Click on the the link and then head back here.

This is one of the better examples of linking corporate and employee branding for recruitment I have seen.

• Low cost
• Innovative
• Targeted
• Measured (note the stats at the end).

It cleverly reinforces the corporate and the employee brand.  I wrote a note several years ago now (client link here) where I stressed the need for organizations to get marketing and HR to work more closely together on recruitment branding. This is probably the best example I have seen of a company doing that. Ping me others that you have seen, please.

A clever play like this does put pressure on the rest of the recruitment process. Make sure you have good, solid administrative processes in place to process the applications effectively.

My colleague, Michael Maoz, has been critical of those that try to do Social CRM without getting the rest of their CRM in order.  The same goes for recruitment.  If you target your customer channel for recruiting, make sure you give them prompt, polite and top notch service, especially if you don’t end up hiring them. Applying for a job is a big step for most people, so treat that step with respect.  If you mess someone around in the recruitment process, the chances of you keeping them as a customer are next to zero.

Continuing this theme, a Belgian cartoonist, Canary Pete has a lovely take on the next stage of the IKEA hiring process.

My colleague Alexa Bona and I recently published a note on contracting behaviors and strategies for SaaS HCM.  SaaS and Human Capital Management: Avoid Risky and Expensive Deals (client access).

As SaaS HCM deals come up for renewal,  and procurement gets involved, it is now crystal clear that most HR departments have been contracting for HCM software without IT procurement involvement.  One of our findings is that most of the time, HR departments are rather poor negotiators.  Software vendors have had a field day, and not just on pricing.  Most of  the time HR just signs the boiler plate, and the boiler plate is typically one-sided, like All Blacks v Japan one-sided.

Here is a quote from the note.

SaaS vendors in HCM have successfully spun the myth that they are kinder and fairer than megavendors when it comes to contract negotiations and terms and conditions. This is a fairy tale. The vast majority of SaaS vendors are as avaricious as any ERP vendor, and their contracts are often nearly as complex, with changing product names, gerrymandering scope and vague platitudes, instead of solid SLAs

IT Procurement departments need to step up too.  A 9 month procurement cycle for software that takes 3 months to implement isn’t on.  IT procurement departments have a lot to learn about SaaS. The negotiating techniques that may work with huge ERP deals don’t work for smaller SaaS deals and renewals.

image via nesjumpman under collective commons.

I enjoyed working on this note.  Hopefully it will help HR leaders pause before signing that once in a lifetime special offer SaaS deal.

This is like the gathering in the Highlander. And Bill Kutik is the Christopher Lambert character with the beard and vast broadsword.  Bill as been around in HR technology since the Lyons tea room payroll, and  he is  constant as the northern star, of whose true-fix’d and resting quality, there is no fellow in the firmament.

Actually its the best opportunity to check out the latest in HR technology in one place.  I get to lurk this year, but my colleague Jim has a starring role, doing the final keynote.

I’m not planning on taking a lot of formal meetings. Lots of vendors have been asking for meetings, but we can do these anytime during the year, just set up a call via vendor briefings.  I plan to walk the floor, catch some customer sessions and avoid injuries.

I’m interested in sophisticated workforce analytics, innovative use of social software beyond recruitment, mobile otherthandoingthestandardapponthephone, workforce management systems and tales from the nitty gritty of global HR systems deployment.  I also want to discuss how New Zealand will cope with yet another Rugby World Cup defeat with the Sonar6 folks.

Assuming the flights work, I’ll make it to Naomi Bloom’s soiree too.

Seriously, if you are evaluating HR technology, this event is well worth attending,  eventhough it is in Vegas, that blasted heath.  I’ll only be there for the first two days, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Leading newspapers are making  effective use of visualization today. As an  example,  the US treasury bond ownership graphic is far more impactful than a simple listing.

It goes deeper than just a nice graph though, at a recent lecture at Leeds Trinity College,  Guardian Data Blog editor Simon Rogers presented with Tim Berners-Lee about data journalism.

Data journalism involves visualising or scrutinising often complex amounts of statistical information.

TBL had this to say.

"Journalists need to be data-savvy. It used to be that you would get stories by chatting to people in bars, and it still might be that you’ll do it that way some times.

"But now it’s also going to be about poring over data and equipping yourself with the tools to analyse it and picking out what’s interesting. And keeping it in perspective, helping people out by really seeing where it all fits together, and what’s going on in the country."

It seems to me that most professions could do with a solid dose of data visualization and the accompanying scrutiny. I’m not talking here about expensive tools, but about the love of data, and the joy of finding stuff out, getting stuck into the numbers.

I’ve given a couple of lectures on HR topics, and I’ve been hammering home on the analytics topic, but I think next time, I’ll bring some more data visualization to the party. I strongly believe that we need to see more focus on data visualization across all areas of business, but the HR department needs serious help.

I was pleased to read that Google came up with its 8 rules of management.  At first sight they  seem a typical list that one would find in any airport management book, but they are rooted in an empirical study.  Google has built its business on analysing data, so it is  not surprising that they decided to root around in their own HR data.   I do wish more HR departments would fall in love with data.

I think it is possible to be “people-centric” and “data driven” at the same time. Using numbers  to inform decisions and drive buy in isn’t treasonable.

It has been fun and challenging, I have learnt a tremendous amount about SAP, even though I’d worked there for ages. It has given me insight into Gartner too. I couldn’t  have wished for a better start at Gartner.

SAP has changed a lot in the two years, and it has probably been SAP’s most challenging period in its history. Coordinating the efforts of over 100 analysts that cover SAP has been eye opening.  Gartner’s breath and depth of SAP coverage is without peer, and has been a privilege to lead that effort.

Donald Feinberg will be taking over from me. He knows more about Database theory, DBMS and Data Warehousing than anyone I have ever met, and this is rather appropriate with SAP’s strategic plans for ICE, the in-memory computing engine, aka newDB, the juicy inside bit of HANA. He brings wealth of experience to the role. With Donald our SAP research agenda is in good hands.

I’ll not move away from SAP entirely, as I still cover them as part of my ERP / HCM agenda. I’ll be working closely with Donald as he gets to know SAP’s inner workings. I’ll still take client inquiry on SAP, and I’ll be part of our SAP research community. However, I’ll now have more time to focus on other research interests such as social software in the enterprise, workforce analytics,  data protection law, design/hybrid thinking, usability and pattern based strategy. There is a world beyond SAP and I need to broaden my focus.

I’ll take this opportunity to thank our clients, all the folks at SAP, Gartner, the SAP ecosystem, press and broader analyst community that I’ve worked with in the role. I’ll see some of you at CEBIT this week.

I have been watching the company from afar for a number of years. I’ve been consistently impressed with how they manage recruitment, and I think a lot of IT departments and larger software companies could learn from what they do.

1. consistent use of twitter, youtube, flickr and blogs to position Atlassian as a cool employer.

2. Posts and video from current employees about working there. No complicated HR speak.

3. Engaging and dynamic careers page. with a strong graduate offering, including international placement, coding festivals etc.

4. Vigorous referral program

6. Executive focus on recruitment as being vital to company strategy

7. Excellent alignment of marketing and employer brand.

8. Effective use of their own software to help manage the process.

I’ve done a bit of research over the last couple of years on employer branding, and I plan to step it up in 2011.  I’ll be on the look out for more examples like this.

Dan Pink picked up on Atlassian’s “Fed-ex” days in a recent TED talk. You should watch the whole talk. It raises some important challenges for HR and HR technology. What are you doing to attract and motivate your employees?

I’ve just read Stephen’s note on the iPad in the enterprise. (Gartner subscription required) here is the summary.

CEO Advisory: Seize the iPad Opportunity Now

The Apple iPad and associated ecosystem are likely to disrupt existing technology usage profiles and business models. CEOs should take a moment to ensure that the potential opportunity is being seriously evaluated inside their enterprises.

It got some press coverage here.

If I was working in an HR IT department, I’d buy one myself and give it to the HR VP. I’d make sure that it had a simple dashboard (check out roambi as an example)  with half a dozen HR and business relevant measures on, some relevant alerts and their email, key presentations, some budget stuff and the Dilbert widget.

Then let him/her loose on a meeting with other executives.

I reckon you’d get a really good ROI on that iPad investment come bonus time. You might also get a whole lot more budget for a proper HR analytics project.

I’ve rambled on about the iPad and UI a couple of times.

I’m on the look out for innovative UI work in the HCM technology space. Both Kronos and Cybershift recently impressed me with their UX work for time & attendance management on the iPhone. Vendors, if you have done something innovative on the iPad, do let me know. Users, if you are actually using the IPad in an HR context I’d really like to know more.

For two days, once every two years, the cry of “Yurop” rings out. The blue flag with the circle of  stars is waved with vim and vigour.

Flickr cc photo attribution. Llywodraeth Cymru thanks

When deploying HR software remember that it is not the Ryder Cup. There is no such thing as a European requirement when it comes to HR. Things turn nationalistic. The French, Irish, Germans, British and Luxembourgers all do things differently.

“What about privacy or working time?” you ask. Well even European “laws” aren’t really laws, they are Directives, which are  then implemented at the national level, often in markedly different ways and pace.

When HR vendors talk of their European or worse an  EMEA strategy, I get worried. It means they don’t get the space.

Over the years at conferences around the world, I’ve strolled the vendor booths, and seen all sorts. Some, just a desk and a couple of chairs, others vast multi-story gaudy edifices. They are all a bit of a blur. 

This week, at the HR tech conference I saw the best booth ever.

It was designed to

• draw attention
• bring delegates into an area where they couldn’t escape easily.
• be eco-friendly
• be participative (you could write on it)
• relate to the company culture and marketing message
• be 100x times cheaper than a typical stand

I give you the sonar6 minimalist box.

There is a software metaphor here too.  There is goodness is a common practice done uncommonly well.  At the event I saw evidence of some vendors starting to build simple applications that bring a consumer simplicity to existing, rather bloated, HR processes.