Predictive analytics in HR – the future (Part 8 of 8)

The long-awaited finale in this eight (8) part overview of predictive analytics in HR. Enjoy!

Predictive analytics in HR – the future of predictive analytics

Predictive analysis lets businesses see what the future might hold for them. But what might the future hold for predictive analytics?

Some of the current potential, the things we’ve looked at over the preceding articles, remains largely untapped. The immediate future involves companies adopting and refining these practices. But such a sophisticated tool, when combined with the rich pools of data that are increasingly available, could end up doing a whole lot more.

Data integration

As companies become more reliant on IS infrastructure, the incentive to integrate that infrastructure grows. It is easier to work and to cooperate across systems that can communicate with each other, or over a single system serving all a company’s needs. And the more integrated data can become, the more easily predictive analytics can achieve impressive results.

Of course, there are limits to this. Specialized IS systems are better at what they do than general purpose ones. So as software becomes more specialized, it will be up to experts in analytics to find ways to plug them into each other, to reach across electronic divides and share data.

Cooperation between companies

For many companies, the idea of cooperating with competitors is an alien one. But some degree of cooperation will lead to better analysis of the condition of an industry. If several companies cooperate by sharing data on an analytics project they will be helping each other, but they will also be stealing a march on other competitors. The companies that learn to live with this sort of cooperation will gain an edge through improved understanding of their recruitment pools and personnel, and so have the best staff.

Predictive analytics and direct sourcing – the new recruitment

Combined with direct sourcing, predictive analytics provides a powerful new model for recruitment.

Predictive analytics will allow companies to identify the best indicators of staff who will work well for them. Not just what to look for on a CV, a covering letter or a set of test results, but what to look for in a whole person. It could predict not just what sort of person you want as a new starter, but how they will progress from there.

And, given access to the vast seas of data on social networking sites, it could find the people you want to recruit, even if they have never heard of you. Better yet, it can find the way for you to connect with them.

Imagine a program that identifies the top three indicators of a great employee for your legal department. It finds out that they got a first at university, have spent three years in commercial law, and prefer a particular brand of gym. Why that gym? Presumably some personality trait that draws people to your work draws them there too, but that’s not what matters. What matters is that the program then searches through Facebook for people with law degrees who have liked that gym’s page. And that then pushes an ad in their direction, or better yet, finds the potential candidates with friends already in your company, so that you can reach out personally.

Of course, all of this depends on the opportunities that social networks provide. But as the most data savvy companies on the planet, it can’t be long before they start playing with such ideas.

The future is bright. The future is complex. And the future is most definitely owned by predictive analytics.

Links or other articles in this series:

Article 1: Predictive analytics – looking to the future in recruitment
Article 2: Predictive analytics in HR – looking at the big picture
Article 3: Predictive analytics in HR – smarter recruitment
Article 4: Predictive analytics in HR – training and development
Article 5: Predictive analytics in HR – retention
Article 6: Predictive analytics in HR – getting it right
Article 7: Predictive analytics in HR – barriers to deployment
Article 8: Predictive analytics in HR – the future

Image credit: alphaspirit / 123RF Stock Photo

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Mark Lukens, MBA

Founding Partner at Capatus

Mark Lukens is a founding partner at Capatus and located in the New York office. He leads the Capatus’ Global Talent and Advisory practice. He is also an expert in the firm’s research and nonprofit practice. Lukens has more than 20 years of c-level executive and consulting experience delivering strategies and transformational programs to firms ranging from start-up to Fortune 50. He has worked with clients in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Lukens worked extensively in various product and service categories including health care, life sciences, government, nonprofit, technology, and professional services. He also advises clients in other industries including commercial and industrial, retail, logistics and transportation, media and more. Lukens serves on several Nonprofit Boards and is a professor at the State University of New York where he teaches in the School of Business and Economics with a focus on marketing, international management, entrepreneurship, HR, and organizational behavior to name a few. Lukens has a technical background as a MCSE and earned an MBA from Eastern University.

@marklukens

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