The digital era has created a peer-to-peer economy, forcing organizations to re-think business operations from the ground up. As Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research, explores in his newly released book, Disrupting Digital Business, the leaders in this new economy have moved from selling products or services to focusing on experiences and outcomes.We recently asked Ray a few questions about why digital transformation is an urgent priority, and what strategic HR professionals and other business leaders can do to thrive in the age of Digital Darwinism:Visier: You define digital transformation as the “methodology in which organizations transform and create new business models and culture with digital technologies.” Why should digital transformation be an urgent priority for almost every company in every industry?Ray Wang: A digital divide has emerged among global organizations.  With 52% of the Fortune 500 either merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000, almost all organizations in almost all industries are focused on identifying, testing, and executing on disruptive business models.  Technology serves as an enabler, but the shift to digital business models is what’s creating this disruption in the marketplace.In addition, the top three companies in most fields have at least 44% of the market share, and 40 to 77% of the profits.  Market leaders in this marketplace have built digital business models that have disrupted not only their industries, but adjacent industries.  In fact, this digital Darwinism has been dire to those who wait.Visier: How can a digital mindset help any company become a disruptor rather than the disrupted; the next Uber instead of the next Blockbuster?Ray Wang: The digital mindset starts by thinking not only outside the box, but by looking at how other industries and other models can be applied to one’s own space. What we traditionally view as innovation is almost an incremental process of continuous refinement until we reach a Eureka moment.  The disruption required today is transformational innovation which can impact many business models at once.  For example, we’ve identified that the iPhone has disrupted at least 27 business models.  Products such as navigation devices, cameras, camcorders, music, personal digital assistants, film development, compasses, and even flashlights have faced the assault of such disruption.To get to this mindset, organizations have to build a digital DNA.  This requires the promotion and support of digital artisans.  Digital artisans can balance the science, technology, engineering, and math skills with the design aesthetic, anthropology, philosophy, and systems thinking required for business model design. In essence, this is right brain meets left brain.  You want balance on the team in order to achieve this level of competency.Visier: How have formerly old-line companies evolved with digital disruption and what benefits did they reap?Ray Wang: A great example is at GE, where power and water has used great math and design to tackle the issue of power generation.  The metric that matters most for them is uptime.  They now have the ability to predict from 8 to 10 days when a power line is going to go down based on a number of factors such as temperature, wind speed, ground vibration, tensile strength, humidity, etc.  This is a great

example of how sensors and analytical ecosystems can help GE deliver on new business models and address complex industrial internet issues.Another example is Marriott. They’ve pioneered a customer experience culture through their Marriott Rewards program where the spirit to serve goes deep for Marriott Rewards members.  This ability to create not only a consistent experience across all properties and brands, but also find ways to surprise and delight customers is key to building the advocacy required in a digital world.In this digital, on demand world, we no longer sell just product or services, we deliver on brand promises. This requires a focus on experiences, and outcomes.Visier: How will this disruption change the way we make decisions about talent?Ray Wang: We need to search for digital artisans. HR managers will need to balance out right brain and left brain folks; the big thinkers and the doers. But in the end, the goal is to create a culture of Digital DNA across all organizations.Visier: What are some other key takeaways for strategic HR leaders and people managers?Ray Wang: One of the areas where we have to develop is the on-demand talent pool. The recognition that the expertise no longer lies within the employee base but inside the P2P (peer-to-peer) networks of employees.  If employees can recommend their company’s product or service, you have employee advocates willing to share their personal networks for the company’s gain.Visier: What are networked economies and why will they be increasingly essential?Ray Wang: Individuals and organizations can massively influence the market on their own, but until they plug in to networked economies, they’re not going to realize their full potential. It’s happening right now. We’re just at the beginning of the chaos and the craziness of what will happen when we connect 75 or 80 billion devices by 2020. We’ll be seeing almost three billion people on social networks by 2020. This massive hyper-connectivity is driving what we predict to be somewhere between $70 trillion and $80 trillion in commerce by 2020.Massive change is happening, and a lot of it is because everything we touch, everything we connect, everything we create results in digital exhaust. This digitalization of everything we touch changes the way we interact, because we can connect with a level of efficiency that we couldn’t before, and we can easily bypass any unnecessary friction. These networked economies are disintermediating, or cutting out the middleman, in every market they enter. We’re moving from experiences toward more personalized interactions than we’ve ever had before.Visier: Why are the common customer relationship terms B2B and B2C giving way to a new model of P2P or People to People networks?Ray Wang: The world can no longer be defined as business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C).The power of digital has enabled a better P2P or people to people movement that eliminates middlemen and all the transaction costs that sit between you and a product/service or someone else.  This P2P movement is driving the on-demand economy for services such as Task Rabbit, and for goods such as Etsy, and for room nights such as Air BnB.  P2P is happening as well in lending and in payments and this

is a growing trend because we are now dealing with individuals and the networks they belong to.  This is different than just servicing a single individual with no consequences.And when that middleman and other barriers are taken away, you can connect with individuals who actually know what they’re doing and avoid a middleman. You can connect with systems that have better pricing information. This is the transformational power of digital that organizations can now unlock.Visier: When we hear buzzwords like “the cloud” and “big data” are we missing the main big picture point of the full power of digital?Ray Wang:  Definitely. The cloud and big data provide powerful digital technologies but they are only enablers.  The cloud provides unlimited access to storage and compute power.  Big data helps brings insights to bear and helps identify patterns we may not have discovered.  The full power of digital is far broader. First, it comes from creating a business model that provides an on-demand service at not only the lowest increment, but also enables bundles across many outcomes.  Second, the full power of digital comes when we have direct to the consumer or even people to people models which strip out the middleman and the friction of transaction costs. With a people to people model, each person can go direct to each other with as little interference as possible.Visier: Why can’t digital transformation be outsourced or delegated to a programming team or department?Ray Wang: Digital transformation has to come from within the company. This is a business model, and a cultural, and technology shift. There’s no way to outsource that.While digital may be applied as an adjective to every movement or trend, I define digital transformation as the methodology in which organizations transform and create new business models and culture with digital technologies.“Digital Transformation is the methodology in which organizations transform and create new business models and culture with digital technologies”To elaborate, transformation arises when organizations apply a design mindset to craft new experiences and outcomes.  As organizations move from selling products and services to keeping brand promises, the digital era requires a high degree of trust and transparency that supports and augments brand authenticity.  Digital technologies provide rich data sets which can be analyzed to surface up patterns of insight.  That insight enables organizations to easily deliver on mass personalization at scale (i.e. segment of one) by improving contextual relevancy.  Contextual relevancy (i.e. right time relevancy) built on roles, relationships, business process, location, time, and sentiment provide a foundation to create intention driven experiences and outcomes.Success in digital transformation requires organizations to build a culture that supports a digital DNA and development of digital artisans who can navigate between the right brain and left brain world.  The result is the organization’s capacity to create new business models or augment existing business models that disrupt the status quo; and sense and respond in real-time to market shifts.

There can no longer be anyone that is unwilling to believe that we are at a time when technological advance is marking the day-to-day operations of companies, to the point where it conditions their business models and at the same time alters the way in which they relate to clients and providers.

It may be more or less difficult to admit it, but many businesses and company areas are progressively directing their efforts towards assuming this reality. Human Resources cannot be an exception to this natural evolution.

The companies that have boarded the train that is making this journey towards digitalization encounter the following milestones as the main stations:

More investment in Analytics and use of the information offered by Big DataBig Data is without doubt the most current trend in HR. The first Human Capital indicators were already being talked of in the 70s, but it was not until recent years that workforce predictive analyses were first conducted, and have now become generalized in companies.

Analysis of information about the various aspects of an employee’s lifecycle provides a response to one of the historical demands of HR managers: to be able to justify decisions to improve people management with quantitative data. Having appropriate Analytics enables us to leave aside suppositions and offer precise, intelligent solutions to problems facing organizations, and at the same time reinforce the employee behaviors that make it possible to achieve business objectives.

Increased confidence in Cloud SolutionsCloud Computing is now a reality. Organizations do not consider if they should work in Cloud or not – the question is "when to do so. 35% of companies already have their HR application hosted in an external server and work with a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, against 33% that use licenses.

Working on the Cloud not only enables the application to be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection, but makes it possible to connect instantly with the rest of the corporate applications.

A commitment to gamification as a source of motivation and retention of the best talents.Gamification is becoming positioned as a different way of motivating employees and bringing them closer to the company’s objective, all through an instrument that until now was discarded in an employment environment: gaming.

The growing interest in this area results in a desire to increase employees’ level of commitment, both to their work and function and to the organization, at the same time offers greater business visibility. A job reward and recognition system is used for this purpose, which is the basis of gamification.

Launch Social Networks as a channel of corporate communication and collaboration.There is no doubt that Social Networks have marked a before and after in the way we relate to each other. Within the EU, Spain is one of the countries with the largest number of Social Network users, specifically 74%.

In HR management, Social Networks are also gaining increasing weight. For example, according to a recently-published study, 31% of current hires have come about through Social Networks, compared to traditional channels.

Work team and Employee Community virtualizationCompany internationalization and globalization means that it is increasingly necessary to seek distance or virtual work modalities that enable employees to have tools to facilitate their collaboration, and faster, clearer and more transparent access to information.

It has been proved that the use of Employee Virtual Communities improves workers’ satisfaction and their commitment to the company up to 40%. In this line, a leading company in the insurance industry has already opted to include the services of

the Center of Experts or Work Communities in its employee portal. Employees can thus look up, ask questions and interact with each other directly.

Access to information and work through mobile devicesThe use of mobile devices is a reality in our day to day work, and just as in the case of social networks, Spain is one of the countries that stands out most in the use of mobile Internet in Europe.

In terms of Human Resources, it is now necessary to adapt people management to the various kinds of mobile devices: from people recruiting models (Mobile Recruiting) to training models, eLearning, among others.

Proof of this is the case of a leading company in the telecommunications industry. To make it easier for young people in its foundation to access the applications with which they work, it has launched a mobile version that adapts them to tablets. Thus, those that do not have computers at home can also access the application from these other smaller and cheaper devices.

Do not miss the trainThese trends are just some examples that highlight how digitalization is more topical than ever. We are traveling in an

era in which social networks, gamification or mobile devices were prohibited in workplaces as a result of their original recreational or personal function, to a time when the use of these

is rather strengthened and promoted by the organizations the Human Resources cannot remain outside this natural evolution, and needs to be prepared to profit from all the advantages that the new technologies provide. It must continue to be positioned as a partner in the corporate activity of the organization, using the new tools that have emerged as a result of the technological and digital revolution, just as other areas and the business itself are doing. This bond will make it possible to contribute significantly and, through people, to have ever-more collaborative, communicative and creative professionals that are able to adapt rapidly to the change and reinvent themselves constantly.

In the end, it is these people that will make the company of the future a transparent and innovative place, able to adapt to any change that may take place in the market and the industry. They will contribute to the organization’s being prepared to grow in an environment in which everything evolves on the basis of new parameters and at an until now unknown pace. This is the key to success.

iginally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

With technologies evolving every day, human resources professionals are realizing that the fast-paced, ever-changing digital world impacts their jobs and workplaces — not only today, but in the future.

Bersin & Associates, a global research and consulting firm focused on learning, talent and human resources strategies, recently published a report on the Top Best Practices for the High-Impact HR Organizations. The report noted that overall budgets, organizational structure and department size have less impact on business performance than the skills of HR professionals themselves. The research also outlined the key competencies driving results today — familiarity with integrated talent management, understanding of workforce planning and comfort with social networking and HR technology.

As organizations and business leaders position themselves for the future, the following five workplace challenges will continue to change human resources.

1. Evaluating Early Adoption

Truth be told, HR is traditionally not known for early adoption. Case in point: the slow adoption of social media. Bill Kutik, technology columnist for Human Resource Executive magazine, explains, “HR loves talking about social media, but so far has done very little with it. Fears emanating from the legal department have stuck HR in its tracks.”

While some people will try all of the latest and greatest options, others will want to wait until platforms have been proven. Being on either extreme could be detrimental. It’s important to evaluate each and sometimes take a chance.

Kutik says, “Just like the introduction of all new technology — from the telephone, to e-mail, to the Internet — which have all scared HR to death, it will eventually come around.”

One early trend Kutik believes is gaining traction is mobile. “Every vendor has either released or is about to release a mobile application for smartphones and soon for the iPad. While much of it is a ‘nice to have,’ mobile apps will get most traction in workforce management — the nuts and bolts of time and attendance and absence management — where they perfectly meet the needs of a distributed, mobile workforce.”

2. Balancing High Tech and High Touch

Being able to recognize the need for a technology solution will be a significant business advantage. HR will have to evaluate what functions can be automated and still provide desired levels of service.

Naomi Bloom, managing partner at Bloom & Wallace, a consulting firm specializing in the application of HR technology, shares how companies are evaluating digital solutions. “Increasingly, HR leaders are starting with the desired business outcome and working backwards from there to answer questions, rather than starting with the question of what to automate.”

Bloom cited the investment that Kronos has made in going mobile as an example of meeting a growing need by both the business and its employees. “If your business results are driven by optimized workforce scheduling, as is absolutely the case in most retail businesses, then you must focus some of your automation investments right there. And since the retail workforce may be young and used to communicating via their smartphones, you’d better consider delivering most of the transactions and analytics that your employees and even those first line managers use, directly to their smartphones.”

With increasing technologically advanced options, human resources professionals will be tasked to figure out when processes should be automated, versus when a human face or voice is the best route.

3. Information Curation

Kutik says it best, “We are all desperately in need of a good editor.”

HR is experiencing a flood of information. It will be critical to have an effective means of filtering necessary and relevant information. The new term in the digital space is curation.

While Kutik labels curation an “awfully fancy word” he does acknowledge the necessity for picking and choosing among various information sources. “Few people remember that Yahoo began by having human editors read and evaluate sites for their quality and determining how they would appear in searches. No more. Relying on what our friends link to on Twitter is not going to solve the problem. Happily, people are working on technologies to solve the problem.”

For recruiters, the ability to sort through loads of information — including applications from various platforms and employment data — will be a skill worth honing.

4. Training for Accountability

Many of these challenges come down to being better communicators in order to effectively leverage the digital space. As such, HR needs to place a priority on

management and leadership training to ensure line managers are able to effectively convey expectations and outcomes.

Stacey Harris, principal analyst at Bersin & Associates, says development of line-manager capabilities should be a top priority. “Our research found there was a one-to-one correlation between the effectiveness of an organization’s line managers and the overall effectiveness of its HR function. In simplest terms, as a company’s line managers increased their management capabilities, the effectiveness of the HR function paralleled that upward progression.”

Harris explained that, on the digital front, companies need to partner with providers who deliver excellent support and service and deep understanding of its audience's needs. “Organizations that offer completely integrated support for line managers are still difficult to find, but suppliers are making dramatic headway. Companies like Saba have spent considerable resources integrating social networking that can be used for development and knowledge transfer, with learning curriculums, performance management tools and competency maps.

"Organizations such as Triple Creek provide competency-driven mentoring programs over the web," continued Harris. "Plateau has built on an integrated architecture introducing integrated and highly-scalable solutions for career development, compensation, pay for performance, and employee profile management — all which are used in line manager support."

5. Metrics and Measurement

Bloom says, “When it comes to metrics, the easiest to do are very rarely the most valuable!”

There’s no question that HR needs to create data structures that will deliver information on business goals not only to help the company understand their workforce, but also to optimize their talent-related processes.

Bloom notes, “The most important metrics for any business investment, including those in HR technology, are the business outcomes that the investment is intended to achieve. If we’re trying to speed up and improve the selection of quality hires, then we’d better be looking at elapsed time to productivity and quality of hire.”

Then the challenge, as Harris points out, is most companies don’t have a single, accurate database for storing and accessing relevant HR information. “Data that is scattered among multiple systems and acquired in varied formats can make it difficult for most organizations to provide a clear picture of their current workforce. Many organizations capture only limited employee details in master data systems.”

Harris noted that SAP has made substantive progress in this area, pulling together data from the HR and talent management systems then analyzing data with the same analytic tools used in their other business intelligence platforms. Additionally, SuccessFactors has similar analytics and planning tools.

While many advances have been made in the human resources digital space, there are still new developments to look forward to. These advancements will bring greater opportunities to align human resources with business goals. HR professionals will need to remain aware of these challenges and develop their own strategies to stay within the path of progress.

Human Resources is unquestionably about the recruitment,

development and retention of talent. Talent is a differentiator, a

business builder and, given the threat from disruptors and the

increasing pace of market change led by the digitalisation of

business, an ever increasingly essential driver in protecting from the

decline of market share or, at the most extreme, extinction. HR

in Digital Transformation; far more critical than many may think.

In this article I explore what HR must consider and do in order to leverage more digital talent along the digital transformation journey:There are a bunch of bright young things (and a handful of older

ones) that, off the back of a bright idea, are now empowered to

leverage technology and the Internet to create a world wide

phenomena in a matter of months. Crack the idea, define a

business case, crowd source funding add an early audience and

develop it to market. Leverage distributed talent pools from

anywhere in the world building on shared knowledge and expertise

from many that have gone before. Not to suggest it is easy, after all

90% of startups fail.

Yet the entrepreneurs don’t fail with them. In the event that a

startup produces a minimal viable product, puts it to market and it

doesn’t have take up, the learnings that are acquired allow the

entrepreneur, team and people to pivot, or reinvent into their next

iteration. By sharing amongst networks and crowds of people

looking to succeed and learn from each other, a pool of talent builds

and can become smarter, creating more relevant experience than

you might have had without the failure.

The start-up landscape is busy promoting, motivating, inspiring and

acquiring digital talent that most large companies simply cannot. It

is this talent that is taking stripes of the incumbents as they create,

innovate, explore, challenge and simply don’t care too much for the

status quo.

There’s also a real sense of “can do” – the entrepreneurs that I

meet on a regular basis in the digital and technology sectors largely

without exception think they might well be, with all confidence and

vigour, the next airbnb, netflix, basecamp and so on.

And bigco is sometimes sat there wondering what it all means and

how to keep up. Digital talent inspires change in the right structures

where new ways of working, leveraging technology to create and

innovate and increasing speed and agility differentiates. What,

therefore must HR consider and do in order to leverage more digital

talent along the digital transformation journey:

1- Create a contemporary cultureDigital talent is looking for purpose, fun, agility, and momentum

towards something rewarding. They’re not after the gold watch and

lifelong position. They are curious and exploratory and don’t want to

be stuck in a box. They also have super high expectations of

experience; don’t expect them to stay if infrastructure and

governance don’t allow them to make a difference and be heard

where it matters.

2- Look wider and open upCrowds, networks and influencers live throughout any sectors

ecosystem. Provide the means and the impetus to connect,

transfer, co-develop and co-create ideas and business gain.

Furthermore, some of the best talent doesn’t want to come and

work for you, sit at a desk or for that matter spend any length of

time in one place. Allow project teams to form leveraging online

platforms to manage and connect skills underneath leaders who are

empowered to resource accordingly.

3- Avoid departmental approachesDigital is not a department. Digital is not a department any more

than it is a silver bullet, or something that should be filtered, or even

worse bottle necked through a single role such as a chief digital

officer. Develop plans for digital talent to be distributed throughout

the organisation.

4- Recognise the difference between digital skills and behavioursTraining on SEO, display, analytics or similar channel orientations

for digital all have a role. Our bigger gain is collaborative

behaviours, sharing, creating space for ideas and creative thinking.

Ideas and people motivated and empowered to turn them into

action and business gain is behavioural as much as it required skills

to do so.

5 – Encourage resourcefulnessThe answers are out there, just google it. Train people to find out

what they need to know and where to find it. Encourage

resourcefulness as many of the digital skills that can be learnt can

be done so flexibly online through personal motivation . Using

platforms well is merely the start; it’s the behaviours that using them

effectively and efficiently and the empowerment they provide to

connect and network that will make the difference.

6- Empower cross functional learningA culture that celebrates when something goes wrong rather than

persecutes, is healthy when the wrong is turned into learning.

Leverage and create the means to transpose learnings across

teams and functions. Provide a positive framework for this learning

to inform people in getting better, sharing best practice and the

means to resolve issues and prevent recurrence.

7- Explore reverse mentoring

Digital natives bring the rest with them through programs of reverse

mentoring. The digital immigrants will benefit from time spent

coming to understand not only how the natives behave but the

understanding of digital platforms, tools, techniques and means that

they utilise to connect, network and converse.

8- Celebrate the social qualities of digitalIts called social media for a reason; it’s about humans connecting,

sharing and being social with one another. Rather than preventing

these behaviours, celebrate their ability to bring people together for

business gain. Allow people to be social using digital, to chat

informally, to arrange social meet-ups, to connect and build friendly

and personable relationships with each other and the organisation’s

customers.

9- Inspire rather than boreIf comms, corporate events, email, process and structures feel

boring we’ll lose our digital talent before we know it. Use their

insight into what works to improve communications across the

business by giving them space and impetus to inspire change. Add

a little fun, invite feedback, use it to improve and foster more agile

and iterative improvement.

10- Lead from the frontOld world HR portals, holiday booking, contract provision? Become

digital leaders ourselves to inspire the journey by becoming

advocates for new and improved digital ways of working. Introduce

them from induction through to the way the c-suite

communicate. Become a digital first HR department and lead the

way.

Ben Hart is a strategist and thought leader with a track record of

success in growing digital businesses and helping brands and

organisations realise the potential available to them in a world

increasingly full of change.

R Digitization: Making HR the Centre of Digital and Social Excellence

Digitized HR. Empowered HR!Leverage the power of digital and social media for all HR functions!

The most important building block of any organization is its people.

At HRPA, we recognize the need for all members to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and opportunities that digital media brings into the complex mix of human resources. 

HRPA has now partnered with WSI – ‘the leading organization in Digital Media,’ and the world’s largest digital network present in 80 countries around the globe.  

WSI will deliver its “HR Digitization | Making HR Your Organization’s Center of Digital and Social Excellence”program to HRPA members so they can take advantage of these channels and stay up to date with the latest online trends that affect HR in their organizations.

Key take-aways:

How to foster a company culture that supports information sharing Identify which business areas will benefit from increased communication Social networks and how they apply to businesses How to improve social sharing within your organization

WHY you should be Here (Learning Objective):

 Highlight the opportunities that digital media brings to HR. Grasp strategies for utilizing digital and social media effectively for management, collaboration,

hiring and recruitment requirements. Create a process for digital integration into HR functions. Learn where digital media is going next and how we can be prepared for the next wave of change.

WHAT you will Gain (Learning Outcome):

Understand what digital media is truly all about and how it is changing the way we do business. Identify how digital is impacting Human Resources.

Absorb how to deal with this change and take full advantage of it.

Who should Participate: This HR-driven digital and social media workshop is highly recommended for:

Professionals with organizational responsibility for setting or overseeing HR related functions in their organizations.

It is also suitable for HR professionals and executives across all levels.

Program Agenda

This program will cover unique digital and social media dynamics, key HR digital best practices, and a process for effective utilization of digital channels.  The following is an overview of the program agenda:

HR Challenges – Can be Solved Digitally High Velocity Learning Model The Distributive Force and Impact of Digital Forces Reshaping Organizations Demographical Classification of HR Digitization The changing Face of HR Leadership The Phases of Digital Media Adoption Digital Connections Digital Media Uses, Internally and Externally The Amplified Influence of Digital Media How Digital is Changing the Way we Operate Constituent Based Communication and Social Media Digital Media Complexity and Risks Managing Social Media Expansion Preparing for a Digital Army Race Digital HR Threats, mistakes and pitfalls to avoid Social Workforce Collaboration Virtual Teams Best Practices How Technologies are Changing Us Digital Perspectives Impacting our Workforce Building Rivers of Information Grading Digital HR Mastery Digital Impacts on the Future

Speakers’ Bio:  Husam Jandal

With more than 12 years of experience in the digital space, Husam is a recognized speaker, digital marketing consultant, and author of two books “Digital Gold” and “Digital Minds”. 

Husam is known for cutting edge content, valuable take-aways, entertainingaudience interaction, all illustrated by real life examples and solid case studies.

People leave with knowledge and tools to re-shape their digital future.

Husam’s knowledge and experience are backed up by impressive business acumen; Husam has skillfully delivered digital marketing and social media programs helping hundreds of companies and thousands of professionals.

Husam’s client list is impressive including: American Express, PepsiCo, Sanofi, HSBC, Canon, DHL, BMW, RIM, Fairmont, and Thomson Reuters, just to name a few.

In addition, Husam has received many international awards, including 2 excellence awards from the Web Marketing Association .

There can no longer be anyone that is unwilling to believe that we are at a time when technological advance is marking the day-to-day operations of companies, to the point where it conditions their business models and at the same time alters the way in which they relate to clients and providers.

It may be more or less difficult to admit it, but many businesses and company areas are progressively directing their efforts towards assuming this reality. Human Resources cannot be an exception to this natural evolution.

The companies that have boarded the train that is making this journey towards digitalization encounter the following milestones as the main stations:

More investment in Analytics and use of the information offered by Big DataBig Data is without doubt the most current trend in HR. The first Human Capital indicators were already being talked of in the 70s, but it was not until recent years that workforce predictive analyses were first conducted, and have now become generalized in companies.

Analysis of information about the various aspects of an employee’s lifecycle provides a response to one of the historical demands of HR managers: to be able to justify decisions to improve people management with quantitative data. Having appropriate Analytics enables us to leave aside suppositions and

offer precise, intelligent solutions to problems facing organizations, and at the same time reinforce the employee behaviors that make it possible to achieve business objectives.

Increased confidence in Cloud SolutionsCloud Computing is now a reality. Organizations do not consider if they should work in Cloud or not – the question is "when to do so. 35% of companies already have their HR application hosted in an external server and work with a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, against 33% that use licenses.

Working on the Cloud not only enables the application to be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection, but makes it possible to connect instantly with the rest of the corporate applications.

A commitment to gamification as a source of motivation and retention of the best talents.Gamification is becoming positioned as a different way of motivating employees and bringing them closer to the company’s objective, all through an instrument that until now was discarded in an employment environment: gaming.

The growing interest in this area results in a desire to increase employees’ level of commitment, both to their work and function and to the organization, at the same time offers greater business visibility. A job reward and recognition system is used for this purpose, which is the basis of gamification.

Launch Social Networks as a channel of corporate communication and collaboration.There is no doubt that Social Networks have marked a before and after in the way we relate to each other. Within the EU, Spain is one of the countries with the largest number of Social Network users, specifically 74%.

In HR management, Social Networks are also gaining increasing weight. For example, according to a recently-published study, 31% of current hires have come about through Social Networks, compared to traditional channels.

Work team and Employee Community virtualizationCompany internationalization and globalization means that it is increasingly necessary to seek distance or virtual work modalities that enable employees to have tools to facilitate their collaboration, and faster, clearer and more transparent access to information.

It has been proved that the use of Employee Virtual Communities improves workers’ satisfaction and their commitment to the company up to 40%. In this line, a leading company in the insurance industry has already opted to include the services of the Center of Experts or Work Communities in its employee portal. Employees can thus look up, ask questions and interact with each other directly.

Access to information and work through mobile devices

The use of mobile devices is a reality in our day to day work, and just as in the case of social networks, Spain is one of the countries that stands out most in the use of mobile Internet in Europe.

In terms of Human Resources, it is now necessary to adapt people management to the various kinds of mobile devices: from people recruiting models (Mobile Recruiting) to training models, eLearning, among others.

Proof of this is the case of a leading company in the telecommunications industry. To make it easier for young people in its foundation to access the applications with which they work, it has launched a mobile version that adapts them to tablets. Thus, those that do not have computers at home can also access the application from these other smaller and cheaper devices.

Do not miss the trainThese trends are just some examples that highlight how digitalization is more topical than ever. We are traveling in an

era in which social networks, gamification or mobile devices were prohibited in workplaces as a result of their original recreational or personal function, to a time when the use of these is rather strengthened and promoted by the organizations the Human Resources cannot remain outside this natural evolution, and needs to be prepared to profit from all the advantages that the new technologies provide. It must continue to be positioned as a partner in the corporate activity of the organization, using

the new tools that have emerged as a result of the technological and digital revolution, just as other areas and the business itself are doing. This bond will make it possible to contribute significantly and, through people, to have ever-more collaborative, communicative and creative professionals that are able to adapt rapidly to the change and reinvent themselves constantly.

In the end, it is these people that will make the company of the future a transparent and innovative place, able to adapt to any change that may take place in the market and the industry. They will contribute to the organization’s being prepared to grow in an environment in which everything evolves on the basis of new parameters and at an until now unknown pace. This is the key to success.