How is talent intelligence driving evolution of HR

As an HR intelligence technology, talent intelligence has taken over the world of HR tech architecture like a storm. From synchronizing talent acquisition, management, and development activities to creating agility, employee satisfaction, and retention, there is a lot that HR leaders and professionals like you can achieve via talent intelligence.

Talent intelligence, also known as skills intelligence, is the topic that we will delve into today. So, why not get started?

What is talent intelligence?  

‍Talent intelligence is a new development in the HR universe that focuses on collecting and analyzing skills data available in your skills inventories, skills taxonomies, and labor market skills insights. Talent intelligence or skills intelligence can be a layer within your HR tech platform, helping you make data-driven decisions while hiring, managing, and developing your workforce. Talent intelligence can be a valuable instrument today and, in the future, primarily because of the dynamic nature of skills transformation, the evolution of new skills, the volatile market with high inflation rates, and increased layoffs.  

Since drastic changes are happening in the job market, especially with the increased use of automation and AI-based tools, a talent intelligence platform can be the future of talent management for your organization. You can benchmark your employees and candidates to identify if your employees or candidates have the required skill sets. This can be highly beneficial while hiring, and based on the insights garnered at an employee level, you can decide on the different ways to upskill/reskill/cross-skill your existing workforce.  

Another reason organizations worldwide have started to opt for skills intelligence or talent intelligence tools is the industry transformations and reinventions happening around us. It helps align with the convergence of industries. One example is telcos becoming techos. Besides, with a rise in the interest in skills technology, skills mapping, skills benchmarking, and measuring RoI of learning and development activities, maintaining skills infrastructure has become vital for organizations.

Organizations can achieve this today by relying on talent intelligence or skills intelligence platforms. You can explore more about skills intelligence from our blog on what skills intelligence is.

HR: Before and after the evolution of talent intelligence tools  

Before talent intelligence and other AI-backed HR tools gained popularity, organizations relied on traditional methods to handle their HR-related activities. For instance, as per the timeline provided by the EY-iMocha Skills Transformation Report on the evolution of the HR tech stack, from the early 2000s to 2010, HR professionals relied on a system of records for data management. From 2015 to 2020, the HR tech stack focused more on EVP via digital accessibility and enablement. But, from 2020 to the present, there has been a shift towards intelligent systems like skills or talent intelligence platforms.  

Before skills or talent intelligence became a thing, organizations had limited data insights on their employees and the candidates they wanted to hire. Most of this data was extracted manually and stored in Excel sheets or hard copies. Due to this, they were often unused and prone to errors, hindering strategic decision-making processes.

In talent acquisition practices, from sourcing to onboarding candidates, organizations relied on traditional methods, heavily impacting the time to fill, quality of hire, and candidate experience. Since skills or talent intelligence is a new concept, several organizations have yet to adopt it in their systems. Similarly, organizations made decisions, analyses, and all the processes associated with talent management and development via traditional methods with little room for personalization, customization, and data-driven approaches.  

Fast forward to what organizations can achieve by relying on skills or talent intelligence platforms. With skills or talent intelligence platforms, organizations can:  

1. Automate processes associated with talent acquisition like job posting, applicant tracking, conducting virtual interviews, e-signing, agreement management, and employee data management.  
2. Make data-driven talent decisions based on assessments, benchmarking, skills insights, skills gap analysis, and mapping.  
3. Aid in managing your talent proactively with streamlined processes, succession planning, customized career trajectories, etc.  
4. Initiate personalized employee training programs by understanding their career requirements, market trends, and skills needed for your organization’s business growth.  
5. Become more business focused on assisting sales in their pursuits with the availability of real-time skills inventory.

Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg. You can explore more on how skills or talent intelligence platforms can help your organization from our blog on how skills intelligence can help achieve business goals.

Benefits of relying on talent intelligence software in HR  

Relying on HR intelligence tools like talent intelligence can be a game-changer for your organization. Using talent intelligence software for your HR functionalities has many benefits. Considering the future of talent management and HR in general, incorporating a skills or talent intelligence platform within your HR tech architecture can benefit your organization in shaping its talent for the future of work.

Now, let's explore some benefits of depending on talent intelligence software in HR.  

• Enhance your talent acquisition activities and smoothen the process by streamlining all the sections included in the TA journey. You can find unicorn talents aligning with your business goals and skills requirements by conducting assessments, skills mapping, benchmarking, etc.
  Further, you can improve the candidate experience by engaging them throughout their journey and offering them insights on other opportunities within your organization. Incorporating talent intelligence tools within your HR infrastructure reduces the workload and improves the productivity of HR professionals.  
• Increased employee turnover is a concern that impacts most organizations today. Several reasons today lead to employee turnover, from lack of employee engagement to reduced employee career development activities. However, your organization can overcome this concern by investing in your employees and their skills. One of the best ways is with skills or talent intelligence. You can explore more on employee retention and the role of skills intelligence in improving it from our blog on employee retention.  
• Improving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity in every aspect of the organization is something HR professionals are working on day-in and out these days. Systemic, conscious, and unconscious biases within the system make it challenging for HR professionals to bring DEI within their organization. But, by relying on skills or talent intelligence, your organization can reduce these biases efficiently and make data-driven talent decisions in hiring, talent management, and development.  
• Previously, employers lacked visibility on employees' performance, skills, proficiency, and capabilities. But, today, skills or talent intelligence platforms can provide deep insights based on employee skills data, which can be leveraged in preparing career trajectories, improving employee experience, aligning employees' skills with business goals, etc.  
• Assist in the career development management of your employees by performing talent mapping, talent benchmarking, and other activities. Through this, you can help your employees to achieve their career goals and grow your business strategically.  
• While using skills or talent intelligence software, one of the things you need not worry about is the ease of integration and its convenience while operating within your HR systems.  

Apart from this, there are several other benefits of relying on skills intelligence or talent intelligence software. You can explore this from our blog on the benefits and their role in the transformations happening around us.

Final thoughts

Thus, without a doubt, we can say that talent intelligence or skills intelligence platforms are driving the world of HR and will continue to revolutionize it further in the future. So, why not stay ahead of the curve and prepare your organization with the skills of the future with the right set of HR intelligence tools?