Technology disruption in the spotlight at HR Tech Think Tank

If you think technology and disruption can’t impact the essentially “human” practice of HR, think again.

As the more than 200 HR professionals who took part in the HR Tech Think Tank event last Friday discovered, those organisations that aren’t adapting technology to help their HR teams work more strategically and effectively are fast-being overtaken by those that do.

Organised by HRM Asia, and held in the Crystal Ballroom of the Singapore Orchard City Centre Hotel, the unique one-day event was essentially six highly-interactive workshops in one.

Participants were treated to an exciting day of learning into the latest cutting-edge solutions and innovative technology to support their HR practices and operations, along with an exclusive session by US-based Futurist and Technology Commentator John Sumser.

The attendees were broken up into six interactive workshops, which provided a 4.5 hour deep dive into various HR Tech solutions: Recruitment, Talent Management, Learning and Development, Engagement, Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation, and HR Information Systems.

Each workshop was led by an expert facilitator, brought in from the technology side of relevant vendors: SmartDreamers, BI Worldwide, Page Up, Androgogic, Swingvy, and Pymetrics. They each led engaging sessions that provided an opportunity to learn about the latest HR trends and further understand how technology disruption is transforming the HR practice in question, as well as explore challenges and barriers to adoption.

The workshops also highlighted adoption case studies and outcomes achieved, allowing a real-world understanding of how HR Tech has transformed HR departments to gain efficiencies and reduce costs.

Hosted by award-winning business communications professional Andrea Edwards, the Think Tank involved plenty of lessons both specific to each of the individual focus areas, and across the broad spectrum of HR technology.

“$625M was invested in HR Tech startups in the first quarter of 2018,” she said, highlighting the enormous potential of the HR Tech space.

And as Sumser reminded all participants in the final session wrap-up, the time to get started is definitely now. Disruption is coming fast to the HR space, he warned.

Even though there may not be an immediate return on investment, the longer an organisation waits, the harder it will be. It remains crucial to take a long-term approach and to be prepared to always improve along the way, Sumser said.