These are the parting lines of a book that I was reading!!
“The world is in some ways, like a giant Peter’s Cafe, the place where sailors from every port on the planet stop for a beer, a conversations, and a chance to mix and combine ideas. The world is connected and there is a place where those connections are made- a place called Intersection.
All we have to do is find it… and dare to step in. “
Borrowed From: The MEDICI EFFECT, Frans Johansson
Keep it Simple!!
I never had to teach my five year old son how to use an IPad and at such an early age he could use & navigate easily through the app store. He never had any problem in using the interesting apps on other non-apple devices. One day I thought of teaching him how to use the laptop, but to my surprise I have to bribe him every time with a bed time story to make him learn basics of using a laptop. I asked him “Why you like IPad?”
He simply answered “It’s nice & you touch the picture (app icon) .. it comes”.It is natural for him. I also realized I too never read the icon text and find an app, rather I look for the icon.
Enterprise solutions have been targeted at Business Users (B2B), however in recent times the focus has shifted to the end consumers of these business users (B2B2C). For HCM solutions “People” are the actual end users and an app based interaction is the way forward. The UI has to be consistent throughout the solution, intuitive & user friendly. Be it on-premise solution or public cloud solution or hybrid model, consistent UI is the need of the day.
Best of Both the Worlds!!
Let me give you an extract from the Wikipedia & data from World Bank on Internet Users. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users)
If we take the example of country like India the interesting fact is with only 12.6% penetration, India is at number three and the rate of growth has been exponential in the recent years. If only 10% of India’s population will be part of the structured workforce in future, we are looking at 12 billion plus “Employees”. An emerging country like India has a huge potential to consume content from cloud.
Being able to support global operations, having country specific localizations, multiple language capability and being available in local language, supporting complex organizational specific process, and strong integration are no more expectations from a world class ERP HCM solution; rather customers take it for granted.
Performance, Learning, Recruitment Management, Employee central with built in analytics are strategic to HR department and are going to be the key differentiates for HCM on cloud applications. It is also important to leverage the exiting robust and function rich on-premise solution’s (ex: Payroll) having extensive country specific offering with “Out of the Box” integration to HCM cloud offerings.
Points of intersection!!
When one looks at the emerging trends, there are three clear points of intersection which are evident.
- Integration between cloud and on-premise HCM solution
- There has to be a balance between functionality and user interface. The needs of a business user and the need of the actual end users (For HCM solution it is the “Employee/Manager”) are different. eg: For Leave Management a business user will look for reports, quota management, integration of Time Management with Payroll, Quota compensation. However for an employee or manager the need is to see the overall leave balance and apply/approve the request on the move.
- Analytics will be embedded into the solution
The intersection points sometimes may be complex. Hence having a unified & simple User Interface which is high on usability is critical otherwise there is a high risk of one getting lost in the technology.
Let me take a pause here and introduce to you the "T Factor" !!
In today’s world a “T Profile” person is highly valued (Master of one and jack of All!!). A solution has to have deep functionality, global reach, well integrated on a future ready platform & at the same time it should have desirability & uniformity for the actual end user. The “T” factor of the solution.
There are many questions which at large remain open in front the HCM community.
Are you investing in right direction for HCM solution meant for Gen “Y” and beyond for Gen “Z” ?
Which “T” is right for you, A or B or C !!!
Let’s start by looking for the “T” factor of existing HCM solutions.
There is another place just like Peter’s Café, but it is not in the Azores. It is in our minds. It is a place where different cultures, domains, and disciplines stream together toward a single point. They connect, allowing for established concepts to clash and combine, ultimately forming a multitude of new, groundbreaking ideas. This place, where the different fields meet, is what I call the Intersection.”
Borrowed From: The MEDICI EFFECT, Frans Johansson
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