Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER FEBRUARY 2019 NEWS 11 "It's no longer just HR strategy or people strategy, it's technology strategy in understanding what's out there, how to be connected with others, and what you're going to do. Because things are coming on the market ongoing so if you don't understand where you want to go, it can be difficult because the market is large and opportu- nities are endless." However, there are many employers actively seeking to advance their technology profi- ciency, according to Holger Kor- mann, president of ADP Canada in Toronto. "If there's anything that's hold- ing them back, maybe there is a lack of confidence, and HR has not been traditionally asked to lead technical transformation; (they've) never been given a plat- form," he said. "More companies today expect that digital workflow to expand across different divisions in which people are a large component of it, and they are stepping up to ask HR to get involved in that. And I don't believe, traditionally, HR teams have good technical back- grounds — obviously, it's a very people- and human touch-driven education profile." HR doesn't need to be cheer- leaders for progress and digital innovation, said Kormann, but "it is incumbent on HR to have a road map on what it's supposed to be. Some industries are fine with rather slow progress on that, but companies are not well-served having no plan because they will just be reacting." "It's not a short-term project — really, it's gradually layering on, making the right decisions for data application, making the right decisions for systems to be com- fortable and being able to connect all of those things. Because they're not all coming at once." Barriers to change Forty-one per cent of respondents said workplace culture is a top barrier to digital transformation, and 35 per cent said their current culture is more task-oriented than innovative or experimental. HR executives who believe the profession has a strategic role in their business are more likely to be pursuing digital transformation (67 per cent), compared to those who view the role as unchanged (48 per cent). Barriers usually come up be- cause of tension or resistance around priorities, expectations, budgets and funding, legacy be- haviours, or simply just not know- ing, said Courlas. "People need that psychologi- cal safety at the bottom, and dis- ruption… creates the perception of lack of safety. So people will inherently resist… ere's much newness all at the same time, the pace of change — it creates a resistance." Just 20 per cent of HR leaders believe analytics will be a primary HR initiative for them over the next two years. And only 12 per cent say analytics are a top man- agement concern. It's a challenge because the ROI of the new technologies is not al- ways clear to leadership, but there can be gains when it comes to en- gagement, culture and productiv- ity, according to Darwyne Lang, president and CEO of JungoHR in Toronto. "Technology helps with that because it frees up the HR team to spend more time on their en- vironment and culture inside a company, including better train- ing and better road maps and clar- ity," he said. "e biggest hurdle you're go- ing to find is the information is not digitized yet and CFOs not wanting to spend money… it's a tough sell." "AI is not cheap, and if you haven't digitized yet, that's a huge step and a really difficult step to get the CFOs to move in that direction." Making the investment Investments in technology have been the highest for human capi- tal management (HCM) software (49 per cent) and cloud capa- bilities (32 per cent), found the survey. Over the next couple of years, more investment is planned for predictive analytics (60 per cent), enhanced process automation (53 per cent) and AI (47 per cent), found the survey. Just 14 per cent of HR leaders have invested in AI over the past two years, while 36 per cent have started to introduce AI. Among those who have invest- ed in AI, 88 per cent said the in- vestment was worthwhile, focus- ing primarily on learning (35 per cent) and analytics (33 per cent), found the survey. ADP has started using AI speech analytics for its client calls, said Kormann. e technology listens for key- words spoken by customers, con- ducts a background search for knowledge content and delivers that to the agent who can then re- spond better to the customer. e coexistence of digital, ma- chines and robotics with humans is a key element of what HR needs to cater to, including the messag- ing to employees, he said. "More and more, the broader executive team at any company looks to HR to offer those in- sights, and that could go beyond engagement, looking at attrition, seasonalities, and offering up rich interpretations back up to the business." But employers can't have those insights, interpretations and ana- lytics without a good data founda- tion, said Kormann. "If that's not done, rich in- sights in analytics are not going to happen for the business, so it's also HR's role to create that data foundation around the company workforce." HR also has a huge role in sourcing the right talent and making sure the company moves forward with finding the right tal- ent profile and is attractive as an employer, he said. It's about finding the people with "digital DNA" who want to make a difference and don't want to work for employers that are perceived as static or lagging, said Kormann. "HR has a key function in facili- tating that as an employer brand." 'It's incumbent on HR to have a road map' TECH < pg. 6 Forty-one per cent of respondents said workplace culture is a top barrier to digital transformation.

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