Leadership

CEO’s Letter: The Dis-Integration of HR

Disintegration is one of those words that doesn’t ever sound good beyond a sci-fi movie with an ending where the evil alien invaders gets “disintegrated.” It is one of those words like “dislocation” or “discombobulated” that usually means there is a problem. It is a word that we rarely use in HR but we live with every day. Try out this sentence: “Our tech platforms, for which we paid a fortune in cash and hours of effort, are completely, utterly, and frustratingly dis-integrated.” Sound familiar? Can you say dis-integrated? Sure you can.

Why this is so hard is simple. Software companies are more evil than Darth Vader. By the end of Return of the Sith, he showed a little human empathy. You will never get that from major platform software providers. For the people from Workday, Oracle, and Microsoft, etc., yes, I am talking to you.

I recently returned from the 2025 HRO Today Forum North America in San Antonio, TX. We had dozens of CHROs, heads of TA, and heads of OD attending and the conversation on technology was dominated by two tracks. The hopeful and cautious optimism about the application of artificial intelligence to HR practices was a positive conversation. The other far darker, more foreboding, and frankly, more prevalent was a complete frustration in the difficulty at getting integrated reporting from the various systems on which HR relies. If your CRM and your HRMS are not from the same software company, you may as well be trying shuttle diplomacy among the Hatfields and McCoys. The systems won’t talk to each other. You can spend a fortune on consultants to build a customized API, but then they will obsolete that patch on their next revision.

There are standard integration tools, but the big providers make them break down as well. They will not accept the reality that they can have a piece of the pie, so they try to have less clients by extorting the whole pie or else. The CHRO of one of the largest hospitality firms in the world admitted that a substantial amount of reporting is done on spreadsheets outside of the various systems, just because that reliably works.

Everyone is simply exhausted and resigned to the sucking sound of time being wasted on tasks that should be done by technology because the tech players treat their clients like hapless victims in a ransom scheme.

Time to fight back. I think it takes an understanding of these companies. We think they bask in their monolithic power, but in truth, most of their actions are driven by their fears, not their market power. If you want to share your story with HRO Today, we will publicize the struggles at whatever level of confidentiality you prefer and slam their X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn feeds, and other channels with bad press. It will not be quick, but over time they will start offering software that can be integrated and services to make sure your infrastructure is one functioning platform rather than a disparate mishmash of systems that do not communicate. The HR community has always been greatly supportive of HRO Today. We owe you this fight to help us help you fight for integrated rather than dis-integrated HR.

Elliot S. Clark
CEO

Tags: May 2025

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