HR tech trends and disruptions for 2018: An expert view

LAS VEGAS -- HR tech trends and disruptions in 2018 will converge around productivity, design and intelligence in HR tech applications, according to analyst Josh Bersin.

Bersin, principal and founder of Bersin by Deloitte, the research arm of Deloitte Consulting's human capital business, is a veteran, keen observer of HR tech trends, and his analyses of the industry carry weight.

He is bullish on the innovation that is bursting out of startup HR tech software companies, though he also tracks the dominant human capital management (HCM) and ERP systems he sees as having established themselves firmly in the cloud.

In this SearchHRSoftware podcast, recorded at Deloitte's booth on the animated expo floor of the 20^th annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition, Bersin elaborated on the key takeaway points from the report, all encapsulated in an infographic. Bersin gave the closing keynote at the show, the country's biggest HR tech conference.

The 10 disruptions and trends Bersin laid out in the infographic as the major HR technology trends for 2018 are the following:

Hiring people is by far the most important thing companies do.

• New focus on tools for workforce productivity. These team-based communication tools are mobile-enabled and look like social networking platforms.
• ERP and HCM move to the cloud, as the talent market reinvents itself. Bersin said he now sees the talent management components of larger core HCM platforms more as "team management" systems.
• Continuous performance management has arrived. Employers are looking for CPM tools that adapt as people move between projects and teams; some of the leading products are built by game designers and are "easy to use, agile and data-driven," Bersin said.
• Explosion of feedback, pulse survey and analytics tools. This is about maintaining a positive employee experience.
• Reinvention of corporate learning is here. Bersin said he thinks learning management systems are very important, and the learning market is seeing dramatic growth.
• The recruiting market is changing rapidly. "Hiring people is by far the most important thing companies do," Bersin wrote in the report. Video assessment of job candidates is growing quickly.
• The well-being market is exploding. The digital benefits side is one of the newest HR technology trends; tech-based wellness and health coaching, biometrics using wearable devices, and self-assessments are all part of it.
• The people analytics market has grown and matured. A "must-have," Bersin said, this HR tech segment includes three crucial segments to watch. They are embedded analytics, artificial intelligence -- the big tech buzz at the conference -- and organizational network analysis.
• Intelligent self-service, communications and employee experience tools are self-service platforms based on emerging technologies that use cognitive, conversational, intelligent systems that are similar to already widely used voice recognition software, Bersin noted.
• HR departments are becoming digital and innovative. "Innovation is now coming from HR departments themselves," according to Bersin.

Let's watch how all these HR tech trends and Bersin-identified disruptions play out in 2018, as the HR tech market churns forward at a rapid pace.

It will be fun.