It’s amazing sometimes that we actually ever progress beyond wishful thinking and myths perpetuated by us. I’ve been in the HR technology space for almost 16 years now, and we never fail to fail. Meaning, we never fail to hypothesize and perpetuate that most HR and talent acquisition practitioners hate their tools and technologies are always looking for something better.
And that us, the HR technology vendors, are unethical and difficult to trust – i.e., it was the worst mistake every that we signed on with that vendor.
And yet, according to enlightening new research shared on the TalentCulture #TChat Show by KeyInterval Research co-founders William Tincup and John Sumser, almost 80 percent of HR buyers and nearly 90 percent of CEOs don’t think their software is lousy. And less than 10 percent of practitioners believe that more than half their software is lousy. Plus, the same research revealed that 87 percent of practitioners say that they enjoy their relationships with HR Tech Vendors. (This being from a survey size of well over 1K.)
The research also revealed that over 70 percent of respondents from larger organizations “Often” or “Always” felt that their HR software delivered what the vendor promised. And because in larger organizations software complexity is greatest, this is yet another positive sign that we’re (the vendors) are getting it right, no matter how much we want to say our competitors are getting it wrong.
What’s interesting to me is that John and William point out we (the vendors) are in constant improvement mode for customers – what’s the roadmap look like and what new features and functionality are coming, that we have to keep innovating or die. Forget the fact that, at least from KeyInterval’s data, HR buyers are pretty satisfied with their products and relationships, and why user data, adoption and satisfaction are so much more valuable than major software releases three times per year and other such updates.
There’s so much more counterintuitive and myth-busting data in the KeyInterval Research that I can’t wait for what’s coming the rest of 2015; this first report was only for January.
Of course there are those customers who wish they’d made a different software purchasing decision other than the train wreck they just invested in and deployed painfully. But if the KeyInterval Research is any indication, those are fewer than we’ve been led to believe. It doesn’t mean that my software company can’t beat up out your software company, because they can and will (of course, right?).
But we also should also continue to do what we do well, serve our customers’ needs while not only reinvesting in future innovative features with potential high adoption rates, but also reinvesting in our creative and collaborative relationships that will always deliver a higher return for all (and why we have customer advisory boards).
Because as I’ve written before, business thrives when customer communication and education are constant and engagement and retention are high. Your customers are a very special group of investors who count on some kind of return in short order – streamline their processes, save them time, money and more.
In the HR technology marketplace, customers want better hires, a smarter workforce, strong leadership, diversity of thought, agile innovation and so much more.
Deliver on that and you’re an HR technology software myth-buster.
About the Author: Kevin W. Grossman co-founded and co-hosts the highly popular weekly TalentCulture #TChat Show with Meghan M. Biro. He’s also currently the Product Marketing Director for Total Talent Acquisition products at PeopleFluent.
photo credit: A modern hacker #1 via photopin (license)
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