Trends in HR Software: Implications for Learning

By Dr. Katherine Jones, Director and Principal Analyst, HCM Technology, Bersin & Associates

As Sherlock Holmes says to Dr. Watson, “the game’s afoot!” Sherlock implies excitement, intrigue, choices to be made—and risks to be run. For HR and learning professionals, we can easily suggest the same—the game is afoot as we face increasing change and innovation that has ramifications for the world of training.

While inventive plot twists and turns spell fictional intrigue for Sherlock, the disruptive innovation underway in HR and learning today presents real challenges for those responsible for learning environments and the technologies that support them. Changes abound: in ways to present information to be learned, the devices on which it is presented to the learner, and in the estimated $3.5 billion HR software market.

Market trends that are having an impact on the learning environment include:

• Increased attention to more closely integrating learning with other areas of talent management.
• New technologies: The rapid rate of adoption of iPads and smart phones have made them the easiest and most ubiquitous tools to use in learning.
• New methods to teach and test: Games and online puzzles are used to challenge learners and promote divergent thinking.
• Changes in the learning-related software market precipitated by increased acquisition activity.

Integrating Learning Matters

We all know that stove-piped business processes impede the ability to create a single talent profile for an employee, yet far too often learning data either has remained within the learning system, or has required manual intervention or data re-entry to appear in other systems such as those for onboarding or performance management.

We also know that integration matters: Research from Bersin & Associates, a membership-based HR research and consulting firm, demonstrates that integrating performance management with learning and development drives positive impact in three areas:

1. Individual employee results
2. Talent management results
3. Overall business results.

Organizations highly effective at integrating learning and development are three times more likely to have strong employee results. (See High-Impact Performance Management: Part 1 – Designing a Strategy for Effectiveness, Bersin & Associates/ Stacia Sherman Garr, August 2011 for detailed analysis.)

Mobile Devices Impact Delivery

The rapid rise of mobile devices in the consumer market creates increasing disruption in the traditional training environments as developers scramble to recast courseware into nuggets easily consumed on devices such as iPhones and iPads. All the “smarts” in today’s Smartphones are put to use in the learning environment: voice, video, text—with the ability to have face-to-face conversations with instructors or classmates, and listen to podcasts for just-in-time reviews. Course scheduling, student registration, and results can be captured or viewed via these lightweight portable devices. “How-to” videos can walk learners through mechanical or physical tasks; learning evaluations are easily accommodated; and learner results and program analytics all captured and transparent to other talent management systems.

Rise of Game Theories in Learning

These devices also support “gamification” in learning. From measures of reflex time to degrees of creativity, the application of game theory in learning creates educational experiences that are both sophisticated and engaging, often making complex concepts more readily understood and retained.

These three trends (integrated learning management, mobile use, and gaming theory) all have implications for the learning software market: Product development is required to create transparent integration between learning and the other areas of talent management, often inherent in talent management suites, and sometimes custom work is required if disparate talent products are integrated. Thousands of developers sit behind “there’s an app for that” learning; knowledge of game theory also is required for the sophisticated learning “puzzles” used to teach.

Market Shifts

Other shifts in the software market affect learning professionals today. The increase in acquisitions of learning management systems (LMSs) and content providers causes users justifiable concern over the long-term viability of their selected vendors. Talent management providers have sought to expand their suites with what may be the final missing piece: learning solutions. For example, in a short period of time, Plateau customers found themselves relying on SuccessFactors for support and roadmaps—when SuccessFactors itself was acquired by SAP. Likewise, Learn.com customers went from becoming Taleo customers to Oracle customers. Peoplefluent acquired its learning partner, Strategia Communications, in a move designed to propel its talent suite from performance assessment to performance improvement through learning. In the light of the often more extensive existing products developed by companies such as SAP and Oracle, users are right in questioning what the long term holds for the often less robust SaaS products.

Ramifications for Practitioners

Many learning organizations are at a point in their life cycles where they are seeking new software, often for their LMS system. Facing the complexity of change, many of these organizations come to Bersin & Associates for assistance in this endeavor. The questions they ask frequently touch on areas summarized in the chart below (Table 1).

Table 1. Making Choices in Today’s Changing Technology Environment

            Source: Bersin & Associates, 2012.

What Does This All Mean?

If you are a buyer, the market has reached the stage where solution providers are able and eager to address your most pressing problems. Rather than selling you features that appeal to you but only add to your integration woes, vendors now are offering comprehensive suites that provide a single integrated view of all employees. The game is still “afoot” as the market continues to evolve, but as integration starts to define the players, we expect buyers increasingly will find a solution to their biggest challenges is within reach.

Dr. Katherine Jones is director and principal analyst, HCM Technology, at Bersin & Associates, a firm that empowers HR and learning member organizations to drive bottom-line impact through world-class research and consulting. The company’s WhatWorks membership gives human resources, learning, and talent leaders the best practices and benchmarks they need to align with their organizations as strategic business partners. More than 5,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 60 percent of the Fortune 100, use Bersin & Associates research and consulting to guide their learning, talent, and human resources strategies.