"The emergence of big data and predictive analytics has ushered in the prevalence of insights and tools that help organisations increase their agility and make better informed decisions," Pranesh Anthapur, Vice President of Human Resources and Chief People Officer, Nutanix – an enterprise cloud company – told
HRD.
One of the key advantages of the rise of data and software systems as HR tools, is the opportunity to foster employee engagement, which is seen as increasingly important.
So much so, in fact, that HR software categories are now extending to include feedback and engagement, in order to facilitate communication between management and employees, Anthapur said.
"This instant engagement allows us to analyse the data and understand what works, or the challenges that need to be addressed,” he added.
And the range of products is far-reaching; from systems for hiring and retention to recognition tools.
Anthapur listed Officevibe, Yammer and Slack as some of his favourite tech-tools that Nutanix has recently implemented, and described the market as “ripe for innovation”.
Alongside these tools, Nutanix has a worldwide employee database, learning and development programs, and various collaboration systems, he added.
Looking to the future, what are the challenges in incorporating purpose-made tech tools into HR strategy?
"One challenge is how HR can serve as both a value-add function and data function while being integrated seamlessly in existing platforms,” Anthapur said. “It has to be a well thought of system-level evaluation and decision.”
The difficulty here, he explains, is finding tools that align with a company’s existing technology and strategies.
Ultimately though, technology should be viewed as an additional tool to help achieve business and strategic goals, not a replacement for human interaction.
“Although technology plays a key role in our organization, it does not replace or diminish the need for ongoing, face-to-face interaction amongst colleagues and peers,” he said.
“Technology helps us stay connected when we’re apart, but we also find opportunities to bring people together across the world, and that is also an important part of our culture.”
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