Thomas Otter

(photo taken by me, use with cc attribution with pleasure)

I snapped this photo at the Ladenburg Altstadtfest this weekend. (Ladenburg is a small town near Heidelberg, Germany, where I live.)  I will be spending the first part of next week at the Oracle Open World conference in San Francisco.  I cover the HR technology space at Gartner, so understanding what Oracle is up to in this space is an important part of my job.  I’ll be getting an up date on the latest in EBS and PeopleSoft, and perhaps perhaps perhaps some details on Fusion.  I’m sure these guys will keep me busy.

If you are planning to be at the event, drop me a note, email or twitter will do.  I’m especially interested in catching up with customers. For those using Twitter, there is an OWW hash string. #OOW08

My colleagues have published several pieces on Oracle recently. Have a look at this for a start. A Guide to Oracle Research for Applications Leaders

Having attended many SAP events over the years, it will be fascinating to see how Oracle run their major event of the year. That said, my main focus is going to be looking past the show and at the applications themselves. Understanding the roadmaps of the big vendors is not easy.  I hope that my visit to San Francisco will help clear some of my fogginess.

I need to dash back on Tuesday evening, as I’m presenting at a Gartner EXP CIO event in Zürich.  I’ll be talking on my pet topic of the emerging field of HR analytics and why it is important.  Other speakers include CIOs from ABB, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Bank, Siemens Health Care.  My colleague Nick Jones will also be speaking on key trends for Wireless devices, but I wonder if this includes RC planes. I’m also looking forward to hearing John Mahooney’s talk on scenario planning, as this is a topic that really interests me.

After that, I’m back in the home office for a few days, and then I’ll be off to Infor’s conference in Vegas, and also popping in to HR Tech in Chicago. I’ll be learning a lot more about Infor’s products and strategy, not just for the HCM space.  HR Tech is the premier HR Tech conference in the US, and I’m keen to catch up with old and new faces at conference. Bill Kutik runs a great show, I’m told.  Also I hope to catch up with Jason Corsello, who writes the excellent Human Capitalist blog.  Several vendors have asked to meet with me there, but I also would like to talk with users.  I’ll especially interested in learning about.

1. actual usage of 2.0 technologies in an HR context. (rather than simply talking about it)

2. Using sophisticated analytics on HR data

3. Integrating SaaS and non-SaaS applications.

4. Global deployments of talent management processes such as compensation and succession planning.

5. Administrative application strategy. BPO, shared services, HR-Finance integration..

In the meantime I also need to start writing up some of my research.  Now would be a good time.

Technorati Profile