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Knowledge Infuser : September 2007

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Show Me The Money!

Posted by Jason Averbook Sep 29, 2007

 

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In another announcement of funding on Friday, Authoria; one the vendors making great strides in developing an integrated talent management suite announced another round of funding.

 

This is a very important announcement not only to Authoria, but the industry in general.  Innovation with a focus on usability and true business integration will drive these solutions over the next couple of years and it is a VERY positive sign that investors see this as well.

 

Knowledge Infusion continues to see vendors such as Authoria, Vurv, SuccessFactors, Taleo as well as the ERP vendors such as Oracle, SAP and Lawson and new economy vendors such as Workday continue to focus on developing true talent management solutions that are not only integrated at the core, but truly focus on the future needs of business.

 

Congratulations to Authoria and the industry as a whole.  Look forward to an amazing year in 2008.

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Authoria nets $22.5M in funding: bizjournals.com Business News - MSN Money

 

 

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Contributed by neil.jensen@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant, Knowledge Infusion

On a recent flight home to Phoenix from the east coast, I picked up a copy of Outside Magazine to help pass the time and to help fuel my passion of the outdoors.  To my pleasure, the issue showcased an article about a Navy SEAL and his pursuit of the sport of Triathlon.  To my surprise, this same article also emphasized one of the talent management principles that I continually work with clients on ��� critical roles. 

The article highlighted the US Navy���s efforts to recruit qualified candidates for its SEAL program.  You see, the US Navy has identified the SEAL as a critical role that enables success in modern warfare and is making special efforts to recruit candidates that stand an increased chance of success in that role.  To recruit for SEALs, the Navy has broken away from their traditional recruiting methods such as high school fairs and strip mall recruiting offices, and has gotten out into the environments that contain the talent that can excel at what they will ask them to do.  They���ve taken the notion of critical roles and applied it in a way that ensures a higher rate of success.  By focusing recruiting efforts in talent rich environments such as triathlon events, surfing competitions, water-polo matches, and lifeguard competitions, the Navy has increased it success rate from 26% to over 40% for candidates that can make it through their insanely difficult qualifying school (BUD/S).

As the US Navy has shown, the ���peanut butter��� approach to HR process and practice just isn���t working anymore.  Applying the same processes and level of effort to all jobs and roles within your organization ends up inflating costs and inevitably wasting precious time that could have been dedicated to the critical roles that differentiate your business in the market.  *By focusing on critical roles and applying special handling to these roles, you increase your success rate and enable a critical component of your talent pipeline.  *

Knowledge Infusion works with client���s everyday to define their Talent Management strategy focusing on critical roles and the integrated Talent Management technologies that support them.   

Link to Outside article

 

 

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As Knowledge Infusion reported earlier this week, the number one HR technology vendor in the world is clearly Microsoft.  This wasn't a shock to some; but now this?  Click link below to learn more.

 

Microsoft Excel 2007 is producing Math Errors!!  Check all paychecks carefully.  Lets continue to get HR off of Excel and onto more automated, transformational tools that can truly create business impact.

 

In the meantime, CHECK YOUR MATH!!

 

Another quick infusion of knowledge...

 

Microsoft Says Excel 2007 Produces Math Errors -- Excel Error -- InformationWeek

 

 

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Today comes the headline that Bank of America will cut 4000 jobs.  A few quotes:

 

  • The cuts are intended to help the second-largest U.S. bank save about $800 million by 2009* "We're buying LaSalle with the goal of growing the combined organization," spokesman Scott Silvestri said. "The layoffs are a necessary first step toward meeting that long-term goal." (IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT YOUR SPOKESMAN SAYING?)

There are some amazing new products that Knowledge Infusion is running across in the market such as a product by Vurv Technology.  Vurv acquired a product by an organization called PeopleBusinessNetwork (PBN) that helps organizations answer specific questions such as:

 

  • Who should I keep?* What does the new combined organization look like?* Why are we laying off these 4000?

Leveraging this decision support technology, companies report to have saved upwards of $100 million while retaining ���90% of top performers��� and mitigating regulatory exposure during restructuring events.  You can visit their site on this topic here.

 

The M&A space continues to heat up.  Don't let your best talent walk out the door.  You are buying more than just a company, you are buying the most important part of the company, their people.

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Bank of America to cut 4,000 jobs - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

 

 

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All of HR should look at this study and determine if this is part of your 2008 HR technology plan, if not; you should think about attending the HR Technology Conference in Chicago October 10th through October 12th. 

 

Your competition is thinking about this stuff in a focused way.

 

>>Only 12 percent of human resource managers report knowledge retention as a high priority within their organizations, despite the fact that one-third estimate 20 percent or more of their current workforce will be eligible for retirement over the next several years.
>>Only 23 percent of firms report having a formal method to identify the knowledge that needs to be protected and retained.
>>43 percent of respondents cite the ability to measure the ROI and effectiveness of a knowledge retention program as a chief stumbling block to implementing a formal strategy.

Another quick infusion of knowledge...

BusinessWeek Management IQ The Coming Brain Drain

 

 

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More and more Knowledge Infusion is being asked to work with organizations to develop Knowledge Management strategies. 

 

Good InformationWeek article about the impending Brain Drain.  What are you doing besides hoping that tribal knowledge gets you by?

 

Another quick infusion of knowledge...

 

Most Companies Have No Plan To Deal With Impending Brain Drain -- Workplace Trends

 

 

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As a new Dad, and many of our readers are Dad's, I found Tom Stern's blog posting to be quite entertaining as well as relevant. 

 

Take the quiz:

 

1. Your wife is giving birth to your first child at the same time as a make-or-break deal with a powerful client who���s only in town for the night is pending. Baby or Big Shot?

 

 

2. It���s time for your child to be toilet trained. Do you: a) read the literature and learn how to work in tandem with your spouse to handle this transition smoothy, b) run screaming from the room, c) run screaming from the car if that���s where you first got the news, or c) stand in one place and scream.

 

 

3. Every time your child asks for permission to do something, you respond ���ask your mother.��� Is this effective parenting? (Hint: don���t answer ���yes.���)

 

 

4. It���s getting difficult to deal with the acting out, the testing of limits and the inability to accept it when things don���t go as planned. Should your wife cope with you being an idiot first, or start with the other two-year old in the family?

 

 

5. Once again, you are late picking up your child at soccer practice. Is there some way for you to blame this on anyone else? (Hint: see hint #3, above).

 

Answers: 1. Baby, 2. a, 3. No. , 4. She should tell you off first. 5. No

HOW DID YOU DO?

5 correct - Whoa, Daddy!

3 to 4 correct ��� Still welcome at the PTA

2 or less correct ��� Can you say couples counseling?

Another infusion of knowledge...

Link to Tom Stern's Blog Entry

 

 

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Knowledge Infusion works daily with recruiting departments transforming their processes to meet the 21st century.

 

Find below a great article on how the BIG 4 are using social networking, YouTube and iPhones to drive recruits like never before.

 

You are competing for the same talent.  Are you playing with the same tools?  Read below

 

Another quick infusion of knowledge... 

 

Recruiters Take Hip Path to Fill Accounting Jobs - WSJ.com

 

 

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The Work Clinic has a great piece today on this topic.  As Knowledge Infusion works with clients, EVERYONE NEEDS LEADERS!!

 

Is it you?  Your kids? Someone you know?

 

Take a read

 

Another quick infusion of knowledge... 

 

Chief executives

 

 

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As Knowledge Infusion works with organizations around the world; there is no doubt that the number one technology vendor used by organizations worldwide for HR is Microsoft.

 

Thursday of last week, Microsoft introduced a new set of business intelligence tools that will more than likely be the next set of analytical tools that HR organizations use to combine data from multiple sources and view the outcomes of that data against business goals.

 

Click below to read more about the Microsoft BI tools announcement and stay tuned as the HR metrics and analytics space or as we call it; TALENT INTELLIGENCE will explode over the next five years.

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Microsoft rolls out performance management BI software

 

 

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At a client site today, I heard the quote from an executive stating that his employees, both young and old CANNOT use technology on a daily basis. This statement combined with the desire to share this article makes for a perfect storm.

 

The article cites a great study from the ECAR (Educause Center for Applied Research).  A few of the findings that are important; remember these are the people entering the workforce:

 

  • 73.7% of students own a laptop * 98.4% own a computer of some kind * Students spend 18 hours per week on average on the Internet (doing what?) * 80% using Facebook and social networking * 46% using streaming course management tools * Balance is still needed as 59% prefer moderate use of technology vs. heavy use of technology

Knowledge Infusion spends time with most of its 150+ enterprise clients and HR vendor community helping educate on the future of technology in the workplace.  The minds that completed this survey are the people that will be on-boarded and choosing the company they work for in the next 3-5 years.  They will come out LOOKING for those organizations that embrace the types of technology they are used to.

 

Where is your 21st century e-HR strategy?

 

Does it include technology desired by the Millenials?

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Link to Inside Higher Ed Article

 

 

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The SMILEY was first posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.

 

Knowledge Infusion is working with more and more organizations daily transforming their e-HR strategy into the 21st century.  The emoticon is just another way that communication is changing faster.  Hmm..How old is the Personal Action Form?

 

What is your favorite emoticon?

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Digital ���smiley��� turns 25 - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

 

 

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Hire An Avatar?

Posted by Jason Averbook Sep 18, 2007

 

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The new world of technology; no one will make first impressions about your height, weight, teeth color; but your Avatar?  Hmm..

 

The world of HR is changing so rapidly based on social networking tools such as Second Life that your Avatar is attending interviews instead of yourself.   Is this the future??

 

End of day...To get top talent that can think outside of the box and understand how to use technology to change the game; HR organizations must be ready to open their minds to new ways of communicating with the workforce of the future.

 

Take a read and create your Avatar strategy?  Well maybe not yet, but soon...

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

 [Link to MSNBC Article|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20588553/]

 

 

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Great piece about how many new employees are by-passing B school and entering the financial services space directly.

 

Knowledge Infusion works with organizations to develop acquisition strategies often and these types of trends change the game of Talent Acquisition forever. 

 

Take a read.

 

Another quick infusion of knowledge... 

 

Bye, Bye B-School - New York Times

 

 

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Knowledge Infusion works with many of our enterprise clients as well as members of the KI Center of Excellence helping them compliment their talent management strategies with best practices around technology.

 

Attracting the best talent is crucial as skills shortages are reaching an all-time high.  Here are four ways that hiring practices will change in the upcoming years that need to be continually on your mind while recruiting:

 

  1. Companies will make recruiting young employees the top priority # Candidate will drive the hiring process rather than employees # Companies will stop writing stupid ads # The quality match will take center stage # The workforce will get great

The Brazen Careerist does a great job detailing these 5 MAJOR ways that the

 

  • HUNT IS CHANGING * WILL CHANGE FOREVER.

Link to The Hunt!

 

 

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Knowledge Management is an ongoing topic that HR organizations are struggling with today.

 

As part of the e-HR strategy that Knowledge Infusion works to instill into HR and talent management organizations; capturing and documenting knowledge is one of the biggest competitive advantages an organization can have.

 

Use the sites linked to below as a way to envision what your collaborative library could look like. 

 

A few winners:

 

  • ePodunk - If you���re looking for information regarding a city or place, it doesn���t get much better than ePodunk. * Wikiseek - When you absolutely, positively, must have the real thing - WikiSeek is Wikipedia with a better search engine. I would also suggest WikiMindMap for when you���re trying to get a better holistic grasp of a subject. * http://www.bookrags.com/ which combines over 100 student encyclopedias and other resources.

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Click for 20 Great (Unknown) Websites

 

 

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Fancy job fairs needed?

 

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Knowledge Infusion is asked daily to help organizations understand how they can better use technology to attract the new generation of worker. 

 

Where do these workers hang out?  What is important to them?

 

BusinessWeek recently ran a survey looking at this interesting, dynamic and ALL IMPORTANT workforce.  Listen to the PODCAST to here what they found. 

 

FYI - if you have never listened to a podcast before, you need to start if you are looking to work with this new generation

 

A recent survey showed that Gen Y individuals want to contribute to nonprofit organizations. That means entrepreneurs looking to recruit young talent should offer volunteer opportunities through the workplace

Click here to listen to podcast!!

 

 

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Crowdsourcing?!?!

Posted by Jason Averbook Sep 13, 2007

 

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As Knowledge Infusion continues to work with clients on leveraging new and emerging collaborative technologies to enable their 2010 e-HR strategy; a term that people should be familiar with emerges; CROWDSOURCING.  Click on the word, it even has a Wikipedia entry.

 

Crowdsourcing and concepts like it will change the face that HR puts forward to the workforce forever.  As more technology vendors and enterprise clients become aware and leverage the power of social networking technologies within the CONFINES (crumbling rapidly) of the corporate world, these new tools will make HR's role more personalized and relevant than ever before.

 

Keep your eye on concepts and terms like this over the next 12-18 months in the HR space and include them now in your e-HR strategies. 

 

e-HR strategies may be something you did ten years ago, but in our opinion, they were done too early and it is time to do them again; only with an eye towards providing technology to the entire workplace.

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Check out the article below.

 

Satisfaction Gets $1.3 Million To Crowdsource Your Help Desk

 

 

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Eat That Frog?

Posted by Jason Averbook Sep 13, 2007

 

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Contributed by mailto:karen.finch@knowledge-infusion.com, Principal Consultant

 

While in the Houston Airport several weeks ago, I was looking for something to read on the plane and bought this book.  It was short, had a cute name, and a friend had recently recommended I read it��� so, why not.

Coincidentally, my manager and I had a one on one scheduled for the following week.  Topic: ���Your Performance Goals���. 

I���d been thinking about my goals, but nothing had coalesced into a clear vision.  What did I want to accomplish over the next year?  As I read the book I realized part of my struggle was because I didn���t have a context for my performance goals.  As a consultant our jobs can be fairly nebulous in terms of concrete long term goal setting.

By the end of my four hour flight I had not only read the book, I had completed a presentation for my manager that included:

  • My understanding of why I���m on Knowledge Infusion���s payroll* My top three career goals - right now* My annual development goals* My annual work goals

I was well prepared for our discussion thanks to the power of this little book. 

While it���s always a great time to read books on goal setting and goal achievement, this could be a particularly effective time as companies, managers and individuals begin their annual goal setting process.  It would also make a great gift!

Another infusion of knowledge...

Link to the KI Bookstore

 

 

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Knowledge Infusion works with clients everyday who are using a web browser to perform tasks from processing payroll to goal alignment to viewing crucial business intelligence data.

 

Business leaders are looking more and more to a 24/7 work environment which means more review of analytical reports, completion of career and performance related information as well as creation of workforce decisions while NOT ONLINE.

 

This is an issue that all HR and talent management vendors will have to respond to in the upcoming years as applications are being designed for more and more of the workforce to use on a daily, ongoing basis vs. just once a year when they can sign in.

 

Take a read about some of the new technology supporting offline applications.  There are already some great examples in the marketplace like what Oracle has put into place with performance management with Backweb.

 

Do you have a need for offline application access?

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

Link to Offline Application Access Article

 

 

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From the frequently asked questions file at Knowledge Infusion; a very common question - how long is paper required as proof for certain types of HR related functions.  See excellent link below..

 

Another quick infusion of knowledge...

 

HR Record Retention Requirements

 

 

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Knowledge Infusion works with organizations around the world helping build out talent management programs and developing roles that technology can play to drive talent management.

 

The US Department of Labor has put out an interesting report called "[Americas Dynamic Workforce 2007|http://www.dol.gov/asp/media/reports/workforce2007/ADW2007_Full_Text.pdf]" that is definitely worth a read and a great tool for building a business case for talent management.

 

���What our country does face is a skills gap,��� Chao said in a press release. ���The majority of new jobs created over the next decade will require more skills, higher education and pay above average wages, so it is important to ensure that workers are able to get the education and training they need to access these growing opportunities."

Another quick infusion of knowledge...

 

U.S. Workforce 'Vibrant' but Faces Skills Gap, Chao Says

 

 

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Knowledge Infusion works with business leaders from organizations worldwide to help understand how THEY are focusing on talent management.

 

In a recent interview Friday, a major CPG organization leader when asked what role HR plays in talent management in their organization, the quote was

 

"ABSOLUTELY NONE: I COULD ONLY WISH"

 

From