Vol. 2, No. 28 How to Build a Talent Management Systems ... articles/Brandon... · Bersin & Associates High Impact Talent Management® process is designed to help organizations build
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How to Build a Talent Management Systems Strategy Josh Bersin | Page 3
the “performance management” systems wave, in which organizations
are intent on trying to automate and improve their performance
management and succession planning processes. To add to the
confusion, the HR software vendors are now scrambling to pull together
all these talent management applications into integrated suites.1
In our ongoing discussions with companies dealing with these issues,
we find that most organizations are in a situation where they have a
combination of:
1. Existing legacy systems (often the HRMS or even LMS and
recruiting application);
2. A tremendous demand for new systems (often the performance
management, succession planning or competency management
system); and,
3. A strong set of existing IT architectures and experiences that both
cloud and color its level of risk-tolerance for new vendors.
In fact, many CIOs and HRIT managers are trying to slow the process
down, trying to hold HR back from buying too many systems from too
many vendors that may not work together. Of course, they have good
arguments: if we cannot integrate the data and underlying workflow
from all these different applications, where will we end up when we
want to make strategic decisions?
Why Buy Systems? Start With the Business Problem
As analysts who study business-driven solutions, processes and systems,
we enjoy a pragmatic perspective. The first question an organization
must answer in their quest for a systems strategy is “what problems
are we trying to solve?” Frequently research members ask us for ROI
templates for cost-justifying a certain type of software system, and
typically what we tell them is that there are many different ways to
justify these systems.
1 For more information, Talent Management Suites: Market Realities, Implementation Experiences and Vendor Profiles, Bersin & Associates / Leighanne Levensaler. Available November 2007 to research members or for purchase at www.bersin.com/tmsuites.
How to Build a Talent Management Systems Strategy Josh Bersin | Page �
The problems organizations wish to solve tend to fall into three
categories, in a hierarchy of priority (see Figure 2).
In the case of each of the type of HR systems discussed previously, there
are a myriad of potential benefits at each level. Unfortunately, because
of the state of the systems market – and this will probably be true for
many years to come – each systems vendor in each category of the
market has unique strengths in different areas.
Before you start shopping for technologies or decide that a given suite
is the best approach, it is very important to decide what overall business
problems you are trying to solve. If you do not make this important
and often soul-searching step, you will later find yourself very confused
by the wide variety of systems, architectures, delivery models and
implementation strategies before you.
Priority Problem Benefit
1 Automation Reduce the cost of errors, save time, reduce paper and better meet compliance requirements.
2 Process Improvement Better implement existing processes and perhaps even improve them, because the software will facilitate a more integrated and complete, data-rich (current and historical) approach to a given process.
3 Business and Talent Breakthroughs
Ability to do things we could not do before.
Figure 2: Category and Hierarchy of Business Problems
Source: Bersin & Associates, 2007.
Before you start shopping for
technologies or decide that a given suite is
the best approach, it is very important to decide what overall
How to Build a Talent Management Systems Strategy Josh Bersin | Page �
Your Talent Management Strategy Comes First
Our best-practice research2 clearly shows that the greatest business
results from HR systems come not from the systems, but from the
underlying strategies and processes behind them.
In fact, in our research into the business impact of 62 different talent
management processes, we identified 22 processes today that drive the
highest levels of business impact.3 Many of these center around areas such as:
• Implementing a coaching and development-based performance
management process;
• Using strategic competencies in the recruiting, performance
management and leadership development process;
• Implementing skills and competency-based workforce
planning; and,
• Creating personal and organizational goals that align with current,
strategic business goals.
2 For more information, High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices and Industry Solutions, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2007. Available to research members at www.elearningresearch.com or for purchase at www.bersin.com/hitm.
Automate, save paper,save time, reduce errors,meet compliance requirements
Improve individual processes, facilitate betterdecisions at manager level, implement HR self-service,implement competency-based talent management, giveHR better information for workforce planning.
Improve individual and organizational performance, align people, make better people decisions, align L&D with skills gaps, improve the leadership pipeline, increase retention and quality of hire, create greater pools of internal candidates, increase business speedthrough talent pools and succession plans.
How to Build a Talent Management Systems Strategy Josh Bersin | Page 6
These processes are not dependent on software solutions at all. In fact,
many of them are often more dependent on your company’s culture,
training and generalized approach. If you want your investment in
talent management systems to drive dramatic business impact – and
positive change – we encourage you to consider these processes
strategically and tie them directly to organizational business goals.�
What role does technology play? Once you decide what strategic new
processes are key to your organization’s business success, various systems
are available to implement these processes in numerous ways. You must
now determine which of them are capable of solving the problems you
identified in your particular organization, and which have the
� Bersin & Associates High Impact Talent Management® process is designed to help organizations build this business-driven talent management strategy. For more information, High-Impact Talent Management: Trends, Best Practices and Industry Solutions, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2007.
and feedback from each employee and fitting them into succession
pools for management, leadership and professional roles.
• Pay for performance. Create a performance-based culture by
taking the individual and organizational results from a given
period and providing simple or complex compensation structures
to pay high performers for their efforts.
• Integrated recruiting and performance management. The
results of performance plans and competencies can be used to
create profiles of high-potential employees during the hiring
process. This process can also be used to improve hiring practices
– by monitoring the performance and retention of candidates
over time, it is possible to isolate a profile of high-performing
candidates in order to improve recruiting effectiveness.
• Integrated career planning and self- or manager-directed
career and development planning. Establish architected career
paths – built around competencies – which allow employees and
managers to direct people (or themselves) into new roles through
structured and unstructured development. “Building from within”
improves retention, engagement and satisfaction. It helps people
manage their careers, while helping the organization manage
people into the roles of greatest need.
� For more information, Talent Management Suites: Market Realities, Implementation Experiences and Vendor Profiles, Bersin & Associates / Leighanne Levensaler. Available November 2007 to research members.
How to Build a Talent Management Systems Strategy Josh Bersin | Page 13
In other cases you may have been burned by a fast-growing vendor that
did not deliver on their promises (this is not uncommon in this market).
In this case, your organization may have lost its “risk-tolerance” and
may want to do business with a more conservative but perhaps slower-
growing provider who can focus more precisely on your needs.
In our systems research and advisory services we often find that the
biggest driver of success is a meeting of the minds between the buyer and
provider. You must feel comfortable with the vendor’s products today,
their services, their support and their ability to work with you. Remember
that in these architectural decisions, you are not just buying products but
you are also buying companies – and as this market continues to change
rapidly, the products will evolve quickly.
There really is no substitute for a reference. We urge all buyers to look
for two to three references from customers with very similar business
strategies, use cases, organization sizes, and industry and governance
models to your own. Take the time to visit these companies in person, if
possible. As the market for talent management systems is still young,
you do not want to be the “first global solution” for a given vendor,
for example.
Consider the Delivery Model you Prefer
Obviously in today’s world there is a tremendous amount of interest in
software as a service (SaaS) models. Vendors in the SaaS world heavily
push their “multi-tenant architectures,” quality of service, uptime and
other features.
We will not discuss SaaS in detail at this time,6 but it is fair to say that
there are essentially three models for enterprise software today:
1. Licensed, in which you own and manage the software;
2. Hosted, in which you own but someone else manages the
software; and,
3. SaaS, in which you rent the software and it is provided as a service.
6 For more information, SuccessFactors Files for Public Offering: The SaaS Model for Talent Management Grows, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, August 2007. Available to research members at www.elearningresearch.com.