In this post, we are going to try to predict what technology will make it big this year. Here are the top 10 technology trends HR leaders should watch in 2020:
The continued growth of AI
Increases in capital and labour are no longer driving the levels of economic growth the world has become accustomed to and desires. Fortunately, a new factor of production is on the horizon, and it promises to transform the basis of economic growth for countries across the world. However, long-term pessimism is unwarranted. With the recent convergence of a transformative set of technologies, economies are entering a new era in which artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to overcome the physical limitations of capital and labour and open up new sources of value and growth.
Increased use of virtual reality
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Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world. VR aims to create a sensory experience for the user sometimes including sight, touch, hearing, smell, or even taste. The VR industry as a whole is growing at a fast pace, with the market size of consumer virtual reality hardware and software projected to increase from 6.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to more than 16 billion U.S. dollars by 2022.
Expansion of cloud-based HCM tools
In today’s rapidly evolving corporate environment, the HR function must consistently anticipate and respond to the demands of a high-performing mobile workforce. To become a strategic leader of talent, HR needs to ensure employees can quickly and efficiently access data on the go, anywhere and at any time. HR is also under pressure to deliver greater efficiency through self-service. Innovation in HR practices, along with evolving workforce demographics and changing regulations, has seen many organisations adopt Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions to help them achieve these goals. What’s more, research shows that this trend is on the rise around the world. A recent study from IDC, for example, found that 13 percent of companies around the world are expected to adopt HCM cloud solutions from 2017 to 2021.
Employee self-service
HR leaders are adopting employee self-service (ESS) and manager self-service (MSS) tools to improve service, reduce labour costs and shift the responsibility for handling routine transactions from HR to employees, managers and job candidates.
The 2018-2019 Sierra Cedar HR Systems Survey found that 78 percent of respondents currently use ESS applications in their organizations, a number projected to rise to 87 percent within a year. Some 68 percent of respondents also use MSS tools, with that percentage projected to grow to nearly 80 percent in a year. The survey respondents were HR, information technology and operations leaders from 1,636 small, medium and large organizations around the world.
Yet as more organizations turn to self-service technologies like digital assistants and chatbots driven by artificial intelligence (AI), questions arise about whether humans should still play a role in these automated service transactions, pitfalls that accompany the benefits of self-service approaches and what the accelerating move to do-it-yourself service portends for the HR function.
Use of specialized HR tools
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HR leaders are adopting employee self-service (ESS) and manager self-service (MSS) tools to improve service, reduce labour costs and shift the responsibility for handling routine transactions from HR to employees, managers and job candidates. The 2018-2019 Sierra Cedar HR Systems Survey found that 78 percent of respondents currently use ESS applications in their organizations, a number projected to rise to 87 percent within a year. Some 68 percent of respondents also use MSS tools, with that percentage projected to grow to nearly 80 percent in a year. The survey respondents were HR, information technology and operations leaders from 1,636 small, medium and large organizations around the world.
Yet as more organizations turn to self-service technologies like digital assistants and chatbots driven by artificial intelligence (AI), questions arise about whether humans should still play a role in these automated service transactions, pitfalls that accompany the benefits of self-service approaches and what the accelerating move to do-it-yourself service portends for the HR function.
The growing need for digital adoption tools
In 2018 IDG’s State of Digital Business Transformation it states that big data/analytics (58%), mobile technologies (59%), private cloud (53%), public cloud (45%), APIs (40%) were the top technologies already implemented by enterprises. Ideally, business processes should not take more than 70 seconds. If a process takes less than 70 seconds, there is a 70% success rate by users. If the process requires more than two minutes, 50% of users will drop. The ideal number of steps in a process is five steps. If a process requires five steps or fewer, there is a 70% success rate. If a process requires more than five steps, it is more likely users will drop. Users are 65% more likely to successfully complete a process with the help of process automation.
With process automation, the completion rate of a given sample was 81%, compared to 49% without automation. Before adding automation, employees could complete six steps in 120 seconds. With process automation, they were able to complete 3 times more.
Chatbots
Interesting fact: In 2019, Tidio users’ chatbots sent 124,961,071 messages and generated 3,137,738 leads. Chatbots are used to make websites interactive (39 percent) and to generate leads (36 percent). Overall, 90 percent of businesses and individuals who start building their chatbots have a specific goal in mind. They “employ” chatbots to save time, deliver better and faster customer service, or they want to increase sales.
Virtual and remote work technologies
While demand for remote jobs is certainly growing, so is the supply. The Remote Work Statistics for 2019 report by FlexJobs showed that from 2016 to 2017 remote work grew a whopping 7.9%. Over the last five years, the remote workforce has grown 44% and over the previous 10 years, 91%. Not all of these jobs are fully remote, but 69% of companies surveyed by Miro have at least one team member working remotely full-time (and most have many more working remotely part-time)
Better integrations
One shortcoming of many HR technologies is getting employees to use it. If an employee has to remember a separate login or go to a ridiculously long URL, they will not use the tool. To solve this challenge, look for more tools that closely integrate with the tools employees use every day.
Employees are more likely to use something if they can access it from their Outlook inbox or in Slack. With APIs, more tools are opening themselves up to enhanced integrations. When you are evaluating new technologies, look to see if and how it integrates with your existing tools.
New wellness technologies
More employees expect companies to offer wellness benefits. Employers and technology companies are paying attention to. Nearly 80% of businesses say employee well-being is a critical part of their business plans.
Nyasha D Ziwewe is a Business Consultant and Systems developer at Industrial Psychology Consultants. Email: nyasha@ipcconsultants.com. Mobile 0783462251. LinkedIn: Nyasha D Ziwewe.