Identifying, implementing cutting-edge digital tools and resources should be at the top of your to-do list.
A global survey of 1,200 HR executives suggests that visionary professionals are embracing innovative digital resources and ideas to redefine HR in 2019 and beyond. But it also showed that many HR people have a less-than-clear vision about the digital future and are clinging more to the status quo.
While 70% of respondents recognize the need for workforce transformation that includes new digital skills and processes, only 37% said they are “very confident” about HR’s real ability to transform the profession and move it forward through analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and other cutting-edge high-tech tools. Likewise, while two-thirds of HR execs said that they have undergone or are in the process of a digital transformation, only 40% said they have a fully functional digital workplan.
Part of HR’s ennui about digital transformation, the survey suggests, stems from a perceived disconnect or lack of support from c-suite execs. About a third of respondents said their culture is more task-oriented than innovative or experimental. Nonetheless, 67% of respondent said they believe HR has a strategic role to play in their business regarding digital transformations.
Embrace of analytics seems lukewarm. Only 20% of respondents believe analytics will be a primary HR initiative for them over the next 1-2 years; and just 12% cited analytics as a top management concern. Elsewhere:
· Only 36% of respondents said their HR functions have started to introduce AI; and a dismal 14% have invested in this technology over the past two years.
· 42% of HR leaders said they believe that AI and machine learning integrations are among the biggest transformation challenges they will confront in the next five years.
· Half of respondents said they are “not at all prepared” to respond strategically as this technology emerges; and just a third feel “somewhat prepared.” Fewer than 1 in 10 feel “prepared” or “very prepared.”
Clearly, there is room for growth and expansion when it comes to digital transformation. This will call for decisive action to redefine task-focused workplaces into innovative, forward-thinking organizations. There is a real opportunity for HR to take the lead on this.
