For all the talk from vendors and technology providers, the big discussion at SHRM was not on Big Data. The much talked about topic, and most likely the darling of venture capitalists investing in firms that purport to be about Big Data, is still early on in its adoption.
First off, lets start with a definition from an article on Forbes from last year:
“Big data is a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis.”
Great, now that we know what it is – but why is it important to HR? Think about a time, when you can identify talent and future leaders within your organization by leveraging metrics – not just from your HCM/HRIS solution, or succession planning tools – but from a ton of other sources. For example, using information from your CRM, including sales/quota attainment, activity levels, performance management information (including 360 degree feedback) then add in social media utilization (linkedin, and additional industry social media sources), and sprinkle that in with customer/prospect surveys and you have data that is now information. This information can help you identify your next great sales person, or the sales person that will be the most successful.
You can use this to identify individuals that will be successful, and encourage your ‘B’ players to move up to ‘A’ players using coaching, training techniques. In the movie ‘Money Ball’, Billy Beane used data to build a complete ball team – likewise you can build a complete sales team. This is just one example.
Still not convinced? You should be because if you build a Big Data solution, you will be a step ahead of the competition. Albeit, your competition is trying to do it today, the fact is that vision is not always reality. And that’s why I believe this conference is not about Big Data this year – its about real solutions that are more near term, including employee engagement, compliance (when is is not an HR concern), and definitely culture.
For those of you that are somewhat hip, you can also search #SHRM14 on Twitter, (yes, it was trending) to follow what else people are saying about the conference.
This post contributed by Anthony Kelly.