The RPA sector is defined as one of rapid technological evolution, and every year it seems like what we thought to be bleeding-edge capability in January turns out to be proven and deployed technology long before year’s end. With this rapid pace of growth and maturation in mind, where might the RPA sector be by the end of 2018? Here are seven predictions. The first wave[...]

  As 2018 begins, the RPA sector is starting to produce more segment specialists from within its vendor base. Whereas just two years ago the sector was still finding its footing in addressing common back- and front-office application automation, enterprise customers today have the luxury of building best-of-breed solutions that often incorporate two or more vendors working in concert t[...]

  At the Intelligent Automation (IA) event in New Orleans, December 6-8, snow in the Big Easy air was not the only surprise. As expected, there was plenty of technological innovation on show in the exhibition hall, but the event also played host to some energized discussions on human-centric gains to be realized from RPA implementation – suggesting that we are indeed moving into [...]

  It has been 10 months since the announcement that Aon was divesting the businesses within its Outsourcing segment to private equity firm Blackstone, and 6 months since Alight was formally launched as a new company, which makes it an ideal time to review its progress and where it is headed in 2018. By all accounts, it was a smooth transition, with client retention remaining high.&n[...]

  In my last blog, I laid out 2018 predictions for two areas of talent management: recruiting and learning (see here). This blog looks at what to expect over the next year for payroll services and benefits administration. Trending topics in these areas over the last year included cloud, compliance, configuration, and consumerization. Payroll The payroll landscape has shifted away[...]

  As 2017 comes to a close, it’s an ideal time to reflect on key developments and innovations within HR services, and what to expect in 2018 by HR service line. This week, I’ll discuss specifics around two aspects of talent management (recruiting and learning), and next week I’ll explore payroll and benefits administration in more detail. Overall, the level of 2017[...]

  RPA software offers users the tantalizing possibility of being able to simply 'hit record and go' at the beginning of an enterprise automation initiative. But organizations that are seeing the greatest returns are slowing the initial process down, and framing their initiatives as they would treat any major technology migration. At UIPath’s recent User Summit in New Y[...]

Relative to other HR services, the application of intelligent automation in benefits administration is lagging, but is slowly making progress.  With respect to RPA, Conduent and Alight are among the first movers, with both using bots for manual calculations in pension administration. In addition, Alight has deployed bots for low-level transactional work that is typically offshored, and in[...]

  Over the last few years, developments around the participant experience for benefits administration services have been focused on helping employees become more effective consumers as they make their benefit selections (the “consumerization” era). In 2016, the next stage of evolution of the participant experience emerged as suppliers shifted their focus to utilization (the[...]

  Nvidia faces stiff new competition for the leadership position in the AI processing chip market. But the firm has a significant competitive advantage: a culture of innovation and production efficiency that was developed to address the demanding needs of a wholly different market. Intel and Google have been making waves in the AI processing chip market, the former with the acquisit[...]

  NelsonHall recently attended the SE2 Partnership Forum, entitled ‘Future-proof: From Here to Digital’, in Washington D.C., where the main focal point of discussion was the challenge of digital transformation in the life insurance and annuity sector. Here I look at a number of developments in SE2’s offerings that are helping clients to address the challenge of dig[...]

  Fast Data is the emerging hot topic of discussion for business leaders seeking to get ahead of the next wave of data utilization. But Fast Data isn't just an evolution of Big Data; it's a market force unto itself that's asking more of traditional and start-up vendors in both traditional DBMS and AI. I spent a (surprisingly snowy) morning this week talking with AI and B[...]

The gig economy has been a recent trending topic. While the concept of gig workers is nothing new, the attention being paid to it is, especially since this is an area whose growth has been facilitated by the digital marketplace. Here, I take a quick look at the challenges gig workers present for HR. Gig workers present a challenge on several fronts, especially when it comes to managing[...]

  This week, ADP held its annual industry analyst event in NYC, and as well as welcoming guests with apples to celebrate the arrival of fall, it also ushered in the season with significant news regarding its HR technology innovations. One thing is clear about the technology-enabled services company: its investments in innovation continue to accelerate, as it invested ~$450bn in FY 2017[...]

For years, the application of analytics in HR services has been heavily focused on descriptive information such as workforce demographics (e.g. average employee age, proportion of males to females, number of employees are nearing retirement, etc.) or talent management metrics (e.g. average time to hire, cost per hire, number of training hours per employee, etc.). In fact, ~90% of analytic[...]

NelsonHall’s latest Multi-Process HR Services NEAT vendor evaluation included customer interviews to ascertain current satisfaction levels and future expectations across a range of criteria. Below is a selection of the findings from our interviews with multi-process HR services customers.  Principal issues & operational priorities The main issues and operational priorities cit[...]

  This is the second of two articles on the multi-process HR BPS market. NelsonHall’s latest market analysis report on the multi-process HR BPS market recognizes two types of strategies adopted by vendors taking a modern approach to multi-process HR services: intelligent technologies and cloud-based HR services. Here, I take a quick look at both strategies. Intelligent technol[...]

  The multi-process HR services market has evolved significantly over the years. The traditional approach, characterized by comprehensive end-to-end HR BPS services over a long term (often 7-10 years) leveraged on-premise solutions that were heavily customized. This gave way to the transitional approach, best characterized by hybrid technology solutions where core HR and payroll is on-[...]

  As H1 2017 comes to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on recent key activity and where the market is headed for the rest of the year and beyond. Here, I round up what’s trending now in payroll, benefits administration, recruitment, and learning. Payroll The most common theme in the payroll market is global and multi-country activity. NelsonHall estimates tha[...]

  Initiatives around incorporating intelligent technologies to automate and create efficiencies across different HR processes is a top priority for many vendors. To date, RPA has made the most headway, e.g. in payroll for forms management, in benefits for pension calculations, in recruiting for scheduling a candidate’s interview or resume scanning, and in learning for proces[...]