Last week's blog looked at the big picture for big data analytics, HR and talent management. This week's two part blog will dive more deeply into the big data analytics landscape. The life-cycle of developing the necessary data analytics capability in any organisation, first requires a thorough understanding of the current status quo. Any roadmap for implementing organisational change, requires some deep contemplation of current capabilities and all the things that might stand in the way of future success. This blog will outline the potential barriers that stand in the way of a fully integrated HR function that harnesses integrated data and analytics potential to create future business excellence.

Big data analytics is a BIG topic. It also has the potential to be quite a daunting area for HR Professionals to dive into. This series of blogs is dedicated to an investigation of current research related to how the HR function can harness the power of insight available through big data analytics to enhance their talent strategies.

It has become clear from current research that older, more centralised HR models do not provide organisations with the agility, efficiency and responsiveness needed to increase management and leadership skills to the levels required for businesses to thrive. Not only that, these old models don't function well enough in meeting the evolving needs and goals of modern businesses from a purely administrative and operational perspective. Add to that a lack of efficient capability in sourcing, attracting, training, engaging, and retaining talent and the picture could be considered quite bleak. However, challenges can always be transformed into opportunities, and a great HR Professional will always intuit the best ways to see the possibility for transformation, as well as being able to make such a transition a reality.

The prospect of implementing a new technology solution can be both a daunting and exciting prospect for an HR Professional. Technology promises the golden ticket to efficiency and effectiveness, yet how many times have you invested time and money in technology only to have the opposite experience? Let’s look at some of the key drivers behind the adoption of HR technology solutions, and what’s needed in order to ensure that implementation and subsequent user experience have the most positive and beneficial impact possible. After all, the point of adopting HR tech solutions is to make the lives of all individuals who need to use the software better, happier and more productive.

The daily challenge of HR Professionals is to deliver both tangible benefits, and positive results, for employees and the Organisation alike. Successful HR Professionals harness market best practice, and increasingly, use HR technology solutions to ensure that their organisations are agile, flexible and above all, competitive. Market Leaders do this by addressing technological, structural and process related challenges, then implementing the most cost effective and benefit enhancing solutions available to them in order to meet these challanges. The key to success is to prioritise strategic needs and then match them with the right service delivery solutions.

We all trust ‘big data' these days, correct? Let’s have a look at some of the data from Edelman’s 2014 Trust Barometer Survey. Examination of reliable big data (and Edelman’s data set is both broad and deep, rigorously researched and meticulously reported), is the best way to ascertain trends and take the pulse of the current environment. In this case, the data communicates how much the public, or general populace trust the institutions they deal and do business with on a day to day basis in life. The data driven headlines from Edelman’s report are set out below.

Times they are a changing! In fact, the only thing you can really be sure of, is change itself. If doing business, and doing it well in the Human Era is predicated on building trust and trusted connections, how do we go about doing exactly that in a ‘Human Era’ context?

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines ‘Trust’ in the following way: ‘A belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc.’

To ensure that your EVP generates maximum benefit and return on investment, it needs to be built around the real attributes that your company can offer employees in the context of attracting, engaging and retaining the talent you want. It also needs to be consistent with the strategic objectives of your organisation and clearly demonstrate its uniqueness.