#HRTechChat, Episode Two Recap: Jobs2Web Is to HRTech2Cloud?

Not exactly, but does anyone remember those analogies found in the verbal sections of college entrance exams taken during high school? Sorry to remind you of those. Anyway, here's what this past Friday's #HRTechChat might have looked like, in the form of an at once clumsy and fun analogy:

"Jobs to the Web" is to Jobs2Web
as
"HR technology to the Cloud" is to HRTech2Cloud

And it goes something like this:

The process of posting and looking for job openings fled to the Web long ago. This is where the "Jobs to the Web" part fits into the equation. Take it a step further. The Web's evolution to become an ecosystem of social media, fueled by short bursts of communication, often prompts users to type in shorthand. That's where "Jobs2Web" comes in, with "2" being the common substitution for "to" and a representation of any abbreviation designed to help fit concepts into 140 or fewer characters. The name reflects the idea of the Web becoming a social web, its channels the new thruways for the posting and finding of job openings. As one word, the name communicates the inescapable intertwinement of it all, and on Friday, a tweet from @taketheview encapsulated the implications of this intertwinement: "Social media is the way of the future - it's how we connect! Will need to work this into #hrtech strategy." Indeed.

The Second Half

Let's now take a look at the second half, where the analogy kind of falls apart—about 50 percent, admittedly. Nevertheless, in a way, "HR technology to the cloud" reflects these past few years' signs of HCM tech's steady migration from premise-based platforms to cloud-based platforms. Shorten that to "HRTech2Cloud," and you've captured the idea that nothing will stop HR technology's migration to the cloud. Only unstoppable phenomena inspire terms to merge into one-word concepts, after all.

Friday's tweets provided ample reason to believe so. Several (e.g. @jasonaverbrook, @hpropperusg, @SilkRoadTweets, @InFullBloomUS and @VisierAnalytics et al.) tweeted new research showing that about 65 percent are planning to enter the cloud, whereas 20 percent are undecided. Put another way, only one-fifth of organizations that might turn to the cloud are currently on the fence about doing so. Furthermore, we may infer that only 15 percent have no plans to migrate to the cloud. That's a small minority that ought to become a vanishingly small one in 10 years' time.

The Natural Symbolism of Imperfect Analogy

Regardless of how good the analogy is, it's symbolic. The College Board doesn't even include analogies anymore on the SAT; in a few short years, very little human resource technology will reside outside the framework of cloud-based platforms or their close cousins (SaaS, etc.), and the omission of social media in talent acquisition today is becoming a mistake. In both cases of evolution, the trains have left their stations, and through the lens of imperfect analogy, SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors and the latter's of Jobs2Web are natural.

Your Turn: Take the TMT Poll

The next #HRTechChat will take place in January of 2012. In the meantime, what are your thoughts? A TMT poll question related to this past #HRTechChat remains open through tomorrow. To go there, click on the following question:

Is SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors good for human capital management?

Answer the poll and leave a comment to elaborate. On Wednesday, we'll announce the results.

Coda

By the way, the sage wisdom in participants' tweets Friday was palpable. Following is one tweet nugget per each of the six questions asked:

• Q1: What does SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors mean for the future of cloud-based HCM ecosystems?
  @GISPangea tweeted, "Validates HR's move to the cloud for all things hire and beyond." This one aptly summed up the thoughts of many. The acquisition legitimizes cloud-based technology platforms for HCM.
• Q2: What are the underlying implications, if any, for single-silo, best-of-breed solutions vs. all-in-one suites?
  @robgarciasj tweeted, "Best-of-breed doesn't exist: it's a buzzword used by the chest-pounding bullies in the space who want 2 dominate." It's an interesting take. Put differently, fear almost always fuels bullies' behavior. Not all so-called best-of-breed providers are bullies, but small and large vendors alike of narrowly applicable HR technology probably have much to fear.
• Q3: Will any #HRtech be premise-based in the next 10 years? If yes, then what?
  The consensus was no, not much, and @SocialMediaSean tweeted, "I can't imagine a world in 10 years that is not living, working & doing business from the cloud."
• Q4: What does SuccessFactors' acquisition of Jobs2Web say about social media as a channel for recruitment?
  @SarahBorup tweeted, "Companies can't dictate alone where they want to recruit - you have to go where the people are already congregating." A hiring organization no longer may expect jobseekers to find it. The mountain (i.e. talent pools) won't go to the hiring organization; the hiring organization must now go to the mountain.
• Q5: How does the acquisition of Jobs2Web play into SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors, if at all?
  There is no connection, necessarily. The two acquisitions do represent equally compelling technological visions of the future for HCM and its inextricable subset, talent acquisition. @smashfly identified one possible intersection, tweeting, "Both SAP and SF [SuccessFactors] recruiting modules are not strong & J2W [Jobs2Web] should help those in house customers."
• Q6: Where do social media-based recruitment marketing and cloud technology meet? Or is there little intersection? Why?
  As @kevinwgrossman, co-host of #HRTechChat, cleverly tweeted, "They meet right here. And over there. And over there. And over there..." It's nearly everywhere.

Enjoy the holidays!