Has the way your organisation does business changed recently? In some ways, that was a rhetorical question, because change is the only constant. Anyone running or working in a business knows that this decade has already brought so many changes to the way we work that many are finding it hard to keep up. Given that, the next question (not a rhetorical one this time) is - how is your business managing digital change management and transformation in the workplace? In this week's HR Blog we explore these topics through the lens of the Human Capital Management/HR Software maturity model.

After the disruption of 2020, Ernst & Young rounded out the year with this advice for business and HR Professionals alike: "Your future people function should operate horizontally across your organisation to activate experiences that drive long-term value. EY's research indicates that HR Professionals still spend about 86% of their time on admin work (and in 2020, it was likely even more than that). Their conclusion? To transform HR, leaders must accelerate digitalisation to liberate HR from admin (yes, this is still one of the main roadblocks for HR), and at the same time (that is concurrently and in an integrated manner), there needs to be a shift toward making people, not technology, the priority in the workplace. In this week's HR Blog we'll take a deeper dive into what HR transformation looks like when technology is being harnessed to serve your most important assets - your people.

After all the disruption to work and the workplace in 2020, HR technology matters more than ever this year. That's according to Josh Bersin in "HR Technology 2021: The Definitive Guide." He believes that during the last 12 months, HR technology has moved from 'good to have' to 'essential to survival' and any technology which might have been previously purchased as an experiment has likely become mission-critical. In the first HR Blog for the year, let's look at the highlights from Bersin's guide so that you can get a better understanding of exactly why #HRtech matters more than ever in 2021 and beyond.

Business as usual right now is all about cutting costs and driving efficiency. If you were one of the many organisations that got caught out this year because you hadn't started your digital transformation, then how do you ensure that you have the right tech in place to run your entire business remotely (and indefinitely) if needed? How do you embark on a digital transformation as well as cutting costs and driving efficiency? HR Professionals and business leaders across the globe are turning to ‘low to no code’ cloud solutions that ensure access to valuable data from anywhere at any time. This is essential when your workforce is working virtually and customer expectations are high. In this week's HR Blog, we explore the benefits of low to no code #HRtech and how such solutions can help you do more with less (and do it better) in a shorter amount of time.

As we've illustrated in the previous blogs in the this series on whether to automate or not to automate, automation of the right tasks and processes in the employee lifecycle is critical to business success. is now a key pillar of the future of work and implementing a human-automation collaboration is essential to any digital transformation program. But what process and functions should you automate first? And how do you make sure that it is roles as opposed to people, that are made redundant? EY has done considerable research in this regard and this blog explores how their best practice advice on how to automate intelligently.

According to research reported by MIT's Sloan Review, the term 'ecosystem' occurs 13 times more frequently now than it did a decade ago. Now, we all know that buzzwords and jargon tend to get overused and aren't always included in the appropriate context. In the modern business lexicon, the word 'ecosystem' has been used to refer to support functions, product portfolios, service bundles (the list goes on). Behind these linguistic applications however, there is a bona-fide new phenomenon evolving in the marketplace. That is the rise of dynamic, multi-company (eco)systems that provide the foundation for new ways of doing business. These digital ecosystems are comprised of companies, people, data and processes that are connected by the shared use of and intersection between digital platforms. In building these ecosystems, businesses foster collaboration and provide mutually beneficial relationships between all parties involved. If it is true that mastering digital ecosystems are one of management's next frontiers, how can HR professionals take the lead on managing these ecosystems as part of the digital transformation of HR?

Our recent HR Blog about the rise of the social enterprise defined this as the overarching theme of Deloitte's 2018 Human Capital Trends Report. The rise of the social enterprise reflects the fact that social capital is achieving a newfound status alongside financial and physical capital as a measure of the value of a business. This change is being driven by many factors, with trust being one of the leading metrics. Ernst & Young's global study on trust in the workplace poses the question 'could trust cost you a generation of talent?' The subtext being that businesses that don't take the trust issue seriously could suffer long-term consequences. Edelman's annual trust barometer for 2019 presents a more positive view for employers. Despite a high lack of faith in 'the system' and institutions overall, there is one relationship that remains strong, and that is the one individuals have with their employer. So how can HR Professionals ensure that these big picture signals aren't ignored in the rush to tick items off ever lengthening to do lists? Let's unpack the headlines so that you have a clear picture of how the world of work is evolving and which HR trends matter to your business in 2019.

In an environment where it is virtually impossible to get consensus on anything, I think it is fair to say that people on all sides of the equation can unite on this: no one likes to fill in or process forms. Not only that, another truism that you could add to the certainty of death and taxes is the fact that there is no getting around the high number of forms new employees have to complete when they commence employment. From employment requisition and authorisation to hire, through to requirements like tax and super declarations, Onboarding new employees requires A LOT of forms. If you're still using paper to record and process this type of information, then you're still victim to manual double (or more) handling. This is an extremely inefficient way to operate in today's business environment, not to mention an expensive one. If you're ready for change, but you're not quite sure where to begin your digital transformation, digitising your forms is an easy place to start. It also gives you big wins, quickly, with minimal impact on your budget.