HR technology is a running shoe

HR technology is a running shoe, according to VP, Product Management - Employee Central, at SuccessFactors.

Thomas Otter’s statement came in response to the Chief People Officer at WDS’ talk at SuccessConnect 2014 in Amsterdam. David Bowes said: “I deliver HR to employees through managers, so these managers need the right tools to deliver it.”

Talking about the use of HR technology he went on to say: “Understanding the business meant we could move at pace.”

However, according to Otter, this pace is only partly due to the technology provided. Speaking to HR Grapevine he said: “We make running shoes at the end of the day. You can buy a better running shoe to go faster, but at the end of the day it’s your legs, your fitness and your lungs that determine whether you go fast or go slow. It’s whether you get out of bed every morning and train or not. That’s a bigger determinant of your organisation’s success than technology is.

“But I humbly think technology has a role to play, in the same way a good running shoe has a role to play in running. But the biggest thing with these systems really is; what you put in is what you get out.”

Otter continued: “Organisations that have the focus and the discipline to use these systems actively to engage and empower users to use these systems regularly, those are the systems that get value out of it – and they get value out of it in ways that we didn’t expect.

“The organisations that buy software and expect it to do everything for them – they are disappointed. The organisations that put the effort in are normally amazed by what they achieve.”

Originally published on HR Grapevine