Time and again, business leaders will acknowledge that the most important resource that drives the success of their business is the people they hire. And yet, when it comes to managing those human resources, most of them have little insight into either the processes those employees directly impact or, vice versa, how much time and effort those employees waste navigating the company’s human resources (HR) bureaucracy.
To address both those issues, SAP this week at the SAP SuccessConnect 2015 conference announced enhancements to its human capital management (HCM) software that make use of machine learning to not only make it simpler for employees to self-service their own HR needs, but also provide business leaders with insight into the impact the absence or departure of any employee might have on the business.
David Ludlow, group vice president for line of business HR at SAP, says the latest edition of SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite makes the delivery of HR service more intelligent by making it possible to predict in advance the impact a HR-related event is likely to have on the business.
For example, Ludlow says SuccessFactors HCM can now be used to help employees navigate all the steps required to transfer themselves to a job in another country. At the same time, business executives can use SuccessFactors HCM to determine what impact an employee going out on paternity leave might have on the business.
In addition, Ludlow says changes to the workforce that are recorded in SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite can automatically populate to both other SAP applications and third-party systems.
In essence, Ludlow says SAP is employing a mix of analytics and machine learning software to better understand workflow processes in the business. While software automates many of the processes, the connective tissue that makes any business run is the people that connect the dots between one process and another. By applying analytics and machine learning software to better understand the relationship between all those processes, Ludlow says the time has come to starting rethinking the strategic role HR professionals can play in terms of not only reducing HR bureaucracy, but more importantly optimizing talent management across the entire organization.