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A great article that was distributed around Knowledge Infusion for work with our enterprise clients and vendors.  Take a read from Fortune this past week.

As the world continues to transform to this model of organization; hr technology and processes will need to change as well.  Don't let this business change catch you by surprise.  The business will want this soon if not today, can your HR technology support this kind of thinking?

"The Informal Organization," they argue that successful managers must understand this "constellation of collaborations, relationships, and networks," particularly in times of stress and transition. "We're not saying you can formalize the informal," says Katzenbach. "We're saying you can influence it more than you do."

Take a read, this is why HR technology vendors that are eliminating hard coded relationships and moving to team, task and flexible relationships with workflow will have the competitive edge in the long term.

Another infusion of knowledge...

The hidden workplace: What's your OQ? - July 23, 2007

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InformationWeek published a great article today about IBM's latest training and development program TRULY designed for today's workforce.

Knowledge Infusion works with organizations that are struggling with how to retain and engage the workforce.  We were fascinated with the approach that IBM is taking and felt compelled to share it with our large community of HR and Talent Management professionals.  Pass this article on to others in your organization that are continuing to look for ways to drive the workforce to new heights.

As the demographic of the workforce changes under our nose, the focus on comp and benefits transactions continue to shift to growing, developing and engaging talent; this is a perfect example of a PROACTIVE MOVE to gain a competitive advantage in a changing talent market.

Another infusion of knowledge...

Link to InformationWeek Article

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This past weekend Prince gave away a copy of his new album "Planet Earth" to every reader of the British Newspaper Mail on Sunday. 

At Knowledge Infusion we personally found this method of distribution brilliant as individuals and organizations continue to look for new and innovative ways to license intellectual property taking advantage of the technology situation today.  A few drivers that relate to HR technology and software:

• Buying software and content is SO different today than 5 years ago that anyone that runs a software evaluation the same today as they did then is potentially making a large mistake.  How someone decides on going to a concert IS completely different than in the past. * Technology has made content much more accessible than ever before making information sharing and social networks that much more important.  People collaborating and planning to meet at a Prince concert based on the music and willing to pay much more for the concert combined is a masterful business strategy. * Technology requires organizations to be flexible in how they license and service products.  Today's consumer, look at Prince fans, expect a completely different model; or at least are open to one, compared to the past. (Just did two concerts where tickets ran $3000, not the scalped price).  He is making money in a totally different way as will vendors into the future. * Outcome based pricing, COME ON!!  Prince is basically betting that giving away the music will get people to pay more after hearing it and going to the concert.  Are we ready for software vendors in the HR, HCM and talent management space to giveaway their software and go back and recoup double the license fees based on the organizational impact?  (WHOA...)

As the New York Times aptly states, "Prince doesn't have to go multi platinum, he has gone multi platform." 

We found this brilliant move by Prince eye opening and intriguing.  Might we see this type of move in the HR technology space?  Maybe not yet, but don't count it out into the future.

Another infusion of knowledge...

Link to Business Technology Article

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At Knowledge Infusion, we spend a lot of time with enterprise organizations and vendors helping to define the future of succession planning and management in organizations.  Succession Management does not only involve technology, but much more a process and sustainability model.  Forbes has an interesting article linked to below, and here are there top 10 for Succession success:

1. Prioritize It # Develop a Toolkit # Give Honest Feedback # Ensure Accountability # Think Globally, Act Locally # Balance Today and Tomorrow # Make the Call # Stretch your Best People # Make Compensation Reflective # Step Outside

These are all components of a HR, HCM and Talent Management Strategy that are necessary to leverage technology in the best possible way.  Without these ten priorities in place, technology will be nothing more than a fancy looking org chart.

The more these topics get covered in magazines like Forbes, the larger the demand on the HR and HRIT functions to deliver tools and processes to support these requirements.

Another infusion of knowledge...

Success--And Succession--Takes Planning - Forbes.com

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All of the organizations Knowledge Infusion work with today are global in nature.  This article caught our attention with the headline:

Nine out of 10 capital markets executives say their firm is not ready for globalization and doesn't know how to get there.

Jason Averbook, CEO of Knowledge Infusion was recently quoted as saying:

If an organization today doesn't believe they are global, they haven't looked at themselves in the mirror.

The Wall Street & Technology blog has an excellent article about global readiness of organizations today.

A few excepts related to HR technology and talent management include:

• To succeed globally, firms will need to tap into best of breed assets, such as talent, shared service centers, and partners, anywhere around the globe. They will need to have superior risk management, collaboration, execution and low latency capabilities across the globe. * Culture turned out to be the number-one barrier to profiting from globalization, and having a global management team was the most important culture-related attribute that will help firms succeed. * Financial markets organizations, despite their reliance and focus on human capital, may be severely underutilizing their hidden or intangible assets.  We���re talking about winning minds, hearts and souls -- leading organizations will break out of their ethnic, gender and geographic-centric management models to become more globally integrated. This will be a major cultural shift because when you look at today���s financial organizations, around 70% are led by local headquarters��� board of directors and senior leadership teams. We are optimistic that the industry will manage to do what it���s always done so well in the past, which is to embrace change.

If your organization has operations outside of the US, your organization must take into account this and many more items when selecting and deploying HR and talent technologies.

Another infusion of knowledge...

Wall Street & Technology: Blog: Wall Street Firms Are Not Ready For Globalization, Study Finds

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Many in the Knowledge Infusion community continue to ask questions about the difference between SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and Web 2.0.  The following article from eWeek caught our attention and serves as a great education point for the HR and talent management community.  These should be terms that are clearly understood as you are creating your long term HR technology strategy.

A few excepts:

• "Web 2.0 is used in many ways but predominantly has two aspects���one social, the other technical* Web sites and Web applications using AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to improve ease of use make it even simpler for users to compose blogs and assemble mashups.  Desktop-installed software increasingly is being displaced through the use of AJAX and services, he said.* "We're transforming from an application-centric enterprise to Web 2.0, which is putting the user in charge. "Users can create, consume, customize, collaborate. They can access all information anywhere, anytime on any browser. I used to say the 'A' in SOA is AJAX; now I say the 'M' in SOA is mashup. Enterprise mashups are user-driven and user-focused."* The new Web 2.0-enabled enterprise is sort of "like the long-tail approach���there is more opportunity in catering to a mass of niches than a niche of masses.* "[http://With Web 2.0,|http://With Web 2.0,] the way users access enterprise applications is changing. It uses a common UI that combines transactional behavior and collaborative behavior, and this is through a browser."

Take a read.  Even if you don't understand some of these concepts, what is important to understand is that Web 2.0 and SOA will change the HR space forever.  The UI issues we deal with today will be replaced over the next 3 years with UI's that are completely web driven similar to Google and Yahoo.  The biggest issue for HR will be data and process; things that should be being transformed today to be ready for this massive shift in deployments.

Another infusion of knowledge, and the future...

The Merging of SOA and Web 2.0

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I couldn't resist writing a quick entry about an experience from the road this week.  As you know, Knowledge Infusion and our Deployment Excellence practice believes strongly in not using the term "self-service" and instead using a term such as "direct access" insuring that employees don't feel they are only doing HR's job.  This is a true SELF-SERVICE case.

While arriving in a city (not to be named here, but in the deep south) late Wednesday evening, I was driving down the highway in a taxi, on the cell phone of course, when I looked up and saw something I never thought I would see.  There in front of my eyes (and the cabbie) was a car driving down the freeway with a gas nozzle and gas hose still attached to their car.   The nozzle was deeply embedded into the fuel tank with the hose flapping in the wind and dragging on the dry pavement of the highway. 

After laughing with the cab driver and still not really believing it, I have thought about what might cause this.  A few ideas:

• The driver was drunk and just didn't realize that HE (it was a HE) drove off with the gas pump still attached to his car* The driver was stealing gas (and wanted the hose and nozzle as well)* The driver truly just made a self-service mistake

This is a mistake I (and I know you have as well) have thought about when filling up my tank with other things on my mind, or cell phone at ear.  I didn't know it was possible to actually do it and get to a highway and drive that far without realizing it.

Many of you have had HRMS self-service deployments that didn't go as planned.  Still many others are experiencing hr and talent management deployments where people are having to be trained to use the tools.  Keep this story in mind and what you can do to plan for the unexpected.  In this case, not sure what you can do except remember and share this story with others.

Another infusion of knowledge...or something

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Wow

Knowledge Infusion pushes organization to use new technologies such as blogs, wikis, instant messaging for communication, but this might go to far.

14% of Men and 11% of Women (what does that tell you), say they would fire someone using IM (but with emotion).

This is a bit of a stretch but a sign of things to come in our connected, decentralized, free agent workforce world.  Pay attention to these fads and trends, while this is a bit out there - the usage of the technology is not.

It also makes you wonder with the new age workforce, how much work on communication will be needed in the workplace:

At the same time, more than half of respondents said they would rather confess their feelings to a crush using an emoticon than in person. Ten percent said they���d even propose marriage via an instant message.

Read the MSNBC article and pass on

Another infusion of knowledge...

Survey: Some would use IM to fire - Online World - MSNBC.com

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Knowledge Infusion continually works with clients around the world on Deployment Excellence.  We define Deployment Excellence as working with clients to understand the messaging, brand, and tools based on audience that are necessary to make sure that a launch of a new technology deployment is a success.  This includes defining what success looks like, the creative services around the success (if necessary) and the types of messages that make sense to the audience.

Seth Godin has an excellent posting on Sloppy Naming and how much it hurts in the rollout and deployment of anything. 

When deploying HRMS, Employee and Manager Self Service (we call it direct access), or Talent Management, take a read; THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

For ideas on what to call your deployment or how to brand your deployment; send an email now to mailto:info@knowledge-infusion.com.

Take a read!!

Another infusion of knowledge...

Seth's Blog: Sloppy naming

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Knowledge Infusion works very hard with organizations to insure that information is communicated from HR in a means that ties directly to business results.  One of the things we hear over and over again and as recent as a few moments ago is, "When I get something from HR, I delete it right away because it is never relevant to me."

As HR rolls out new technology initiatives or even tries to communicate, one of our ongoing recommendations is to insure that the HR technology and process organization within a company looks at communication vehicles and optimizes these vehicles based on audience.  We have even created service within KI called Deployment Excellence to help organizations with this.  Here are 10 helpful tips to handle email:

• Send less. Think hard before you use the "reply to all" and "cc" features, and use group distribution lists sparingly. By targeting your e-mails, rather than spraying them, you'll be more efficient and effective. * Quit boomeranging. Send 5 e-mails and you'll get, on average, 3 responses, most of which aren't necessary. If you eliminate just 1 in 5 of your outgoing e-mails, you'll instantly shrink the incoming volume, and save time on needless back-and-forth exchanges. * Stop - then send. Before hitting the "send" button, ask yourself: Is this information timely, topical, and targeted? Will it help the recipient do his or her job better? If not, skip it. * Be polite, up to a point. Not every e-mail requires a reply, especially if it's just a routine "thanks!" The authors recommend that, with the people you e-mail (and who e-mail you) most often, you try including an acronym in the subject line like "NTN" (no thanks needed) or "NRN" (no reply needed) - a simple but effective time-saver. * Schedule live conversations. Instead of sending an e-mail that will initiate a long back-and-forth discussion, try scheduling an in-person or phone meeting instead. You'll often get a lot more done in less time. * Strengthen your subject lines. Vague subject lines confuse recipients and make e-mails hard to locate later. One-word categories, like "Request" or "Confirmation," along with relevant information like dates or times, add clarity and context to your messages. * Structure matters. Avoid sending a wall of words. Instead, start every message with a greeting of no more than 8 words. (For example: "That was an interesting meeting yesterday.") Then use the ABC method to divide your e-mail into 3 distinct sections: Action (stating your purpose), Background (presenting your key points), and Close (clarifying the next steps). * Save purposefully. Searching for an old e-mail can eat up untold amounts of time, so be picky about what you save. Ask yourself: What are the odds I'll need this information later? Could I get it just as easily from the Web or somewhere else? Is it important to what I'm working on - really? You'll save less and find more. * File smart. You might have several overlapping e-mail folders, so "Stuff from the Boss" could contain anything from a performance review to a lunch invitation. Instead, create a smaller number of folders and label them according to content (not sender or some other criterion). You'll file and find information faster. * Coach - or suffer. Alas, sending better e-mails yourself won't guarantee that others will follow your lead, unless you ask them to. "Offer your frequent senders a few really good tips," the authors write, "or suffer through their bad e-mails."

Take a read of this complete article and plan when communicating from HR.  Email is a HR technology tool and one that can't be overlooked or abused.  Going forward, it will be even more important to keep these tips in mind as well as use BLOGS, WIKIS and other collaborative tools to work with employees and managers to insure the true value of HR, HR technology and talent management is being realized.

Another infusion of knowledge...

Fixing Email Article from Money Magazine

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Interesting posting on the Deal Architect site about software "Born On Dates". 

Our takeaway and the takeaway you should think about when deploying solutions such as Employee and Manager Direct Access, Portals, and software that employees and managers might use once a year...

Because freshness matters in airlines, in beer - and in software.

In this same posting, Jason Corsello reminds us that many HRMS and payroll solutions are still running on green screen solutions (SKUNKY?).  What matters to your HR and Payroll department is COMPLETELY different than what you should put out to your employees, managers and executives. 

Born on Date or (REBREWED DATE)..keep it in mind

Another infusion of knowledge..

Skunky Software