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Having recently spent a week at the annual HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas, we used the time to get a snapshot of the current state of the industry. After attending many of the sessions and keynotes, walking the Expo Hall, and speaking with several providers, we can confidently predict what you didn’t need us to tell you: AI is sort of a big deal. Taking center stage in nearly every conversation – often exhaustively so – we joked that there should have been a punch card so if you attended every session with AI in the title, you received your own virtual bot. “Human number 432554…. you’re a winner!” Imagine the excitement.
All joking aside, it is clear that AI (in whatever form it takes) is a driving force of HR technology and the world of work. Providers are doubling down on its potential, bombarding organizations with marketing messages that suggest if leadership hasn’t invested in AI yet, they’re already behind. While there is some truth in the message, the reality is much more complicated.
As Kimberly Carroll and I presented in our mega-session at the conference, HR is swimming in tech debt driven by a number on inter-related factors, none of which can be resolved simply through the application of AI. HR stands at the crossroads of technology, policy, process, culture, and people, and this combination of high tech and high touch can be challenging to conquer concurrently. Our experience suggests that HR is still working on defining what it wants to be in the future, from both a business process and operating model perspective. AI will be a tool to help achieve that ideal future state, but as always, a company’s strategic transformation roadmap should be process-led and tech-enabled.
It’s important that all business leaders, including HR, take the time to learn about the possibilities of AI and to deconstruct the claims and use cases offered by the provider ecosystem as specifically applied to your unique environment. Like all things in HR, we are accountable and responsible for the outcomes that all tools, including AI, bring to our organization. This requires both capacity and capability, so put AI resourcing and HR upskilling into your 2024 plans to establish a point of view and internal expertise. AI is part of the future of work… until the next acronym comes along to replace it.
With warm regards,
— Mark Stelzner
Founder/Managing Principal/AI at IA
Voice of HR
The importance of prioritization
IA Managing Principal Kimberly Carroll discusses the importance of using a prioritization model to keep companies on track.
Where you can find us
The conference season is starting to wind down, so we have turned our eye to 2024 for live events. We had a chance to record some podcasts during HR Tech, so keep an eye out for more information about that. Additionally, we’re pleased to have been asked to participate in the following:
- April 24-26, 2024: Get ready to ignite positive change in your organization with innovative and transformative ways to positively influence your people strategies that go beyond best practices at the new Human Resource Executive® Conference: Elevate People, Ignite Change 2024 or EPIC 2024! Visit the web site to learn more about this new conference and to register today!
- October 2023: IA’s own Mary Faulkner was recently profiled by The Knowledge Review as one of the Top Ten Influential Thought Leaders to Follow. Be sure to read about all the amazing people featured by the publication.
- May 15-17, 2024: ERE.net is gearing up for their next Recruiting Conference, and Mary Faulkner will be there to support them! Be sure to sign up to learn more about the event.
On Our Radar
There is so much content out there – our goal is to find and highlight a couple of stories each month at that we think capture what’s happening in the moment. Here are the ones the team identified for October:
Project management is often a thankless job, with project managers needing to coordinate stakeholders’ interests and deliverables, all while keeping the work on time and on budget. To keep everything moving along smoothly, it’s important to manage expectations, with Harvard Business Review providing some useful tips on how to do this.
You know we love a good reminder about creating a change mindset. With a repeat appearance in this month’s newsletter, Harvard Business Review reminds us that change management is about more than changing behaviors – it’s also about changing people’s minds.
About IA
As trusted advisors to senior leaders, IA supports strategic initiatives that transform the way organizations work.
Our seasoned team of professionals apply a revolutionary eye, deep domain experience, and flexible tools to accelerate the achievement of even the most ambitious goals. With a cross-functional, strategic perspective, we thrive on big, messy problems. Whether large or small, public or private, domestic or international, it’s our job to support leaders and their teams in achieving outcomes that are truly unique to their culture and objectives.
Every organization has a catalyst for change – learn more at ia-hr.com.
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