For a profession that features the word “Human” so prominently in its title, the HR Industry is relying more and more on non-human factors to drive innovation. As the HR technology market finds itself flush with investment capital, new HR tools are being developed and deployed at a rapid pace.

In the year ahead, a whole raft of established, new, and developing tech solutions are set to revolutionise HR Technology further. This is our top ten list of Digital Transformation stories to watch in 2018.

1. Continuous Performance Management

Acronym fans will enjoy our first tech trend thanks to CPM (Continuous Performance Management), and its big brother HCM. Let’s unpack the latter; Human Capital Management is the comprehensive set of practices for recruiting, managing, developing and optimizing the human resources of an organization.

CPM falls under the HCM umbrella. It’s a set of performance management processes that take place throughout the year on an ongoing basis, as opposed to those based on traditional annual appraisals. These processes include near-term objective setting, regular one-to-ones or ‘check-ins’ and real-time feedback.

The clever techy bit lies in the CPM software packages which are enabling this revolution in HR talent management.

2. A Massive Shift From Automation to Productivity

The focus on HR technology automating and integrating HR practices like online payroll, record-keeping, learning management, and many other core features, is moving on to something new. Productivity.

There’s a new focus on team-based mobile-enabled tools for workforce productivity. They look like social networking platforms and are set to be a growing force in 2018.

3. Intelligent Systems

Look out for a set of new tools that can offer significant benefits, far above the more traditional top-down assessment or analysis tools used to date.

This software-based HR Technology can intelligently coach leaders, assess candidates, source the right people, recommend learning, and even detect fraud, stress, or problems in the organisation itself.

Software-based HR Technology can intelligently coach leaders, assess candidates, source the right people, recommend learning, and even detect fraud, stress, or problems in the organisation itself.

4. The Reinvention of Corporate Learning

Thanks to a new breed of corporate learning tools like “experience platforms,” a new breed of “micro-learning platforms,” modernized LMS systems, and new AI-based systems, HR tech can now recommend learning, find learning, and deliver learning.

Virtual Reality-based learning will help HR teams to find what they need regarding performance support, and you can now buy systems that let employees publish and share content without any major effort.

Further reading

5. Continuous Performance Management

Continuous performance management or “CPM” can build a new, ongoing process for goal setting, coaching, evaluation, and feedback.

Employers are looking for CPM tools that adapt as people move between projects and teams; some of the leading products are built by game designers and are “easy to use, agile and data-driven, according to Deloitte’s Josh Bersin.

6. Feedback, Engagement and Analytics Tools Reign

Bersin’s insights aren’t to be ignored and when he says “…so the question for most companies is no longer “if” you go to the cloud, but rather when and how…”, we listen.

The engagement survey market has become a robust world of real-time survey systems, sentiment analysis software, and organizational network analysis tools, these are tools that ask your peers automatically for feedback, effectively giving real-time coaching.

Skilled job recruitment is now being revolutionized by new HR Technology that offers open sourcing tools, more automated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and better assessments.

7. Thriving Recruiting Market

Every organisation dreams of being able to access a pool of incredible, and relevant talent.

Skilled job recruitment is now being revolutionized by new HR Technology that offers open sourcing tools, more automated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and better assessments.

To further help recruit the right skilled candidates, video assessment and culture assessment tools have been developed to the point that everyone can use them.

8. HRMS And HCM Cloud Solutions

Cloud-based HR has become increasingly popular over the past five years, offering financials and other Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. This point is possibly the simplest to remember. Like the “Modern Learning” trend has already started to prove, it isn’t a case of “if” your organization adopts cloud solutions – it’s more a case of when. Better to be riding the wave than chasing it, surely?

9. Well Being

How are you? Feeling OK? Corporate wellness programs have come a long way, and it’s safe to say that corporate wellness programs are no longer just a “fad”.

The number of companies with wellness programs is reportedly increasing, perhaps because organizations now realize they need some type of wellness initiative to remain competitive.

10. More for Less…with Tech

The revolution in HR technology is not only an unavoidable movement; it provides an opportunity to transform effective recruiting, talent management and every aspect of the learning and development process.

With HR budgets under constant pressure, it’s gratifying to know that more can be achieved for less with many of these tech solutions. Exploring, and embracing them puts HR teams in a far better position to enjoy a very happy 2018.