Tech-savvy president reveals the AI he's most excited about

'Great companies don't throw money at problems, they throw ideas'

BY Emily Douglas 28 Jun 2018

Greg McAdoo, of Sequoia Capital, once said: “Great companies don’t throw money at problems, they throw ideas at them.”

Substitute ‘money’ with ‘technology’ and you’ve essentially got every HR leader’s worst nightmare.

With a surplus of AI balancing on our fingertips, it’s essential that organizations fully understand the types of software they’re buying – otherwise why spend the money?

“We’re never going to get the value out of software unless we become more comfortable in using it,” warned William Tincup, president of RecruitingDaily.com. “There are so many different kinds of learning, so many different styles.

“While some people learn though audio, others through visual – personally, I like to try s***, break it, and then ask questions. If someone hands me a manual, I just put it to one side and try and build the thing myself. But that’s just how I learn – very tactile – I go in, rack up a barrage of questions and then go and talk it out with someone in the know.

“Some people learn though reading, though FAQs, some through webinars. The training scheme for implementing new HR software needs to be built around all of your users. Everyone has to learn – their style is how they like to learn; their challenges are barriers to this learning.”

William explained to us that the overarching issue with HR technology implementation isn’t with selection the right vendor or negotiating the right price – it’s in the way organizations deal with employee learning.

“During implementation, the hands down biggest issue with is staff training,” he told HRD. “If HR just fixed their training, implementations would go so much smoother. Literally – that’s it.”

However, that’s a lot easier said than done. Training is notoriously expensive in terms of time, money and energy from the vendors and the buyers. You have to really care enough to want every user to leverage the technology we’ve invested in as an organization.

So, what is William most excited about in the future of work and AI? For him, it’s all about vocal robotics.

“Right now, I’m looking at AI; in particular voice and its place in HR Tech. We need a different interface, one like Siri which is activated though voice.

“We can ask anything of these systems and are able to find out almost anything we want. Imagine a VP of HR who wants to fully understand any potential flight risks in their employee base. All they’d have to do is voice a concern to this AI voice bot such as ‘over performing, underpaid and wants to relocate’ – and the bot would come back with a list of employee names.

“They could then automatically give these employees a 0.4% raise, schedule lunch with them and see to the problem at hand. This is all be possible though AI and robotics, already.”

And if this is happening right now – imagine the future of AI and tech. So, what are you most excited about in HR Tech? Tell us in the comments.