPHRO, multi-process hro, nelsonhall, Ochre House, passive hires, Pinstripe, quality of hires, Randstad, retention, rpo, RPO partnerships, social and mobile, social media for recruiting, talent engagement, talent management, talent pools, Targeting Recruitment Process Outsourcing, volume of hires, workforce planning
Comments: Be the first to comment
March 22, 2013

Gary Bragar, HRO Research Director, NelsonHall
My second ADP Meeting of the Minds (MOTM) client event once again exceeded expectations. There were 170 sessions with tracks including HR BPO, talent management, benefits, payroll, time & labor management, and personal & professional development. The following highlights the opening session and one of the general sessions I attended.
Opening Keynote by Steve Wynn
It’s no surprise that Steve Wynn’s hotel has won awards as the best place to work. At Wynn, a great customer experience is achieved by interaction with your people (i.e., employees) as only they can make others happy. To achieve human aspiration and to best serve customers, self-esteem is most important. If you can enhance self-esteem, then a single employee interaction with one guest can change the history of the enterprise. Steve views the most important person in an organization as the next person you (i.e., a guest) encounters.
According to Steve, to achieve self-esteem you need to be recognized by your boss. One form of recognition is pre-shift meetings where the supervisor asks if there are any good stories of guest interactions. That employee then gets his / her picture taken, which gets hung on the walls including in the employee cafeteria, which then motivates other employees to provide an exceptional customer experience! Several examples of how employees have gone above and beyond the call of duty to exceed guest expectations were also provided.
RPO
Terry Terhark, president of The RightThing and Neil Efron, account manager, presented with client Tom Osmond, managing director of talent at Goldman Sachs; Neil sits onsite with Goldman in NY. Terry began with an overview of what RPO is and then Tom spoke of their journey together. Goldman has $34.2bn in revenues with 34,200 employees. At the end of 2011, Goldman signed a contract with The RightThing that commenced in March 2012. In 2012, Goldman did 7,200 hires (2,500 experienced hires, 2,000 college hires, remainder were interns).
Key drivers that led to outsourcing included:
- Leverage a scalable infrastructure to better support highly variable recruiting volumes
- Engage with a single provider for global delivery
- Reduce costs associated with onsite staff
- Partner with an experienced provider knowledgeable of best practices
- Incorporate advanced recruiting and sourcing technology, e.g. in 2010 job boards and mobile recruiting were not used.
The contract began with support for North America experienced hires via the NY office. Support is provided both onsite in NY and centralized from The RightThing service center in Findlay, Ohio. Today, The RightThing also provides support to the London office including scheduling of interviews.
Initial services included interview scheduling, coordination of travel, and job offer management. ADP resources are also leveraged for Green Card processing. In October 2012, a sourcing solution was designed for recruitment of niche specialist positions, e.g. how to hire investment bankers, which was expanded in 2013.
From the client perspective, ADP has enabled a more flexible and efficient recruiting model with lower cost including reduced administration and time dealing with issues.
Emerging is the ability to expand globally including sourcing for EMEA and then into APAC. Further recruiting cost reduction is to be obtained by moving from ~50% offsite/onsite to 60% offsite resources in Findlay.
Summary
If you are an ADP client and have the opportunity to attend MOTM, I highly recommend it for your personal and professional development and you will have fun!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: ADP, Meeting of the Minds, MOTM, rpo, Steve Wynn
Tags: advanced recruiting, coordination of travel, Goldman Sachs, Green Card processing, HR BPO, interview scheduling, job boards, job offer management, mobile recruiting, Neil Efron, personal & professional development, rpo, sourcing solution, sourcing technology, Steve Wynn, talent, talent management, Terry Terhark, The RightThing, Tom Osmond
Comments: Be the first to comment
March 14, 2013

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
The HR Outsourcing Association (HROA) just completed a series of webinars on SaaS and HR BPO. There was a wide range of HROA industry experts bringing their real world experience on each panel including Accenture, ADP, Aon Hewitt, Futurestep, IBM, ISG, NorthgateArinso, Oracle/Taleo, and more.
SaaS or BPO is Not the Question
The conversation was largely about the difference between SaaS and the ERP systems included in most current BPO deals. It was not about using only SaaS or only BPO. SaaS can and does fit into BPO. I expect to see lots of growth in SaaS and BPO combinations in the next few years as SaaS platforms scale and grow in handling complexity.
SaaS is a Success Story of Innovation
The rise of SaaS was also fueled by the recessionary pressure to lower HR costs. Pre-downturn, HR leaders strongly preferred the customization power of ERPs to conform to a client’s policies and processes. Now the acceptance of the speed and economic advantage of configuration and standardized processes makes SaaS a viable option for an increasing array of HR services and even HR management system infrastructure (HRMS).
BPO service providers are also prime sources of many SaaS applications:
- SAP and Oracle offer cloud HRMS used as the core for most HRO platforms such as: Genpact Hosted HRMS Platform, Infosys TalentEdge, CGI Oracle HCM, Caliber Point Republic, TCS HR platform
- Proprietary systems include: ADP Vantage HCM and Workforce Now, NorthgateArinso ResourceLink Aurora, Preceda, and MoorepayHR, Ceridian DayForce and HRevolution
- Talent management applications including RPO services have been so popular that Oracle snapped up Taleo, IBM acquired Kenexa, and SAP bought SuccessFactors.
Selection and Implementation Commonalities
The buyer experience has common elements whether selecting SaaS or BPO.
- The upfront client planning process is the same: identify goals and objectives aligned with business and HR strategies; gather cost, process, and performance data to build a business case; consider enterprise risk; etc.
- Vendor selection: do not just select the service; ensure there is a proven record of vendor performance and solid evidence of collaborative client relationships.
SaaS is not Self-Installing
While the total time and effort may be less, all the traditional elements remain. Webinar panelists warned that even if the decision has been made to use SaaS, do not underestimate the time and effort to make a vendor selection, manage change, gain buy-in, and project management implementation.
Even though one of the advantages of SaaS solutions is faster and “easier” implementations, it will still take buyers time and effort to standardize processes and data and to determine the configurations. Make sure that as a buyer, you know and plan for the skill and effort needed. Like BPO, experience says to consider a phased in rollout starting with one service / process and bring the learning forward to the rest of the implementation.
Next time, we will explore to SaaS or not to SaaS.
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: HR BPO, HR Outsourcing Association, HROA, SaaS
Tags: Accenture, ADP, ADP Vantage HCM, ADP Workforce Now, Aon Hewitt, Caliber Point Republic, Ceridian HRevolution, Ceridian InView, CGI Oracle HCM, Futurestep, Genpact Hosted HRMS Platform, HR management system infrastructure, HRMS, IBM, Infosys TalentEdge, ISG, Kenexa, NorthgateArinso, NorthgateArinso MoorepayHR, NorthgateArinso Preceda, NorthgateArinso ResourceLink Aurora, Oracle, Oracle Taleo, rpo, SaaS and HR BPO, SaaS applications, SAP, SuccessFactors, talent management, talent management applications, TCS HR platform
Comments: Be the first to comment
February 26, 2013

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
For years the Hackett Group’s HR benchmarking analysis has shown the increasing use of HR outsourcing. Now its research of Global 1,000 companies over the past two years shows that effective use of outsourcing plays a key role in achieving world class HR organizations. According to advisory practice leader Harry Osle, “our research shows not only that it is possible, but also explains precisely how world-class HR organizations manage to do more with less and play a key role in helping their companies succeed.”Hackett HR benchmarking provides staffing and cost comparisons by HR process and then identifies best practices. Those companies in the top quartile in both efficiency and effectiveness metrics are considered world class.
World class HR costs less
The research finds that world class HR organizations:
- Spend 27% less on HR services per employee than typical companies
- Reduce HR labor costs by 29%
- Operate with 24% fewer HR staff per 1,000 employees
- Spend 50% less on outsourcing
- Dedicate 25% greater spend to technology.
World class HR focuses on operational excellence, talent management, and strong relationships
World class organizations use HR outsourcing more effectively; they outsource at similar levels to typical companies, but they retain fewer in-house staff associated with these processes, gaining greater cost benefits while avoiding work duplication and shadow staff.
HRO service providers have been encouraging clients for years to simplify and standardize processes and policies to gain the most from outsourcing, which matches what world class HR is doing:
- Using more self-service for payroll, training, total rewards administration, and staffing services
- Focusing on automation, standardization, and complexity reduction
- Reducing the number of job grades, health and welfare plans, and compensation plans.
Integrated talent management is another component of success. The HR leaders closely align talent management strategies with business objectives and increase strategic workforce planning capabilities including high-level consulting and analytics and modeling. They also develop internal talent, recruit externally faster, and measure rigorously.
HR executives at world-class organizations have a seat at the table, and are universally involved in business planning compared to less than half of typical companies. Leading HR staffs are much more engaged in managing and facilitating organizational change.
World class HR brings data
According to Hackett, an increased focus on measurement and analytics is another way that world-class HR organizations partner with the business more effectively. Only 20% of typical HR groups report metrics for HR-managed projects, while the leaders do this over three times more often and close to 80% report organizational metrics for change initiatives.
Leading full service HRO vendors have been building out their own talent management offerings and have added options for HR analytics, providing support for two more aspects of world class HR.
Certainly we expect HRO to support operational effectiveness and cost reduction. Now, we know it can do more in the transformation of HR into world class business partners!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here
Categories: Hackett Group, HR benchmarking analysis, hro
Tags: compensation plans, Hackett HR benchmarking, Harry Osle, health and welfare plans, HR analytics, HR benchmarking analysis, HR best practices, HR modeling, HR operational excellence, hr outsourcing, HR process, HR-managed projects, HRO service providers, payroll, Staffing services, standardize HR policies, standardize HR processes, talent management, total rewards administration, training, workforce planning
Comments: Be the first to comment
February 14, 2013

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
Ceridian just held its annual sales kick-off meeting and according to Jayson Saba, vice president of marketing strategy and analyst relations, there was “a whole new feeling of excitement.”
Ceridian Made a Big Bet
Ceridian is a mature service provider having been in payroll and HR services since 1932. So, what is causing such excitement in 2013? The answer is Dayforce HCM.
Ceridian began partnering with Dayforce in 2010, which soon led to investing in the company, and then to purchasing the company in early 2012 and forming a new business unit, Dayforce, led by David Ossip, Dayforce’s CEO.
This was a major strategic bet on SaaS as the new direction for a large portion of an already successful company with an estimated $1.5bn in revenues. How big a bet? Well, in late 2012, Ceridian made the decision to realign its sales and marketing efforts behind Dayforce HCM in North America, the company’s largest customer and revenue base!
The company will continue to support clients on its current systems and will not force migration. In fact, it will continue to invest in adding more features and functionality in key areas. Its other service lines will also continue including international payroll, benefits administration, EAP, and stored value solutions (electronic cards with preset or refillable financial value).
Dayforce HCM is a Party of One
Dayforce is a cloud-based platform built as a single application with one record, one rules engine, and zero interfaces. Real SaaS can eliminate the need to enter data in multiple systems, manage complex interfaces, and confusion about who to call when multiple vendors are involved, and it provides easier implementations.
Dayforce HCM includes:
- Payroll and tax: view, edit, fix, and preview payroll in real-time
- Workforce management: plan, schedule, and forecast labor requirements, and time tracking and compliance
- Benefits: manage enrollment, calculate eligibility, and support an unlimited number of benefit plan types
- Human resources: forms and workflows for managers and employees to manage work and life events
- Mobile: access, manage, and change schedules and other aspects of employee records including shift trading, availability, and time-off requests.
The system can scale for small, mid, and large market clients with a sweet spot in the 1,000 to 10,000 range. Ceridian already has several deployments of 15- to 30,000+ employees. Major retail clients include Aéropostale, Pier 1, and Crate & Barrel.
With a Clear Roadmap for the Future
The new system already has hundreds of clients and is available in the U.S. and Canada, and NelsonHall predicts that it will soon be expanded to the U.K. as well. We estimate Dayforce will become the HR system of record for all of Ceridian’s HCM customers including managed and international payroll services and eventually become a global HRIS offering.
Ceridian is also working on new additions for talent management (performance management, compensation, and recruiting) and other social media features.
Nothing Succeeds Like Success
Imagine the excitement when your new system far exceeds expectations, wins awards, and delights customers. No wonder a good time was had at Ceridian’s annual sales conference!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: Ceridian, Dayforce
Tags: Aéropostale, benefits, benefits administration, cloud-based platform, compensation, Crate & Barrel, David Ossip, Dayforce HCM, EAP, HR services, human resources, international payroll, Jayson Saba, mobile, nelsonhall, payroll, Payroll and Tax, performance management, Pier 1, recruiting, social media, stored value solutions, talent management, workforce management
Comments: Be the first to comment
February 1, 2013

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
Smarter Workforce and Smarter Commerce are the two major themes of this year’s conference for customers and business partners at IBM Connect 2013.
IBM is Messaging, Managing, and Delivering
First, I want to complement IBM on the clarity and alignment of its strategy with action. I have not seen this level of aligned organization and action across such a large and complex corporation before.
Building out under the Smarter Planet umbrella, IBM is bundling its many products and services, coordinating internal research and development, making targeted acquisitions, working across product and organization lines, and communicating clearly in its go-to-market campaigns. Given the great number of successful Smarter Workforce client case studies being presented, the proof points are already building to show business value can be delivered.
Smarter Workforce Supports Smarter Commerce
Smarter Workforce and Smarter Commerce are each separate service lines that can be coordinated to achieve greater business impact. Each is a combination of the IBM Platform for Social Business (social networking, social analytics, and social content) bundled with other new and existing products and services. Under the hood is a myriad of product lines making it work operationally, all tied together by messaging:
- Smarter Workforce: Activate the workforce to improve productivity and unleash innovation
- Smarter Commerce: Delight customers to increase loyalty, advocacy, and revenue.
Balance Individual Focus with Collective Value
Jonathon Ferrar, IBM vice president of Smarter Workforce, talked about the need to be social, smart, quick, and effective. Other words that were used a lot included community and relationships. Connecting communities of practice and building relationships, not for social intimacy, but for learning, leveraging, and leading to delighted customers and achieve business success.
Embedded throughout the social aspects of the services is a focus on the individual user that takes into account ease of use, mobile device access, points of need, and other behavioral aspects that are built in to increase collective business value creation.
Kenexa is Key to Smarter Workforce
The Kenexa acquisition closed in December 2012 and it is already being integrated into current offerings and it will be a key to plans for enhanced Smarter Workforce services as early as the second half of 2013:
- Kenexa’s software platforms for recruiting and learning will be used for RPO and learning BPO services as well as integrated with the social business platform
- Kenexa’s behavioral science expertise will be used to inform leadership, organizational, and talent management services and add to the analytics component.
IBM’s HRO services will be impacted by the changes. New options will be available to existing and new clients as talent management, learning, and RPO are brought together.
A lot of complexity remains to be managed, but it would be great to see IBM set a new high bar for making its services, client workforces, and HRO social, smart, quick, and effective!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: hro, IBM, IBM Connect 2013, Smarter Commerce, Smarter Workforce
Tags: Analytics, behavioral science expertise, hro, IBM, IBM Connect 2013, Jonathon Ferrar, Kenexa, learning, learning BPO, recruiting, rpo, Smarter Commerce, Smarter Planet, smarter workforce, social analytics, social business, social business platform, social content, social networking, talent management
Comments: Be the first to comment
December 13, 2012

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
To complete my review of CedarCrestone’s 2012-2013 HR Systems Survey, I will highlight some of the newer HT technology trends.
SaaS HRMS: The Breakthrough Trend of 2012
According to analysis of the survey results, the benefits of SaaS HRMS include:
- Faster time to value from deployments that take about half the time
- Improved user experience, which leads to higher usage rates
- Higher customer satisfaction.
The 50 top performers, based on financial measures, are leading the move towards SaaS HRMS solutions. Approximately one-third have a SaaS solution in place and more are planning to add SaaS in 2013.
Large market HR ERPs are still in the leadership position and face little near-term erosion from cloud-based HRMS. Near-term erosion, however, is the key phrase. Cloud-based SaaS HR platforms are disruptive technologies and as such, they are likely to quickly move up the value chain and eventually be able to serve larger and more complex organizations. In the meantime, SaaS HRMS adoption will move fastest among mid-market organizations.
Total cost analysis, not just system costs, will be important in the adoption of SaaS HRMS in larger organizations where ERPs are still less expensive on a per-user basis. Over time that pricing advantage will disappear, especially if evidence mounts for better performance and lower overall costs.
What’s Coming Next
- Social and mobile-enabled processes are increasing in user-adoption
- RPO and recruiters are in the lead using social media as ~50% of all recruiters use social-enabled recruiting processes
- Early adopters of social-enabled processes show a link to 8% higher revenue per employee
- Almost 60% of respondents have some mobile enablement in their HRMS
- Integrated talent management is linked to the highest financial performance
- Organizations with business intelligence solutions that integrate workforce and other organizational data outperform by 12% over those without such integration.
Keep in mind however that the newer applications are starting from small adoption bases and have not yet reached breakthroughs.
Key Words: Integration and Standardization
Throughout the survey, the results are links to the need for integration of HR applications with the core HRMS to gain the greatest benefits, and the precursor to integration is standardization of policies, practices, and processes. For example:
Integrated talent management on the underlying HRMS platform attains the highest financial performance at the lowest cost and can lead to 50% lower BI costs.
HRO service providers can help clients with the initial standardization needed for creating an integrated HR technology platform, whether it will be ERP, SaaS, or a hybrid system. Buyers: have a clear plan and consider getting help in investing, deploying, and using the new tools strategically to create business results. It is harder than it looks!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: CedarCrestone 2012-2013 HR Systems Survey, CedarCrestone HR Systems Survey, HT technology, SaaS HRMS
Tags: business intelligence, CedarCrestone, CedarCrestone 2012-2013 HR Systems Survey, cloud-based HRMS, HR ERPs, HR technology platform, HRMS mobile enablement, hro, mobile-enabled processes, rpo, SaaS, SaaS HRMS, social media, social processes, social-enabled recruiting processes, standardization, talent management
Comments: Be the first to comment
December 7, 2012

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
Lexy Martin, CedarCrestone’s research and analytics vice president, debuted the 2012-2013 HR Systems Survey at the HR Technology Conference. I always enjoy pouring over this research, particularly now as it is in its 15th year and is full of trends and insights into what is happening with HR technology. The findings are especially interesting this year as we see the emergence of newer technologies come into usage and high expectations for the future growth of HR SaaS HRMS, analytics, social, and mobile technologies.There is a lot of good news for HRO service providers and HR technology vendors. As we know, technology investments have seen some lean years recently. This year, the survey of 1,246 respondents from HR, IT, finance, operations, and executives indicates that 50% of large and medium-sized organizations will be increasing HR technology spend for 2013. Interestingly, the largest increase will be from organizations outside of the U.S. and Europe (59% to 44%).
The top HR technology initiatives for 2012-2013 include:
- Business process improvements and innovations
- Talent management processes and automation
- Service delivery improvements
- Business intelligence/workforce metrics.
While the greatest growth over the next three years is expected for workforce analytics/planning (142%), social media tools (81%), and service delivery (57%), it is important to remember that adoption of the more common technologies is not at 100%. HR administration is highest at 95%, but service delivery applications, which include employee and manager self-service is only at 49%. Check the full report for results by size and industry. For example, large enterprises have higher adoption rates, and industry varies with early adopters seen in high tech, financial services, and retail and late adopters seen in higher education and public administration.
Key Observations
- A shared services delivery model that includes an HR help desk application and self-service delivers the highest level of efficiency to enterprises and saves at least 15% in administration costs
- Basic workforce management technologies including time management self-service, absence management, labor scheduling, and labor budgeting can grow operating income faster
- An integrated HRMS and talent management solution can yield up to 33% higher revenue per employee.
The survey is not about HR outsourcing, but it sure applies. Between the HR technology initiatives, state of adoption of HR technologies, and evidence of results who better to help a client out than your friendly HR service provider!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: CedarCrestone, HR Systems Survey, hro
Tags: 2012-2013 HR Systems Survey, absence management, Analytics, •Business process improvements, •Service delivery, business intelligence, CedarCrestone, employee and manager self-service, HR administration, HR SaaS HRMS, HR technology, HR Technology Conference, HR technology spend, HRMS, labor budgeting, labor scheduling, Lexy Martin, mobile technologies, social media tools, talent management, time management, workforce analytics, workforce management, workforce metrics
Comments: Be the first to comment
November 29, 2012
I am on the Human Resources Outsourcing Association (HROA) Publications and Practices Committee and for the November meeting our hot topic was an update on shared services and HRO.

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall
Value Delivered
All three guest speakers agreed that HR shared services organizations (SSO) remain one of the core transformation trends in HR. Colin Brennan, Aon Hewitt product management and strategy VP, sees that the movement to SSOs and HRO is focusing more on value delivered and less on pure cost. Clients want to improve both the cost and quality of services like talent management, recruiting, and learning. Clients also want to measure and manage HR issues across the enterprise, whether it is various operating divisions or regions of the world.
Tech Talks
Maribeth Sivak, a principal consultant with ISG, also sees an uptick in interest in SSOs and HRO, but as a follow on to HR technology decisions. Many companies are facing major and costly upgrades in core HR technology systems, which create the opportunity to consider consolidation into shared services including HRO. Cost is a key driver, of course, but so is a desire to improve the employee experience with mobile and social capabilities as well as improve HR with access to more HR analytics.
Major technology costs also open the door for considering new vendor-provided systems and even SaaS. As SaaS offerings move “up stack” there is and will be a call for BPO service support.
The Chicken or the Egg
What comes first, shared services or HRO? Some start with HRO and others create SSOs first. Either way, clients usually want to get their arms around what they can do first and then look to optimize and increase velocity, often ending up with a blend of both.
At KellyOCG, Kathleen Bienkowski, global shared services VP, sees some organizations that start with shared services continue to evolve into multi-functional general business services as they mature. KellyOCG has its own showcase that demonstrates many of the aspects of a mature SSO: delivery centers, transaction processing, recruitment sourcing, and a knowledge center for global mobility. The contact center is outsourced to another division, Kelly Connect.
What Doesn’t Change
Each of our speakers commented on the continued need to manage major change including:
- A strong internal sponsor / champion to drive the change
- A clear vision that articulates the benefits and defines the future state delivery model
- Change management in transition and implementation plans
- A governance structure for performance and issues management.
As both shared services and HRO reach a level of maturity, they are reaching a level of acceptance with less perceived risk in the decision, value is balancing the focus on cost, and pent up technology needs will be opening the door to opportunity. All in all, a great update with plenty of good news!
Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
Categories: HR shared Services, hro, Shared Services
Tags: Aon Hewitt, Colin Brennan, delivery centers, global mobility, HR analytics, HR shared services, HR shared services organizations, HR technology, HR technology systems, hro, HROA, ISG, Kathleen Bienkowski, Kelly Connect, KellyOCG, learning, Maribeth Sivak, mobile and social capabilities, recruiting, recruitment sourcing, SaaS, Shared services, SSO, talent management
Comments: Be the first to comment
Recent Comments