A short-term mindset and entrenched cultural habits are the biggest barriers to collaboration between HR and finance teams according to a new study from Oracle.
The new Oracle study of 1,510 HR, finance, and business professionals has found that in order to unlock the value from data and help their organizations adapt to the changing nature of the global talent market, HR teams need to rethink analytics technology, skills, and processes to improve collaboration with finance and drive a competitive advantage.
Having Data is Not the Same as Being Able to Use it Effectively
The global talent market is more competitive than ever with the rise of new technologies, climbing costs of recruitment and increasing demand for new skills. To be successful in this rapidly changing market, HR teams need to rethink their approach to analytics, skills and collaboration to drive a competitive advantage. According to the study, 95% of HR and finance professionals plan to make data-driven collaboration a priority in 2019 but to act on data in a meaningful way, HR and finance teams will need to acquire new skills. The survey found that 49% cannot currently use analytics to forecast outcomes and 81 percent are unable to determine future actions based on predictive data.
While data and analytics have proliferated HR and finance, the benefits are limited without effective collaboration and the ability to derive value. In order to reap the rewards, both departments must overcome short-termism, break through culture clashes and shrink the skillset gap.
The biggest barrier to collaboration between HR and finance is a short-term mindset, with 71% saying their teams focus on quarters rather than future strategic direction. Culture clashes between departments was another top challenge with nearly a third (29%) ranking traditionally separate habits as the biggest barrier. Other barriers included mismatched skillsets (27%) and organizational silos (17%).
HR and finance professionals are looking to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to help drive business results.
While a quarter (25%) of survey respondents are primarily using AI to identify at-risk talent and model their talent pipeline (22%), they are rarely using AI to forecast performance (18 percent) or find top talent (15%).
Over the next year, 71% of survey respondents plan to use AI to predict high performing candidates in recruitment and to source best-fit candidates with resume analysis (70%).
Other AI priorities for survey respondents include modeling their talent pipeline (58%), flagging at-risk employees through attrition modeling (52%) and supporting employee interactions with chatbots (38%).
“The world of analytics and AI opens tremendous doors for HR to harness meaningful insights in order to make smarter decisions and create a talent advantage,” said Tom Davenport, Babson professor and analytics expert. “Seeing that so many HR professionals are planning to invest heavily in AI over the next year is promising. It means we’ll begin to see more strategic results and businesses competing on an entirely new level to find the right talent.”