In 2012, HR industry analyst Josh Bersin wrote about the move from systems of record to systems of engagement, making an argument for HR’s use of systems of engagement. At the time, he pointed to “systems which are used directly by employees for ‘sticky uses’ — like email, collaboration systems, and new social networking and learning systems. They ‘engage’ employees.” Bersin certainly wasn’t wrong, but he was working with what existed in 2012. A lot has changed since then.
Today, we see newer technologies taking off to new levels, evolving and advancing by leaps and bounds on an almost weekly basis. It’s time to breathe life into the overall concept of HR management and define a new path from systems of record to systems of intelligence, with engagement incorporated along the way.
What’s The Difference?
Bersin used Microsoft in 2012 as an early example of engagement, touting not only its overall innovation, but also the positive movement around user interface and design. The company’s result was engaging, even if the technologies largely remained the same. In an interesting turn of events, in early 2019, the current CEO of Microsoft revisited the classifications, pointing to four major players: the original two systems (record, for critical business functions like enterprise resource planning, and engagement, such as customer relationship management), and two newer systems (observation, in terms of the internet of things, and intelligence, which equates to AI-based software). We’ll skip the third for now, focusing instead on those directly involved with the HR function.
Historically speaking, enterprise organizations looked to solve everyday tasks and challenges with systems that recorded and reported on data of different sorts. The earlier generations of HR technologies revolutionized this work, offering employers a centralized repository of information, one more easily accessible than the mountains of paperwork from the days of yore. These systems took HR from the past into the present, helping support the transformation from personnel to human resources that took place throughout the 1970s and 1980s and into the 1990s.
Around the turn of the century among the misplaced clamor that was Y2K, the system of engagement started to take shape. We saw this with the entrance and adoption of software as a service and cloud-hosted solutions, which created a direct connection between the user and the interface. Systems of record still existed in the background, while systems of engagement took over the spotlight, illuminating the user experience and shifting HR leadership’s collective focus from capture to interaction.
Intelligence arrived with the last decade, eager to disrupt these systems and take HR’s use of information up a notch to deliver on the promise of big data while reinforcing the desired stickiness. Systems of intelligence add value to the equation, leveraging these other systems with the aid of AI to distill data, grow smarter and make it possible to provide insights into potential outcomes — taking the HR journey from where we were to where we’re going next.
Where — And What — Is the Value?
Throughout this evolution, we as HR technologists have learned a thing or two about systems and how organizations use them. At first sight of systems of intelligence, some questioned what this might mean for the systems’ human counterparts.
There’s no doubt that the rise of intelligent, or otherwise smarter, systems will spell significant changes for HR in the coming years. At the same time, best practices, tactics and key insights lie in the minds of the humans who have the experience and expertise to know how to use the data the systems produce. Deloitte refers to this as “the advent of ‘superjobs,” explaining, “In traditional job design, organizations create fixed, stable roles with written job descriptions and then add supervisory and management positions on top. When parts of jobs are automated by machines, the work that remains for humans is generally more interpretive and service-oriented, involving problem-solving, data interpretation, communications and listening, customer service and empathy, and teamwork and collaboration.”
We see and acknowledge the benefits of traditional job design, a practice that’s worked throughout time, even with the introduction of systems of record and engagement. That said, knowing that it is the minds of humans that ultimately advance the world of work, it seems that the latest system, the system of intelligence, has everything to do with adding to and learning from experience — both in terms of workers and technology.
Likewise, systems of intelligence mature as we increase use, adding a layer without impeding progress. With AI applied in the form of data and analytics, at-scale engagement and natural language processing, much of the value can be delivered through existing enterprise software, providing knowledge that extends the capabilities of systems of record and engagement.
Moving in the direction of applicability and self-recurring improvements, optimization becomes custom to that organization, team or function, including HR. Such intelligence absorbs information from both the direct user (in this case, the employer) and indirect users, such as job candidates, bringing into play a network-like effect. The result goes beyond simple automation of manual tasks, providing deep insights that complete our processes, empower decision-making and maximize productivity all around.
The nature of work is changing faster than most realize, and there will come a moment in the not-too-distant future when intelligence will take over as the standard. Organizations have the opportunity now to embrace the value these systems offer, acknowledge the learnings of earlier versions and move with the current of innovation, rather than against it. Doing so will enable further development and ownership over systems of intelligence, with employers adapting solutions to hiring needs and business objectives in close-to-real time.
