New research highlights the realities of transforming European HR in 2016
Fosway Group, Europe’s #1 HR analyst, and HRN, the world’s largest corporate HR network, today release new joint research into the realities of HR across the corporate landscape of Europe. The data includes responses from over 500 senior HR professionals and will be unveiled at HR Tech World Congress in Paris.
The results demonstrate the ongoing focus in HR of transforming its strategy, and its supporting technologies. Increasing the organisation’s performance and profitability (91%) continues to be the biggest overall driver, but increasing business agility (87%) has risen significantly to become joint second. Both are central to the continued move away from transactional HR services to increasing business impact.
To support these strategic goals, organisations are evolving their adoption and use of HR technology. The rise of Cloud technologies continues as more businesses move away from on-premise and hosted HR systems, with 73% identifying the benefits of Cloud solutions as their top driver for changing systems. Overall focus for investment is on HR technology (79%) and HR skills, with 30% of organisations expecting to see a decline in HR headcount overall. 48% of respondents identified user experience as critically important in technology selection. But with only 24% of organisations saying that HR technology frequently or always has a positive impact, the research also shows that there is still significant room for improvement, as well as innovation.
David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group said, ‘This research shows how HR is truly transforming, but there are still significant barriers to achieving a transformative impact. The promise of Cloud solutions including lower IT costs, faster innovation and better user experiences are becoming a reality for many organisations. The challenges in Europe are unique however. Only 35% of organisations work with standardised HR systems and have additional layers of complexity to contend with, such as multiple languages, cultures and regulatory requirements.’
Peter Russell of HRN comments, ‘This is an exciting time in HR technology. But making informed decisions and understanding the impact of new and existing solutions is key to an organisation’s success. Our research with Fosway Group is now in its fourth year and gives our growing network of HR professionals around the world a chance to share their experiences. These insights can prove invaluable to others and we’re delighted to support this ongoing analysis.’
An overview and accompanying infographic of the HR Realities research is now available via the Fosway website. A series of in-depth papers analysing the data will follow from next month. HR Tech World Congress runs from 25-26 October 2016.
In addition to the European HR Realities research, Fosway has also released its new Fosway 9-Grid™market analysis for Cloud HCM for the first time, as well as updating the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Integrated Talent Management which are freely available to download for those evaluating new technology solutions.