STATE OF

HR TECHNOLOGY
INDIA 2019-20
 The State of HR
Technology India 2019-20
A People Matters Research

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD -
Ester Martinez, CEO & Editor-in-Chief at People Matters

INTRODUCTION

KEY FINDINGS

CONCLUSION

EXPERT VIEWS

Harish Kukreja, Head HR India and Global HR Shared Services

at Fidelity International
Jayati Roy, Director HR at Barco India
Niharika G Bhardwaj, Head HR & Training, Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd
Mukund Nair, Director-HR at Nagarro
Sreekanthkanth Arimanithaya, Global Talent Leader, GDS EY at EY

CASE STUDIES

How AI reinvented the hiring practice at L’Oréal

Blockchain for decision-making at VLCC

FOREWORD
HR today is facing fierce challenges in helping
organizations become top destinations for talent,
building the workforce of the future, managing an
agile organization and retaining top employees, all
while providing strategic insight to key decision-makers.

To become true strategic partners to the business and enable

enterprise-wide digital transformation efforts, leaders must act quickly to modernize the HR
organization and align its capabilities to address these new challenges.

Today’s dynamic HR technology and services market is aligned to this requirement. People
Matters estimates that the extended segment of work (that includes workforce productivity, gig
economy, enterprise benefits, workforce healthcare and robotics) would be an approx. of 300 Bn
USD.

WORKFORCE MARKET
NEARLY USD 300 Bn
CUMULATIVE

Continuing with our endeavor to provide actionable research to our community, People Matters
has come out with an exclusive research, State of HR Technology India 2019-20, which dives deep
into how Indian organizations have evolved in their digital agendas. This involved understanding
the automation level in different aspects of talent management and also entails their investment
plans in HR technologies, attributes they are looking out while investing in a technology, and
future-proofing HR team for digital transformation. The study also features the sentiments of
organizations on the impact of new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive
Technologies, Blockchain, IoT, etc.

One of the stark findings and indeed a progressive one is that today, adopting HR technology is
not only about improving the efficiency and effectiveness of HR processes but empowering the
employees (58 percent). This is a sign that the supporting role of technology has today emerged
in a more enabling role where new-age technologies like Analytics and Data Science, AI &
Chatbots and Cognitive technologies are providing global businesses a solution to build an
effective workforce.

Supplementing this study are the digital transformation agendas of leading companies across
different sectors including EY, Barco, Fidelity Investments, Nagarro, and Indiabulls Housing
Finance. These columns provide an inside view into how companies design their own strategies
to confront the digitally disruptive world. The research also features a peek into some of the best
cases from India and global corporations from around the world.

The insights, expert views and case studies make this report an indispensable collection of ideas.
We hope that it gives you an opportunity to both reflect and benchmark the transformation
agendas in your own context.

We are grateful to all the participants who took the survey along with the individuals and
organizations who contributed their time and expertise in assisting us with this.

Happy reading!

Ester Martinez
CEO & Editor-in-Chief, People Matters
INTRODUCTION
The global human resource management market is anticipated to reach USD 30.01 billion by 2025,
registering a CAGR of 11.0% from 2019 to 2025.

The HR technology market is changing at a faster rate than ever. Cloud-based core HR systems
are expanding and growing in number and an ever increasing number of new companies are
building AI-based talent tools to reshape the entire talent management landscape. Blockchain
and cognitive technologies are seamlessly making their way into various facets of HR.

While the advancement in HR technology is accelerating, the ongoing pace of progress of these
technologies is transforming how people carry out their work, and how HR supports employees.
Hence, HR will need to have a solid grasp of the possibilities and limitations of technology, and be
active participants in looking for opportunities to leverage it.

To better understand how Indian organizations are making their way through digital transforma-
tion, we are excited to present to you People Matters State of HR Technology India 2019-20. The
study engaged with more than 250 respondents from 208 unique companies with a series of
questions about their HR technology and service delivery environment.

The research reveals that while organizations are currently using some form of technology in the
different aspects of talent management, over the years, the levels of automation of HR processes
has considerably improved in some strategic HR functions like Communication and Collabora-
tion and Employer Branding.

The key objective of investing in HR technology was not limited to a standard scope for process
effectiveness but organizations have realized that HR technology provides an opportunity to
empower employees and to increase employee satisfaction and engagement.

Even with investments ‘going up’ in HR technology for the year 2019-20, only 20 percent compa-
nies have allocated a budget of more than 1 crore to this. While organizations are highly optimis-
tic about the new age technologies like AI, Cognitive Technologies, and Data Science, they face
challenges in adopting these technologies due to budget constraints, leadership buy-in, and lack
of skills and capabilities in the HR team.

The study focuses on:

THE AUTOMATION LEVELS: FUNCTION-WISE AUTOMATION IN

WHICH THE ORGANIZATIONS HAVE ADOPTED TECHNOLOGY

THE HR TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT: THE BUDGETS AND STRATEGY

OF ADOPTING TECHNOLOGY

THE NEW-AGE HR TECHNOLOGY: THE IMPACT OF NEW-AGE

TECHNOLOGIES ON HR AND WORK
RESPONDENT’S
PROFILE
The People Matters State of HR Technology India 2019-20, is an endeavor to uncover some of the
most pertinent trends in the HR technology domain. The study takes a good look at HR
transformation at the strategic and tactical levels so we can help you be more successful in your
transformation journey

This study, conducted in the months of June and July 2019, saw the participation of over 200
unique companies from MNCs, indigenous firms, small and medium businesses across different
sectors spread across India.

Company Size:
What is the total employee strength of your organization?

50%

40%

30%
30%

20%
23%

14% 13%
10% 12%
8%

Less than 500- 1,000- 5,000- 10,000- More than

500 1,000 5,000 10,000 20,000 20,000

Industry-wise representation:
In which industry does your organization operate?

AGRICULTURE 1% MANUFACTURING/ENGINEERING 16%

ACADEMICS 1% MEDIA 4%

AUTOMOTIVE 4% PHARMACEUTICAL/ MEDICAL DEVICES/ 7%

HEALTHCARE SERVICES

BANKING, FINANCIAL SERVICES

& INSURANCE 12% REAL ESTATE/ INFRASTRUCTURE 1%

CONSULTING 8% RETAIL & WHOLESALE TRADE 1%

E-COMMERCE 2% TECHNOLOGY 6%

ENERGY 2% TELECOMMUNICATION 2%

FMCG 3% TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS 1%

IT & COMMUNICATION 28% OTHERS 1%

KEY FINDINGS:
HR AUTOMATION LEVELS

A ubiquitous increase in adoption of HR technology in organizations is evident. However, the study

found that the levels of automation of HR technology are considerably low in some strategic HR
functions such as identification and management of HiPos, succession planning, and strategic
workforce planning.

Comparing the data from the study conducted in 2016, The state of HR Technology 2016 in
partnership with SAP, functions like Communication & Collaboration and Employer Branding
observed higher degree of automation as compared to previous data.

Among the organizations that have adopted HR technology, most have achieved the highest
levels of automation level in their HR operation process, with 7 in 10 companies reporting that
more than 50 percent of their HR administrative processes are automated.

Performance management continued to be in the top three spots with 58 percent companies
claiming the performance management function to be more than 50 percent automated.
However, the percentage of automation dropped by 11 percent from 2016, which may be due to
disruption in the performance management processes. Performance management today has
moved from just being about annual appraisals and is more about regular and 360 degree
feedback. Hence, requiring more of human intervention and less automation as compared to
previous years.

Function-wise automation:
In which areas has your organization adopted technology?

High-levels of automation
HR OPERATIONS:
70% have automated more
than half of the function
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT:
58% have automated more
than half of the function
COMMUNICATION &
COLLABORATION:
50% have automated more
than half of the function

Medium-levels of automation
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS: RECRUITMENT: LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT:
47% have automated more 42% have automated more 41% have automated more
than half of the function than half of the function than half of the function

EMPLOYER BRANDING: REWARDS & RECOGNITION: ONBOARDING:

35% have automated more 34% have automated more 31% have automated more
than half of the function than half of the function than half of the function

Low-levels of automation
HIPO IDENTIFICATION &
MANAGEMENT:
23% have automated more
than half of the function
SUCCESSION PLANNING:
22% have automated more
than half of the function
STRATEGIC WORKFORCE
PLANNING:
22% have automated more
than half of the function
A THREE YEAR SHIFT IN AUTOMATION JOURNEY*

FUNCTION 2016 (%) 2019 (%) SHIFT (%)

HR Operations 68 70 +2

Performance Management 69 58 -11

Communication & Collaboration 29 50 +21

Recruitment 41 42 +1

Learning & Development 43 41 -2

Employer Branding 18 35 +17

Rewards & Recognition 35 34 -1

Succession Planning 21 22 +1

Strategic Workforce Planning 24 22 -2

*The figures indicate that more than half of the functions are automated

Certain functions like Strategic Workforce Planning, Succession

Planning, continue to be people-driven functions and hardly any
significant technology adoption can be seen in these functions.
HR TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS

To increase effectiveness of HR execution emerges as the key objective of investment in HR

technology. To empower employees and managers to self-manage people workflows and
processes (59 percent) and to increase efficiency of HR execution (59 percent) completes the
suite of top three core objectives of investment in HR technology.

When asked while shortlisting HR technology, which attributes do they look out for, ability to
integrate (74 percent) was the top choice. However, it was found that only 37 percent companies
have mainly an integrated system either from one partner (21 percent), multiple partners (8
percent) and in some cases, an integrated in-house technology (8 percent).

Cost still remains the prime factor in making HR Technology investment decisions. As mentioned
above, cost reduction was one of the objectives of investment in HR technology. The study also
found that cost saving measures (49 percent) is one of the top three metrics that companies
track to measure the ROI of HR Technology. The other metrics include time-saving measures (54
percent) and HR operational metrics across functions (52 percent).

Even with investments increasing in HR technology, only 20 percent companies have allocated a
budget of more than 1 crore for this. About 45 percent plan to invest less than 25 lacs in the next 12
months.

As per the findings, 20 percent of organizations are

planning to invest more than 1 crore in HR Technology
in the year 2019-20 which is a 35 percent increase
from FY 2016-17.

The research also reveals that CHRO (70 percent) and CEO (62 percent) are the two key
decision-makers for investing in a technology. The rise in CEO involvement in HR technology
investments is evident of the fact that the top management now sees much more ROI in these
investments along with the need to create a future-ready workplace.
Investment objectives:
What are your core objectives of investment in HR technology?

To increase effectiveness of HR execution (higher impact) 69%

To empower employees and managers to

59%
self manage people workflows and processes

To increase efficiency of HR execution (cost reduction) 59%

To increase employee satisfaction and engagement 54%

To free bandwidth across the HR team to focus on

53%
more strategic business partnership activities

Attributes in HR technology:
While shortlisting HR technology, which attributes do you look out for?

74% 71% 71% 70% 69%

Ability to Strong analytics Consumer-centric Flexibility to Accessibility and
integrate layer user experience customize mobility

Adoption strategy:
What is the strategy of HR technology that best defines your current approach?

8%
We have built an integrated
HR technology system in-house
21%
We have mainly an integrated
system from one partner
8%
We have multiple HR technologies
AGRICULTURE
procured from multiple vendors,
operating across different function
within HR, integrated under one
unifying and common interface
and data layer

34% 4% 21%
We have multiple HR technologies We have outsourced the HR We have some HR technologies
procured from multiple vendors, technology infrastructure to a built in-house and some have been
operating across different functions third party procured from vendors
within HR, not fully integrated with
each other

4%
Others
ROI on Investment:
How is your organization measuring the return on investment on HR technology strategy?

Time-saving measures 54%

HR operational metrics across functions 52%

(recruitment, L&D, etc.)

Cost-saving measures 49%

Process simplification and standardization 46%

Employee satisfaction measures 46%

The allocated budgets: 75%

What is your budget strategy for
HR technology for this financial year?
21%
4%
GOING UP GOING DOWN REMAINS THE SAME

What is the approximate budget you will be spending in the next 12 months in HR Technology?
50%

40% 45%
30%

20% 25%
13%
10% 10% 7%

< Rs 25 Lacs Between Between Between > 2 Crore

Rs 25 Lacs Rs 50 Lacs Rs 1 Crore
& Rs 50 Lacs & Rs 1 Crore & Rs 2 Crore

Decision-makers:
Who are the influencers in decision making for HR technology investment in your organization?

CEO 62% Users (employees) 15%

CIO 23% Business Managers/Leaders 36%

CHRO 70% Procurement 7%

COO 14%
NEW-AGE HR TECHNOLOGY

Analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Chatbots and Cognitive Technologies were ranked as the top
three new-age technologies that can create an impact on talent and workplace.

Among the various technologies, Blockchain emerged as the least mature technology because
39 percent of the respondents are not well-versed with it.

While India Inc. organizations are highly optimistic about the opportunities that new-age
technologies can bring to talent management and HR, the journey to adopting these
technologies is not easy.

The limited budgets for HR technology (46 percent), leadership buy-in to experiment (43 percent),
ability to measure return on investment (42 percent) are some of the challenges when it comes
to adopting new-age technologies in their organization.

Highlighting the HR involvement in adopting and executing technologies, the research reveals
that in more than half of the participating organizations, the execution project is jointly owned by
the HR team and the IT team.

High-impact
future technologies

RANK-1 RANK-2 RANK-3

Analytics AI & Chatbots Cognitive Technologies

CHALLENGES IN EXECUTION:
WHAT IS THE KEY CHALLENGE AREA WHEN IT COMES TO
ADOPTING NEW-AGE TECHNOLOGIES IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?

46% 43% 42%

Budgets for HR technology Leadership buy-in to Ability to measure return on
are limited experiment investment

39% 35%
Understanding on its Skills and capabilities
applications in our context required to implement technology
 HR technology execution:
To what extent is the HR team involved in execution
of HR technology projects? There is a separate dedicated
team that leads the execution
of such projects and it reports to
The project is jointly owned by the HR team and the IT team the CHRO

55% 33% 7% 5%
The project is entirely owned by the HR team

There is no representation
of HR professionals in the team

This also leaves us with another challenge which is about having the mindset and skills and
capabilities required to implement technology. The efforts or investments in future-proofing HR
teams are largely sporadic or haven’t even started, which is a red flag for the community.

However, some progressive organizations have started taking positive steps towards this
wherein, largely the efforts on making HR future-ready are centered around investing in exposing
HR team members to HR technology, digital & other future-focused events and investing in
access to content, membership.

Future-proofing HR teams:
How are you future-proofing your HR teams on the following parameters?

PARAMETERS Not structured We are planning We have not Yes we have a

but sporadic investment but not yet executed started structured program
or effort

50%
46

40% 38
33 34
33
31 30
30%
26 26
25 24 23 25
23 22 23
20 19
20% 19 19
17 16
15
14
10%

Training HR Including digital Budgeting for Providing rotation Investing in Investing in access
in digital, new projects in KRA experimentation programs to HR exposing HR to content,
technologies and of HR team & innovation team members to team members membership,
ways of working members decentralized non-HR functions to HR technology, access to learning
with HR team digital & other specific for HR team
members future-focused members
events
CONCLUSION
As the world of work evolves, it is critical for organizations to leverage technology that enhances
the speed of the overall people processes, empower employees, and build a team of better, more
productive workers.

This study provided key insights into the current landscape of technology adoption rate, the
approach towards building a digital HR function, and the challenges in adopting niche
technologies in HR.

While organizations have kickstarted their HR digital journey, only three processes namely, HR
operations, performance management, and communication & collaboration are automated
more than 50 percent. The digitization level has improved but still needs a lot of effort in the
context of: investments, leadership buy-in, and skills and competencies of HR teams.

Limited budgets, Leadership buy-in, and skills and competencies constitute the top three
challenges in adopting the advanced technologies in HR. Currently, the efforts or investments in
future-proofing HR teams are largely sporadic or in the planning phase.

HR community is betting on
Analytics, AI & Chatbots, & Cognitive Technologies
as the next frontier for HR transformation.

From the study, it was evident that the HR service providers should focus more on integration, a
strong analytics layer, and accessibility and mobility of technology as these form the suite of
attributes that organizations are looking forward to while investing in any technology.

Further, the investments in HR technology is going up in 2019-20 with 20 percent of companies

investing over Rs.1 crore. Comparing these figures with the 2016 study, the investments in HR
technology have significantly increased by 35 percent.
EXPERT
VIEWS
Talent leaders from
different industries share
their success stories of
adopting HR technology
and what went behind the
entire transformation
journey.
DRIVING A SELF-SERVICE CULTURE WITH HR TECHNOLOGY
Harish Kukreja, Head of HR India and Global HR Shared Services at Fidelity International

The digital agenda of Fidelity International is driven by the culture shift

of empowering employees using HR technology.

In the HR tech space, our journey has evolved from a human-based provision culture to a
self-service culture. That has been our fundamental principle. In the past, all the employee and HR
interactions and processes were delivered manually. However, a few years ago, we decided to
change that into an environment where employees can self-service them. We installed a leading
marketing HR technology platform that has helped us get data more organized. We have also
implemented an internal search engine called HR Hub that helps our employees get relevant
results.

Major technology initiatives

Our HR transformation started with the core of the HR system that allowed us to get the best
practices in other areas of focus. For example, our complete compensation review is digitized
with the system. The whole learning experience is done on a dedicated network, which was a
significant implementation for us. Then we have the HR Hub, an online search engine. Moreover,
recently we are in a pilot phase to roll out an AI chatbot which is an extension of an HR business
partner, that will help employees connect directly with HR and voice their state of mind; good,
bad, ugly, happy, and sad.

And as we know with any technology initiative, the biggest challenge is around data. We faced
the same problem. The speed at which the transaction needs to take place was a mismatch with
the speed with which technology was becoming available. Therefore people were doing their
jobs in a workaround manner, and that compromised our data quality. However, we learned very
quickly within a year of going live with our core systems and started to focus on data quality and
data discipline. This allowed us to get the right governance to make sure that the information
that is going into the system is as clean as possible.

Our way of working is letting HR own the specialist knowledge content and the enterprise IT
teams own the delivery of that technology. It is a partnership that is needed across HR and
technology functions. The HR team would bring the content and the knowledge of processes
along with being custodians of security and data stored, while tech will focus on whether we
are getting the right tools, maintaining it in the right way or not.

Metrics to measure returns on HR technology investment

There are several ways we can look at, for example, one is that the size of our HR organization
scales to the complexity and the number of employees and location we have is optimized and
that is one of the cost reductions we got.

Secondly, while hiring candidates irrespective of whether they are rejected or accepted in the
company, we ask some questions to know their experience. We monitor the candidate
experience, and that is clearly giving us the values.

This is a more subjective measure, but that's the real measure according to me for two accounts.
One, our ability to bring people is much better now. Before technology, we would see 30 people
bring one in; now we see only ten people select one. So it is a clear return on that investment, that
we can make decisions faster, quicker, and relevant. Also, even the candidates that aren't
selected are walking away with substantial candidate experience which is helping us cover
positive Glassdoor and social media coverage because the candidates still have registered
Fidelity as a place to work for whenever the opportunity comes.

Future of HR processes in Fidelity International

Our AI chatbot is in the pilot phase, which is our major focus area. It will change the way we will
connect with our employees, and the way our employees will connect with HR. We have had the
experience of implementing significant technology with projects. Our typical new HR technology
adoptions include implementation, learning, and optimization. Based on the learning from the
pilot phase, we decide if it is a big bang implementation or targeted implementation.
HR TECHNOLOGY AND ITS INCREASING ROLE
IN RECRUITMENT
Jayati Roy, Director HR at Barco India

Increased usage of technologies in HR, especially in the recruitment

process, is helping Indian companies gain competitive advantages by
hiring and retaining the right talent.

The Human Resources (HR) department is dynamic for any organization these days. There are
many new trends that HR managers are following that are redefining the sector. Rapid
advancement in technologies in HR is not only creating a wave globally but also in India.
Increased usage of technologies in HR, especially in the recruitment process, is helping Indian
companies gain competitive advantages by hiring and retaining the right talent.

As we are moving towards a digital age, talent acquisition is also going through an immense
transformation and technology is playing a bigger role in the hiring process now. In the last one
year, we have witnessed and adopted many new technological trends such as:

Artificial Intelligence & chatbots:

AI & chatbots help recruiters to identify relevant resumes from the large pool of candidates. It
helps recruiters to identify top prospects and engage with them quickly. Chatbots help in
pre-screening the candidates and tag them along with the requirements and recommendations
to the hiring manager. AI & chatbots eliminate a lot of administrative work at the recruiter’s end
and thus, increase productivity.

Talent pooling and social sourcing platforms:

Recruiters are now using the social web as a way of sourcing the top candidates. CVs alone are
no longer considered a sufficient way of qualifying the candidature. By taking the time to look
through a person’s social presence, recruiters can cut away the excess time in the talent search.

Technology enabling virtual interviews helps record facial expressions, hand gestures, and eye
movements, thus capturing the number of applications the candidate opens during the
virtual/video interview and gives a comprehensive analysis.

Initially, integration of data from multiple HR functions was a challenging and time-consuming
task and many weren’t comfortable moving to technology adoption. At times, due to multiple
interfaces, the team ended up with duplication of efforts. We needed specialists who could train
the new joinees’ about the system integrated processes.

It was inevitable to train and adapt to the technological advancements as it is imperative

for us to map and analyze key employee data for decision-making processes.

Adapting to technological processes helped reduce errors in processes and increased strategic
thinking and productivity.

The HR technology processes are although led by the HR team, there is a parallel inclusion of the
IT team as well, since they need to keep a constant tab on the technologies that are being
implemented and make sure they are running smoothly. During any HR technology project
implementation, the project lead is generally from the HR team but it is also co-led by the IT team.
MOLDING HRIS TO BETTER EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
FOR MAXIMUM OUTPUT
Niharika G Bhardwaj, Head HR & Training, Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd

Indiabulls Housing Finance is playing employee experience at the

center of their HRIS systems to better productivity and rapidly grow business.

The one thing that has evolved with digitization is, how businesses are interacting with their
employees. In the previous three years, Indiabulls has been over-emphasizing on how to
communicate with employees and enable them to have direct access and minimal manual
intervention. We are treating them as our customers and assuring their satisfaction when it
comes to testing Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS). We have put in a lot of effort to
first change our backend processes to make sure our employees are comfortable with the
automation process in the digital space.

As a customer today, you often tend to want everything at the click of a button. Similarly, every
employee also wants to avoid a tedious process and quickly check their PF balance or tax
calculations, etc. Everything from something as simple as checking their leave balance to
something as complicated as getting VISAs done is being automated in our company.
The one challenge that we have experienced during this digital transformation is
non-customizable HRIS. All the organizations or vendors of HRIS today are not customizable as per
the financial sector or retail business needs. The specific requirement of a financial sector
company that spreads around 300 branches in terms of language accessibility, customizing
business processes, etc. are not being catered to. Most of these systems are IT company focused,
so that becomes an obstacle.

Benefits of adopting HRIS

When the TAT (Turn Around Time) reduces, employees are much more efficient. They can shift
their focus from mundane transactional jobs to high-priority areas that got sidelined earlier. As a
customer, my employees are much happier because they don't see small tasks as
time-consuming hurdles anymore.

In terms of business process efficiency, our recruitment processes have changed completely.
Earlier it was based on guesswork or Excel sheets. For example, we had to jog our memory to
check if we have employees from a particular organization already present for references or
other information. But when AI is in place, it becomes much easier to do a discreet internal check
as you have all the data in one place.

Not just TAT or efficiency-cost but even my expenses on enabling better employee experience
have reduced drastically.

The collaboration of HR and IT

As a business process, HR has to own it and ensure a smooth transition in the organization.
70% of it depends on HR to clearly articulate the needs of the system, while 30% is done by IT
where they inform you if something like that can or cannot be done technically.

Measuring ROI
For us, the first demarcation of ROI is HRIS's impact on TAT (Turn around time). Ultimately, our
employees are our customers, so our benchmark is how delighted they are and if things are
getting done on time for them.

Secondly, I see if HRISs are letting us bring down our cost. For example, if background verification
is to be initiated, does it happen full-fledgedly in one go or do I have to raise it again and recur
the cost. In terms of productivity, I check if the HRIS is letting me take the right decisions at the
right time and put a direct intervention on their learning and development skills.
As a sales-driven organization, we aim to push an average performer to become a top performer
and a below-average one to an average performer. This facilitates higher per-person
productivity, and the impact is seen directly on our organization's sales.

The future of AI in HRIS

We strongly feel AI should be used by every organization even though it's at a very nascent stage.
It can do wonders in terms of employee experience and right talent acquisition.

In terms of the future, if my employee engagement system has valuable input, it should be able
to talk to my learning management or talent management system directly. For example, if in the
productivity system, we detect an employee who isn't consistent but performs exceptionally
during the appraisal period or incentive period, the system should be able to provide data that
lets an HR know that this employee needs to be trained on consistency rather than performance.

At Indiabulls, we were streamlining recruitment, onboarding, lifecycle management, etc. so far.

Now we are shifting our focus towards talent management, employee engagement, and
communication. We have instilled a reward system that rewards employees who come up with
new ideas based on these three parameters. Today we are more focused on building a culture
that accepts digital transformation.
A FOCUS ON DIGITAL & AN EVOLVED DATA FIRST STRATEGY
Mukund Nair, Director – HR, Nagarro

Nagarro’s growth has meant that the HR function has had to constantly
reinvent itself to leverage the best that technology has to offer.

Nagarro has experienced an explosive growth pattern over the past five years, growing three
times in size and expanding operations to more than 15 countries through this period. This growth
has meant that the HR function has had to constantly reinvent itself to leverage the best that
technology has to offer. It started from a focus on digitization of data and processes, to an
evolved data-first strategy at the enterprise layer and has now reached a stage where we have
a good mix of process flow automation, bots, analytics and AI at the core of HR processes.

Some of the key trends that we have seen are:

It is not about HR – There has been a subtle shift in how any solution is being conceptualized in HR.
It’s no longer just HR workflows in silos, but instead a deep dive into an understanding of overall business
goals. These goals are then achieved using an evolved data strategy to get the various systems to talk to
each other to produce the results that business needs
It is all in the cloud – On-premise solutions both for HR as well as employees are rapidly dying and
almost all new products are now focussed on either a cloud-first or a cloud-only strategy
Data, data and more data – It is either what data you should be collecting which can help you to be smarter
or it is what data you shouldn’t be collecting to avoid any compliance risks. Data lakes, enterprise data
strategy, analytics, AI are all now common terminology in the lives of HR practitioners

Data, data and more data – From building solutions which helped HR inform what employees should do
and shouldn’t, the trend is now towards a more feedback loop driven user interface. While at it’s evolved
state today it is chatbots, but at a bare minimum, platforms which give employees a voice are being created
to help them be a part of the culture building and growth within the organization.

While the journey of technology led transformation in the HR space has been constant,
a few initiatives which have stood out for us have been:

Fully digitized talent acquisition driven through AI:

A few years ago we started work on digitizing the entire talent acquisition process, with the goal
of being completely paperless. We were able to achieve this goal within a few months of
conceptualization and we then integrated with AI platforms to improve both the recruiter as well
as the candidate experience.

Employee engagement through AI:

We have an AI driven interface for each employee to interact with the organization and its
systems, regardless of whether that person works in engineering, sales, HR, or some other
function. The system is multi-channel – there’s a web interface, but there are also interactions via
Microsoft Teams, email, Windows alerts, and even SMS. The platform does not replace any of the
company’s systems; e.g., our project system, ERP, collaboration tools, or reporting systems. It
deliberately provides only snippets of information in a teasing way, along with links to these tools
and systems.
Gamified learning through LevelUp!:
LevelUp! is a technology platform we have built to gamify assessments using badges and
medals to encourage people to validate their skills, which is an essential input to the talent
allocation and planning process. The data collected through this platform is also being used to
conceptualize a recommendation engine which will help personalize a user’s learning journey
within the organization.

Seamless travel using Expat mobility solution:

Our understanding of the Expat mobility space made us realize that there doesn’t really exist any
solution which not just takes care of employee needs but also factors in the various compliance
requirements. Being a technology company, we decided to take on this challenge head-on and
today, we are at the cusp of running majority of Expat movements through digitized workflows.

With any technology transformation, the challenge really has been getting the technology and
product teams to work closely to deliver solutions in a rapid iterative manner, while not losing
sight of the big picture. But once this is achieved, the benefits are tremendous.

01 Our HR practitioners tend to enjoy their work a lot more as a lot of the grunt work and
heavy lifting is done by technology, while they can focus on what they are most skilled
at, connecting with employees

02 Our employees feel more empowered as they get a more transparent and seamless
view through the process, helping them focus on what they have been hired for, which
is delivering value for our clients

03 We have got very quick return on investments through either cost savings or productivity
gains as well as a more engaged workforce

New-age HR technology
New-age technologies are honestly not that new anymore in the HR space at least. AI is quite
clearly the most promising with the ability to predict moments of truth and create them for
existing or prospective employees. It’s not just in data crunching, but also in interaction with
employees, using intelligent chat bots and usage of AI based rather than analytics-based
recommendation engines, are gaining more and more traction. We are already users of AI and
we envision the usage of AI increasing manifolds within Nagarro.

AR/VR, we feel will get more mainstream not only in the L&D space, but also in the talent
acquisition space through interactive assessments for understanding how people behave in
different scenarios. This is also a quite promising opportunity, because of the high engagement
impact it creates. In the long run, I see this being the layer over AI for almost all HR solutions.

Blockchain is still quite nascent and I think it’s going to take a while before it becomes
mainstream for corporate HR. A lot will depend on how the governments as well as large HCM
providers take to it as it does require network effects for the solutions to be truly effective.
REIMAGINING & REALIGNING HR WITH TECHNOLOGY
AND DATA SCIENCE
Sreekanthkanth Arimanithaya, Global Talent Leader, GDS EY at EY

Digital transformation is the vision and the passion of the CHRO

but it gets achieved only when the ambition is comprehended by all
the stakeholders, from CEOs, business leaders, line managers to employees.

Digital transformation helps enhance employee experience and foster their growth, thus
increasing the economic value both at the individual and organizational level. However, digital
transformation is a broad concept and has many layers to it. To begin with, what talent leaders
need to realize is that there is no single point solution for all the talent challenges. Different
problems require different solutions. For instance, we are experimenting with chatbots for tasks
like scheduling interviews and utilizing them in shared services. On the other hand, for digitizing
our onboarding and selection process, we are looking at gamification. Then when it comes to
background verification, we are thinking how blockchain technology can be used there. So, there
is not any particular technology that can be used for every talent function. In fact, the presence
of variety of technologies creates an opportunity for companies to choose the one that works for
them the best.

At EY, we have realized the potential technology has and the impact it can create on employee
productivity, performance and in turn, on business. When it comes to utilizing technology in HR,
we are the early adopters with a very strong ambition and aspiration to be thought leaders in the
space. In the last few years, we have implemented single ERPs and common HRIS globally. Till now,
we have migrated some of our talent processes but in the next 18 months, we plan to digitize all
the talent modules.

Over and above the technology layer, we are also focusing on data and on leveraging data
science to gain more ‘people insights’. Through data and analytics, we can gather more
knowledge about the intangible elements like employee experience, opinions, attitudes and
perceptions. Then through these insights and data, we can make better decisions for across the
employee lifecycle, from workforce planning to alumni networking.

Besides tech and data, there are many other methodologies or concepts that are required for
digital transformation. Techniques and approaches like design thinking, agile methodology, and
lean six sigma are important to execute the transformation. As how tech gets implemented is as
essential as what tech is being used, these approaches help simplify and structure the process of
technology implementation. These concepts are important as the focus shifts from only adopting
tech solutions to leveraging tech for integrating, reimagining and realigning the HR organization.

The entire digital transformation process hence, gets led by CXOs. It is the vision and the passion
of the CHRO but it gets achieved only when the ambition is comprehended by all the
stakeholders, from CEOs, business leaders, line managers to employees. For EY, hence, our focus
will now be not only on experimenting with new technologies, but also simultaneously enabling
talent organization to partner with the business. Secondly, we will also ensure that each talent
decision and initiative impacts business and leads to top line and bottom line growth.

The HR community is valued for their judgement and technology and data science is helping
us enhance this competency and make better decisions for people and business.

As HR professionals, we must make continuous efforts to learn more about the technologies we
can implement and approaches like design thinking and agile methodologies that will help us
adopt the tech solutions better. A team of skilled and more equipped HR professionals can then
lead the reimagination and realignment of HR organization.
CASE
STUDIES
A look at how some
forward-looking organizations
have adopted HR technology,
what were there key focus areas,
how did they select the right
suite of technologies and how
successful have they been in
implementingthem.

*Disclaimer: These case studies have been curated from various interviews and events organized
by People Matters and have been published on its digital platforms.
CASE STUDY -1
HOW AI REINVENTED THE HIRING PRACTICE AT L’ORÉAL

Business Challenge:

Every year, two million candidates apply online for various jobs at L’Oréal. Out of those two million
unique applications, the company hires 5,000 candidates every year. The job of selecting the
5,000 candidates out of the unique two million CVs or applications is performed by a recruitment
team comprising of 145 recruiters globally.

Clearly, L’Oréal required a more innovative approach to solve the following three challenges:

REDUCING THE ENHANCING HIRING

TURNAROUND TIME THE CANDIDATE THE RIGHT
FOR HIRING EXPERIENCE CANDIDATE

Solution:

L’Oréal adopted AI and Machine Learning to avoid the non-value adding tasks and focus on more
value-added tasks in recruitment. For the screening process, L’Oréal adopted a chatbot which
helped job seekers like a human recruiter, screening potential candidates for the company. The
chatbot which works on AI and NLP (Natural Language Processing) asks questions, verifies
qualifications, and answers questions from job applicants about things like company culture,
policy, and benefits. After the chatbot finishes asking questions and screening for qualifications, it
would deliver updates to the recruiters letting them know about the "best-fit" and "non-fit" for the
job role.

While the chatbot takes care of the harder aspects like qualification, location, salary, the
organization felt the need to automate the assessment of candidates on the softer aspects too.
So, L’Oreal commissioned using algorithms and create a customized AI model based on L’Oreal’s
values and competency frameworks, which asked three questions from the candidates who
have completed the initial interaction with the chatbot. The three questions were:

Clearly, L’Oréal required a more innovative approach to solve the following three challenges:

01 Tell us about a project that you worked on and it failed. What did you learn from that
project?

02 Tell us about the project where you were working with multicultural teams and what
experience did you have?

03 Tell us about a situation where you were convinced about your idea, but your seniors were
not. How did you convince them?

The algorithm compared the answers given by the candidates with the answers given by the
L’Oréal employees and generated the cultural fit scores. This information was fed into the
Application Tracking System which helped recruiters to arrange CVs based on the cultural
scores they had.
Outcome:

L’Oréal identified how AI could be used to deliver an improved candidate experience and
leveraged AI to make deeper human connections with candidates. The technology helped not
only the recruiters in shortlisting the right candidates for the job, but also helped candidates to
decide about their careers at L’Oréal.

Niilesh Bhoite, Chief Digital Officer - Global HR, L'Oréal shared, “Over the last seven months, 13,000
candidates have spoken to Mya. An average recruiter takes 45 minutes to screen, schedule and
do a phone interview. Mya took charge of doing the entire process in 4-5 minutes. Hence, saving
40 minutes per CV. Bhoite further said, “We saved 45 working days on a six-month period for our
UK recruiting team. Thus, helping them to redeploy this time in other value-added tasks.”
CASE-STUDY-2
BLOCKCHAIN FOR DECISION-MAKING: A VLCC CASE-STUDY

Business Challenge:

Given the state of existing systems, HR teams still struggle to make educated decisions quickly.
They lack real-time analytics on employee performance, industry benchmarks, engagement, etc.
Data is desirable at all levels as it helps in deliberating on the business’ next move. Most of the
time, leaders complain about the overall process of decision-making being complex and erratic.
This explains why the majority of big corporations spend an enormous amount of money in hiring
third-party management consulting firms for strategic advice and implementation. Even with
these measures in place, the decision making is still prone to error given the fragmentation of the
process.

Solution:

To make sure the technology is being used by employees and offers the decision-making ability
to everyone in the company, VLCC decided to leverage upon blockchain. The overall technology
adoption process was divided into four phases:

PHASE 1 - SETTING UP A TEAM OF BLOCKCHAIN EXPERTS:

The company appointed region-wise blockchain experts who took the
ownership of educating and incorporating the use of blockchain in day-to-day activities.

PHASE 2 - SETTING UP A TEAM OF BLOCKCHAIN EXPERTS:

Let people participate in the decision-making process. Make them learn how the teams are
using blockchain by decentralizing the decision-making process.

PHASE 1 - HELP PEOPLE VISUALIZE THE OUTCOMES:

Employees will not adopt any technology until they feel there is an advantage attached to it
or it makes their work easier. Let them participate in the process and help them see the bigger
picture attached to adopting the technology.

PHASE 4 - MAKE THEM ADOPT THE TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES:

Employees will not adopt any technology until they feel there is an advantage attached to it
or it makes their work easier. Let them participate in the process and help them see the bigger
picture attached to adopting the technology.

Outcome:

The blockchain technology helped HR at VLCC to make timely decisions as they had better
access to data concerning recruitment, training, absenteeism, productivity, candidate fraud, and
employee satisfaction.
ABOUT
PEOPLE MATTERS
RESEARCH
People Matters Research is a research unit within
People Matters Media, conducting research and
comparative analysis on the three dimensions of
people and work: Talent, Tech and Transformation.
Each report is published based on the findings of
quantitative and/or qualitative research and
analysis. Quantitative surveys are conducted
within the talent community and qualitative
research is conducted with senior talent leaders
and subject matter experts from across India and
the South East Asia region.
 Research
Credits

RESEARCH LED BY

Ester Martinez, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, People Matters

Yasmin Taj, Senior Editor, People Matters

Anushree Sharma, Assistant Manager-Content, People Matters

DESIGN BY

Rohit Lochab, Senior Graphic Designer, People Matters

Jaison, Assistant Graphic Designer, People Matters

MARKETED BY

Jafar Rehman, Assistant Manager- Marketing & Communications, People Matters

DIGITAL SUPPORT BY

Vaibhav Srivastava, Manager-Digital Marketing, People Matters

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Editorial & Social Media Team