Vijay Bankar

This is my first attempt at the Event Report. PeopleStrong organized their annual product launch event ‘AltifyHR2019’ on February 15, 2019, in Mumbai. PeopleStrong is important ‘Core HR Platform' among the mid-sized global vendors according to ‘ HR Technology Market 2019 ’ report prepared by Josh Bersin. However, PeopleStrong confirmed that they offer SaaS, and PaaS platforms, in addition to Collaboration and Productivity Tools. Their SaaS HR Platform provides options for Recruitment, Core HR, Workforce Management, Talent Management, Payroll, and People Analytics.  Around 200+ eminent HR Professionals were present at the event. Workshop : Abhijit Bhaduri , (Digital Transformation Coach, Author, Blogger, Influencer, Keynote Speaker & Columnist) addressed the Pre-Launch Workshop on “Managing the Work, Worker, and Working of Future.” With a sneak peek into the future, he explained how the world of work is changing in line with the developments in the externa...

A few days ago Josh Bersin released the much-awaited report on “HR Technology Market 2019.” [ Download Report ] This report includes comprehensive coverage on trends and developments in the HR Tech landscape. Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate urging HR Professionals to keep pace with it to gain competitive advantage. Moving in the Cloud environment is facilitating the rapid development of tools for vendors. Due to advancements in AI and ML, HR Technology is going through automation evolutions. This has enabled HR Tech offerings to add capabilities like Robotic Process Automation, Chatbot, Conversational User Interface (Voice/Text), AI-based suggestions, tips, hints, and nudges. According to the report, there are three ‘vectors of change.’ First, enhancements in the technology considering Moor’s Law. Second, the availability of API's to bring HR Technology in the ‘flow of work’ while using Microsoft Teams, Slack, and other similar apps. And third, secur...

We started to interact with computers by typing commands using programs in DOS. Then we used clicks to get things done in Windows. With the advent of Smartphones, we started moving from clicks to tap. And these days we are conversing with Smart Speakers like Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant. Just to note that according to Loup Ventures , Google Assistant is smarter than Siri, Alexa, and Cortana. You want to rearrange your shift schedule and you say ‘HeyAlexa’ or ‘OK Google' and it's done in a few moments. Similarly, if you want to know about company rules, practices, salary slips, or any other information and you get it by simply asking your Chatbot / Smart Speaker. Now we can provide AI-based CUI-Bots to help our employees to get the relevant information for smarter decision-making. It sounds easy and convenient freeing you to focus on your strategic priorities. Recently we have witnessed enormous developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence ...

On October 8, 2018, LinkedIn acquired Glint and entered the segment of “Employee Engagement”.  According to Josh Bersin, “Glint, is a comprehensive employee experience platform that stores data from onboarding, new-hire experience, ongoing pulse surveys, and open interviews.” It is important to note that Microsoft – LinkedIn approached this market segment through the acquisition route. On November 11, 2018, SuccessFactors announced an acquisition of Qualtrics. No wonder that ‘Employee Engagement’ is gaining leadership attention and becoming the organizational priority.   Even Jack Welch thinks that ‘Employee Engagement’ is number one indicator of organizational health. Gallup carried out research in 155 countries and found 15% engaged employees, 65% not engaged employees and 18% actively disengaged employees. The report further states that engaged employees increased productivity (17%), sales (20%), and profitability (25%). And reduced absenteeism (41%...

The recent trend in Performance Management is moving away from Annual Performance Review to the process of regular Check-ins. The main reason behind this trend, as Laszlo Bock says: "The major problem with performance management systems today is that they have become substitutes for the vital act of actually managing people." There’s this so-called Pearson’s Law which says: “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.” A similar quote by Peter Drucker says, "What gets measured gets managed” & even Louis Gerstner says the same thing, "People don’t do what you expect but what you inspect." Hence it is important to Measure what matters. Recently I read the book by John Doerr  ( Measure What Matters , 2017). Let’s see what is OKRs ( Objectives and Key Results ) & How this ‘Goal setting system works'. Origins of OKRs: During his tenure at In...