By D. Zachary Misko
This year’s theme of the HRO Today Forum North America is “Driving Corporate Strategy.” Despite the technology disruption that has roiled much of global business, the need to attract, retain, protect, and serve employees has insulated companies. But now, change is washing over how companies do business and sending ripples across the HR industry. HR is officially being shaken by the tech invasion.
As you will learn from our Forum speakers, panels, and sessions, a rising cohort of tech-enabled leaders are rethinking business and reacting with more creative models. The finalists in our iTalent competition are not surprisingly a part of this movement; they are investing in this vision of the future. Throughout the Forum, we will explore this further and amplify the highest standards of human resources in the management and support of services, technologies, and overall HR functions.
The HRO Today Services & Technology Association is also responding to the needs of our members and enabling technology to help us better manage social media, online networking, on-demand learning, and virtual opportunities to engage. Thought leadership councils (TLCs), which explore and discuss topics within talent acquisition, talent management, employee relations and services, and outsourcing, continue to draw a great line up of speakers, thought leaders, and attendees. A new demo site will allow members to showcase their technology, demonstrate how it enables them to work better, and provide answers to other members’ questions. This will be a great way to learn more about not just the “shiny new toys,” but rather the technologies that companies are using successfully every day. Thanks to our committee structure, members are empowered to continue getting involved and drive how the association responds to industry needs, sets standards and practices, and enhances our user experience.
While the HRO Today Forum provides an excellent opportunity for our members and each of the Forum delegates to participate in great conversations and best practice sharing, the association allows you to continue these actions daily. Are you interested in opportunities to engage in networking with HR and business leaders and experts across the globe? Is online learning helpful to your organization and teams? Can the opportunity to engage in thought leadership and industry recognition help your employees and organization? If you are not already a member of the HRO Today Association, I urge you to join and keep the conversation and learning active every month.
As business people, we like asking questions. It can help clarify choices and allow us to focus on what really matters. But in an age of flux, success will come from embracing the convergence of HR and technology, and adapting to whatever happens. This has always been the “corporate strategy” for successful business leaders who take the opportunities that appear and run with them. More and more, we will all have to learn to run this way.
These are edge-of-your-seat times. Whether it be through our speakers at the Forum or our speakers, thought leaders, and best-selling authors on our monthly association TLCs, we will get you thinking about things you might not have even imagined possible. We have put a focus on technology at our Forum and in our global HR association programming this year. Technology is an industry that has been disrupted many times before: by the creation of an ATS, the rise of social media in recruiting and marketing, video interviewing, the launch of the CRM, chatbots, and so much more. But it has always managed to remake itself, even when the critics were most skeptical. So how will it work out this time? Who will be the superheroes and villains, and what will the next technology twist reveal? Stay tuned to find out!
