The "year of the pandemic" is now being followed by "the year of transformation" to overall business model and digital transformation. It has been widely believed that the coronavirus pandemic and the switch to digital business models (triggered by working from home) have accelerated HR’s adoption of digital technology.
The US economy is roaring back. Pent-up demand has led to an increase in spending by consumers (exiting coronavirus lock down) and the nearly $2 billion in stimulus money will unleash a US economy that's expected to grow by six percent this year (which has not occurred since the 1980s).
However, business and HR will not be the same. Companies and their People Teams that transition to the new world of hybrid work using digital technologies will be the clear winners in business performance and attracting/retaining the best employees. Besides, existing research by TEKsystems and The Hackett Group shows that leaders in digital technology benefit from significantly improved productivity and lower operating costs.
Josh Bersin, an industry expert, is predicting that the previous record-low unemployment rates are likely to return soon — meaning, competition again will be fierce among employers looking to attract and retain talent. “And that is where tech will make the difference,” Bersin said in a recent interview with Human Resources Executive. “The theme for HR technology in 2021 will not be recovery—most employers are already past that phase–but rather it will be focused on transformation,” Bersin predicts.
What is your organization’s strategy for digital transformation to be competitive in 2021? New research from The Hackett Group (released in February 2021) confirms the transition to new business models and HR’s acceleration of digital technology. Prior to the pandemic, The Hackett Group research showed that only three categories of HR digital technology were being used in a majority of organizations. They included learning videos, employee online health services, and video interviewing. The other two categories of HR digital technology (which had 49 percent use) were learning delivery platforms and content libraries as well as collaboration tools, such as Teams and Slack.
However, what is most interesting is the prediction for growth in HR digital technology usage for 2021. Five other categories of HR digital technology solutions are expected to move from the category of “Gaining Traction” to “Majority Adoption,” according to The Hackett Group research (see graph below). These categories includes: Predictive modeling; Candidate assessment tools; and Chatbots for recruiting, onboarding, and to handle inquiries. MeBeBot's Intelligent Assistant or AI Chatbot is an example of a digital technology solution that both provides support to employees during onboarding and their general inquiries throughout their employment journey. .
Source: The Hackett Group, A Look Back and Ahead at HCM Digital Technology Adoption
The acceleration of investment in chatbots / intelligent assistants in handling employee inquiries and onboarding is exciting. MeBeBot’s customers have significant improvement in employee experiences with immediate responses to their employees’ questions to onboarding new employees, from both organic growth and acquisitions. MeBeBot's Intelligent Assistant automatically answers questions with over 90 percent accuracy, and customers are also seeing reductions in operations costs and a quick time to value.
With push or "nudge" messaging technology, MeBeBot's administrators (from HR, IT, Internal Communications, Facilities, and Finance) have the ability to send reminders, company updates, and important notifications to specific recipient groups, to MeBeBot's app in Teams and/or Slack. Push messages can be scheduled in advance, for ease of use and to provide timely and consistent information.
MeBeBot's Customer Administration Portal gives customers access to hundreds of FAQs for HR, Benefits, Payroll, IT, Facilities, and general operations, which can be easily updated and edited, without extra fees incurred by consulting services or help from IT departments. MeBeBot’s overall solution is designed to empower the customer admin portal users to maintain and update their own content, to keep up with the frequent changes in real-time, with no coding or technical skills required. By allowing customers to control their own content, MeBeBot is affordable, and our design enables new customers to achieve a fast time to value.
MeBeBot’s Intelligent Assistant installs as an app in Microsoft Teams, Slack, or as a web chat in under 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes! By leveraging our pre-tested and pre-trained data model, our customers can launch MeBeBot in weeks, with accurate answers to questions, as MeBeBot understands the way employees ask questions from the world.
Looking for a way to be competitive within the tight workforce of 2021? This year will not be about recovery. It is all about transformation to the future of work and the use of HR digital technologies within your organizations to elevate the employee experience.
Are you ready to learn more about how MeBeBot can improve the experiences of your employees, identify their new issues, and provide you considerable savings in operation costs? Contact us for an enlightening discussion and demonstration.