{"id":1164,"date":"2013-01-18T13:07:15","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T13:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hr-softwareblog.com\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2013-01-18T13:31:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T13:31:49","slug":"2012-hr-technology-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparehris.com\/blog\/2012-hr-technology-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"2012 HR Technology Trends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HR<\/a>The technology folks really stepped up their game in the realm of human resources in 2012. There are a host of new platforms and initiatives that seem destined to have a significant and lasting effect on all aspects of human capital management<\/a>. HR technology, itself, continues to expand its footprint by delivering content for mobile devices and social media and by taking advantage of the many available cloud solutions. Unfortunately, the cost for these advances is likely a greater consolidation of the HR technology industry with fewer vendors and, thus, fewer choices for clients.<\/p>\n

With that said, here are our top picks for the technology trends that will have the most impact, for better or worse, in the coming year:<\/p>\n

Expansion of Services for Mobile Devices & Social Media Sites<\/b><\/p>\n

The newest generation of users changed the HR technology landscape once more in 2012. Social media and the use of mobile devices became more than mainstream \u2013 they are now indispensable, and HR companies scrambled to keep up with the newest evolution of the web. In 2013, the trend will continue and the most effective human capital management will be spread across every platform on a 24\/7 basis.<\/p>\n

The use of such platforms as Facebook and Twitter to facilitate the hiring process and provide better access for employees is just the tip of the iceberg. Sophisticated solutions are already under development by industry vendors such as Oracle, SAP and Workday. This rethinking of the HCM<\/a> space will cause problems for those companies unwilling to change but also provide significant opportunities for those willing to adapt.<\/p>\n

Expanded the Cloud and Embracing SaaS
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The cloud is no longer a nebulous space where one securely stores their employee and customer data. The advent of software-as-a-service (SaaS<\/a>) HR packages has dramatically altered the HR technology space. No longer beholden to prebuilt software suites, companies can demand that their exact needs be met and pay a proportionate fee for the service. Vendors however, recognized the detriment in forcing companies to buy products they did not need or want, so instead, have developed an elegant solution.<\/p>\n

The HR landscape became more convoluted than ever in 2012 and it remains a good bet that it will do so again in 2013 with the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. More and more companies are beginning to recognize the value of letting experienced and knowledgeable third party vendors deal with the administration, compliance and record-keeping of government laws and regulations such as the PPACA.<\/p>\n

The industry, with the help of more knowledgeable and demanding clients, is still determining the best ways to institute customization and implementation. Naturally, legacy systems are contributing the vast bulk of the problems. Nevertheless, the HR migration to the cloud has begun and most companies now embrace the concept. It merely remains to be seen how the process will take place.<\/p>\n

The Advance of HR Analytics<\/b><\/p>\n

An epiphany seems have occurred in the HR technology space in 2012. It seems that some vendors finally realized that there was a wealth of untapped information floating around in the relational databases of most companies\u2019 HR departments. While analytics capabilities were certainly available (and widely touted) in most HR software<\/a> before 2012, the insights offered by the analytics were rarely staggering or even at all significant. For instance, knowing that you are 5% over on payroll for the week is of interest but understanding how to redeploy your sales force to sell 15% more is staggering.<\/p>\n

2012 saw an end to the mere reporting of statistics \u2013 posing as analysis \u2013 and the development of more powerful tools along the lines of those available to CRM users is in the works. In the simplest terms, clients are demanding that HR software provide a bigger bang for the buck in terms of analytics. The major vendors responded by introducing modules with advanced business intelligence features that can perform such functions such as true data mining and warehousing, linear and non-linear predictive modeling and while-you-wait, online analytical processing (OLAP). Indeed, 2013 promises to be an expanding and exciting time for HR analytics.<\/p>\n

The Downside \u2013 Mergers and Acquisitions in the HR Technology World
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Wall Street and the investment bankers did not ignore the HR technology space in 2012. Some of the more notable transactions were:<\/p>\n