HR and Technology

Here is an interesting article that talks about technology disruption in the world of Human resources.

There are a couple of things missing from the article.  The first, the author completely avoided the 900lb gorilla of tech. YES it can keep people engaged, YES, it can help retain people if used properly.. but those aren’t the real points of tech in the business environment.  Technology is only really adopted or allowed where it will accelerate what we already have in the most cost effective manner.   The key words there being cost effective.  Telecommuting didn’t get adopted for work life, it got adopted so that growing firms could get away with paying less in office space.  Word processing didn’t get adopted to help give managers creative control over their own correspondence.  It was adopted because secretaries are very expensive compared to a software package and a PC.

When you are a hammer, you see the world as being filled with nails (Thurrott). When you are in HR, you see tech as how it will affect the people’s lives.  How can you not, your in the business of people.  It is  the core of your daily focus.  When you are a manager you only see tech as a cost savings.   Unfortunately, all of the warm and fuzzy in this article is nice, but it’s not the future of HR technology disruption.  The future of technology disruption for HR = less HR.  An outcome that isn’t so bright for the HR professionals, or the professional individual contributors they are there to support.