As my last post of the year, I was going to do the standard year end list. But then I thought better and rather than putting in time that very few people are going to read, I thought I\u2019d drag out a rather old article on the HR tech outlook for HR technology. As usual, I\u2019m opinionated, I disagree, and I\u2019m willing to write about it.<\/p>\n
But first, another usual item from me \u2013 the disclaimer: I\u2019m in agreement with most if this article. Observation 1:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n Ok \u2013 I\u2019ll go with that. Basically this is a continued expansion of the TAS (talent acquisition), TMS (talent management) and TLM (timekeeping) suites. No brainer here. Observations 2 and 3:<\/strong> <\/em> Observations 4 and 5:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n I reject the first point. <\/strong> In the last 10 years, there have been fewer than 100 HRO deals going live. It costs too much, is too hard to implement well. I\u2019m going out on a limb and saying that by 2010, we\u2019ll still have fewer than 1000 HRO deals.<\/p>\n I accept the second point. There simply isn\u2019t much to consolidate any more. My post last week on a potential buyer for ACS doesn’t count since it’s not a merger between BPO organizations. Newly formed entities such as ExcellerateHRO, ACS\/Mellon, will join the global giants IBM, Hewitt\/Exult and Fidelity in offering one-stop end to end HRO services using either ERP applications from SAP, PeopleSoft or Oracle, or their own home-grown HRMS. This is supported by onshore or offshore call\/support centers and strong case management capabilities. <\/em><\/p>\n I reject the text above. <\/strong> Accenture is certainly not a mid market HRO vendor even though I\u2019ve been the one saying they are trying to break into the mid market space. All their deals to date have been huge. Convergys is also not a mid market player and I\u2019m not sure they want to be yet. On the other hand, I\u2019m not sure Fidelity is a \u201cglobal giant\u201d and ExcellerateHRO is unproven. PEOs will start to gain a foothold in HRO as well. Vendors like Administaff, Gevity, and Checkpoint HR will make some noise in 2006. <\/em><\/p>\n I reject the text above.<\/strong> I\u2019ve talked about the differences between HRO and PEO\u2019s<\/a> before. Let\u2019s not compare the two. It\u2019s like saying the horse-and-buggy are getting into the NASCAR market. Observations 6 and 7:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n For those of you who know what I do and who I am, you know I\u2019m kinda counting on this happening. But hey \u2013 we say HRT spending will increase ever year, don\u2019t we? \nObservation 8:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n I actually think this is nonsense.<\/strong> The American economy is on the upswing and we are usually more accepting of things like observation 8. I think we\u2019ll see more off shoring in 2006 with steady growth until the next economic downturn. In my opinion, off shoring has been growing for years with little to no resistance. Observation 9:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n No comment \u2013 not really my area. Observation 10:<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n Hmmm\u2026 not sure about this one\u2026<\/strong> Funny thing is that I\u2019ve already written my first 4 posts for next year, and it all revolves around web services. His observation is right on until you start reading the detail. I\u2019m not sure he knows what web services is. At the very least, it is not dependent on on-demand software. \nIndustry pioneer Dave Duffield, the co-founder of PeopleSoft, is now actively using this technology to build a new ERP platform. During 2006 we should see his group\u2019s early efforts attract a very visible beta client. This is guaranteed to raise the excitement level in HR Technology as Mr. Duffield\u2019s first application has historically been in HR. <\/em><\/p>\n I can\u2019t fault him for this paragraph. It would have been my assumption too. When I first saw that payroll was on the list, I assumed HR was as well (even though I didn\u2019t see it). I have it from a good source that HR is not in the first release. Oh yeah \u2013 We\u2019ve known the company was going to be called workday for months. We’ve been talking about workday.com here<\/a> for months.<\/p>\n Hey \u2013 any day I only get on someone for 30% of their comments is a good day. We\u2019ll call it a present for the holiday season. Everyone have a great year end, and we\u2019ll see you in 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As my last post of the year, I was going to do the standard year end list. But then I thought better and rather than putting in time that very few people are going to read, I thought I\u2019d drag…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hr-technology","category-industry-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/p>\n
\nHR technology applications will continue to expand, with a strong emphasis on recruiting, staffing, scheduling and employee performance management.
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\nVendors seek to expand market penetration and their software offerings for HR applications.
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\nOk \u2013 I\u2019ll go with this one too. We\u2019ve already seen it with the large TMS vendors expanding their offerings in 2004 and \u201905. No doubts this will continue.
\n<\/p>\n
\nHRO becomes mainstream and almost a necessity. Vendor consolidation in the HRO space will taper off in 2006.
\n<\/p>\n
\nADP, Accenture, Convergys, Arinso and Aon will continue to focus on mid- to global-market solutions.
\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nHRT spend will increase. Money will be earmarked for purchasing applications providing metrics and other measurements which will help HR executives gain strategic impact.
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\nOff-shoring initiatives in U.S.-based companies will hit a culture barrier. Eastern European countries, though, will gain favor as an offshore site for IT support.
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\nPrivacy concerns along with other Web communications standards will gain visibility.
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe \u201cWeb Services\u201d era of software applications begins to take shape.
\nThe concept of a pay as go, pay for what you use software application model first adapted by the likes of Salesforce.com will move into HR technology in 2006. With a user interface modeled on Amazon.com and a search engine approaching Google-like capabilities, this approach will incorporate technologies under the heading of \u201cWeb Services.\u201d Using Java script, limited tables and having endless adaptability, new software will emerge. Already some niche providers are taking this approach. In Workforce management, year-old Hoursdoc.com uses this technology.
\n<\/p>\n