Business Trends
Turn Your People Data Into Business Insights and Take Charge of Change With Human Experience Management
In these uncertain times, numbers, information, and technology bring considerable power. Numbers tell the story of the push and pull between customer needs and business strategies. Information becomes insight that uncovers the truth. More importantly, at the core of this intelligent environment is technology, helping to run operations better by generating reports on demand, running AI-based scenario analysis, and automating processes.
Despite the advantages, most HR teams are not yet as data-driven as their organizational counterparts, according to Harvard Business Review (HBR) Analytics Services. Even though 56% of organizations are collecting more people data now than two years ago, 84% of them say that are underutilizing their people data when planning ahead and making decisions.*
But these findings don’t mean that people data is not considered valuable – quite the opposite, based on HBR’s conclusions. Most surveyed executives indicated that they wanted HR teams to deliver this information in ways that give business leaders evidence-based insights about the processes, policies, and tools people use to do their jobs.
“Even though 56% of organizations are collecting more people data now than two years ago, 84% of them say that are underutilizing their people data when planning ahead and making decisions.”
Removing the friction of fast-paced change with people-centric insights
In the past few months, HR leaders around the world, have been at the center of profoundly transformational moves across the workforce. From realigning resources and reskilling the workforce to reinforcing business continuity, every shift was assessed, documented, communicated, and managed at a rapid pace to keep all workers safe without over-sacrificing operational effectiveness.
Now, a new challenge lies ahead as governments begin to ease stay-at-home restrictions – and there’s a lot to consider. HR leaders need to figure out who will come back to work, map out social distancing practices, reconfigure physical workspaces, and even ensure that proper personal protective equipment is always available. Plus, they need to revise their administrative policies to reshape the workplace culture in ways that reflect attitudes, practices, and supportive programs that are more conducive to today’s new social norms.
“Now, a new challenge lies ahead as governments begin to ease stay-at-home restrictions – and there’s a lot to consider.”
At the center of these discussions and decisions are people. For this reason, HR organizations need to measure how employees feel about their daily work, the outcomes of their colleague interactions, and the challenges they face when working with their organization and across the business. In other words, they need people data more today than they ever have before.
People data delivers much more than new insights into the human side of the employee experience. It’s a data-driven foundation for new perspectives and meaningful conversations that shape guidelines and strategies that protect the best interests of every employee as well as the company – no matter how uncertain the future.
Critical advantages can emerge from this evidence-based HR practice. Business leaders can play a significant role in improving the overall organizational culture and employee satisfaction. Meanwhile, new business value can be created while making HR processes, such as planning, budgeting, and hiring, more streamlined and collaborative.
“HR organizations need to measure how employees feel about their daily work, the outcomes of their colleague interactions, and the challenges they face when working with their organization and across the business. In other words, they need people data more today than they ever have before.”
Prioritizing the human experience in all HR and business decisions
Many HR organizations may perceive the use of data and analytics to guide processes, policies, and adoption of new tools and technologies as a complex issue. However, as HBR’s research demonstrates, moving a business forward in this new normal without it is a missed opportunity to build operational resilience.
People data is more than just data. It’s intelligent insight that details the current organizational health of the business. And for times like this, it’s a much-needed forward-looking view into where change will be needed, why it will be critical, and how it should be delivered and supported.
Learn how you can transform your HR organization into a strategic partner that brings people and operations data together to influence your workforce positively. Read the Harvard Business Review Analytics Services study “Leveraging People Data to Make Enterprise Decision-Making More Effective”.
At SAP, we want to help. We can help you use Human Experience Management solutions from SAP to take charge of this change. We can support you in putting technology and tools to work and adapt your HR value proposition to fit this current reality. All while putting pieces in place that will see you through when business is down and when it’s booming.