Steve Jobs of Apple used this image to explain their approach to product development, saying:

We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, to be able to get the best of both, to make extremely advanced products from a technology point of view, but also have them be intuitive, easy to use, fun to use, so that they really fit the users – the users don’t have to come to them, they come to the user.

Yesterday I was following the analyst updates from #workdaytech, primarily updates from Naomi Bloom and Jason Averbook, and it became apparent that the market leaders in the enterprise software space will be the ones who have a defined roadmap that allow them to compete, figure out social integration (i.e. conversational transactions, micro-blogging, social ‘tool’ integration, etc), and most importantly are able to articulate the benefits of their product to both IT AND business sponsors.  In Workday’s case, this means selling the advantages of true-SaaS/multi-tenancy, and it’s ability to deliver significant cost-savings due to more efficient delivery of their software, not to mention being able to drastically reduce implementation timelines and simplify future upgrade planning.

That isn’t rocket science right?  To sell enterprise software you must appeal to buyers with different agendas and priorities, in this case IT users whose concerns are around infrastructure costs, data security, authentication, and a slew of other technical areas to the HR user, who cares most about usability, employee experience, and being able to intuitively perform transactions in the system to manage human capital processes for the organization.  But the question remains – are we training and preparing the workforce for today’s word of blended technology and business responsibilities?  Are they prepared to operate in the gray area of defining application security around business processes, configuring applications to meet business priorities, and understanding of often-complex IT and business hand-offs to manage the applications supporting the enterprise?

I would argue that today’s marketplace demands professionals on both sides of the fence that understand their counterparts to a greater degree than ever before.  Authors have preached about the differences between IT and Business professionals in books like The Geek Gap and Leading Geeks.  Today, HR professionals, you are amongst the ‘geek ranks’.  The successful HR professional sits at the intersection of technology and business, and understands how they compliment each other to turn human capital management into a competitive advantage, instead of a cost center.  The successful HR professional doesn’t code or manage environments, but they understand how to leverage data within the HRMS to generate information that ultimately affects compensation programs, retention, talent acquisition, and other critical areas of HR.  Similarly, the IT professional supporting HR needs to understand the business.  They need to talk the language, and understand what drives projects, business requirements, and application configuration decisions.

Today, the intersection of technology and business is a crowded one with blurred center lines.  It’s the dangerous intersection with the flashing yellow lights.  The most prepared to learn and adapt will survive, and excel.  Those who prefer to stick to a narrow view of their job responsibilities might as well pull over and get out of the way.

Thoughts from the Intersection of Technology and Business is a post from: HR Think Tank

There is one absolutely indisputable fact about social media – It brings the #GEEK out.  Early adopters, for the most part, will try anything – and trust me, it’s a slippery slope.  One day you are setting up a fancy RSS Reader and the next thing you know….. FARMVILLE!  Nothing like missing out on actual experiences and opportunities to plant some fake crops and raise some computer chickens.  Or perhaps Mafia Wars is more your style – as the video says – what else are you supposed to do while your crops are growing?  But at least these don’t pretend to be useful Social Networking tools.  The latest is the fascination with Foursquare, especially with the recent Blackberry app release.  As a disclaimer, I am on Foursquare, and I am so geeky, I was part of the 5000 person beta release!  But lets be real here, is there any true business value to this tool?  I’m not buying it.  Furthermore, while you are out unlocking your badge and securing your mayorship at the local donut shop, your employees just might be laughing at your twittersream of geolocational goodies.

Bosses and business professionals aren’t the only ones that should think about potential implications of broadcasting their every move around the city.  I would be even less hesitant to use Foursquare if I were a girl.  Yes, I know you pick your friends on Foursquare.  But, after Thursday happy hour you might think it’s a great idea to share with your 6,000 best friends on Twitter that you are at so and so bar or restaurant and realistically you have no idea where that tweet ends up.  Stalkers everywhere are rejoicing and high-fiving each other at the sheer joy of Foursquare!

So, for now, I’ll probably still use it.  I can’t help it, it tugs at that competitive spirit in me (even if I did feel a little guilty for unlocking the “Bender” badge).  But, I no longer have any illusions about the usefulness of Foursquare from a business perspective.  It’s just another way for your followers to know when you are hanging out in Starbucks planting some fake plants and becoming a made-man.

Agree? Disagree?  I would love to hear your thoughts, and what do you think the next application will be that becomes a 3 month trending topic on twitter?

Post Update, 1/24/10 – After thinking about it some more this weekend, I decided to delete my Foursquare account.  Bye-bye Foursquare!

#FunFriday – Social Media Brings the #Geek Out is a post from: HR Think Tank

I love making lists.  I’m OCD like that – to-do lists, music play-lists, best-of-whatever lists, lists about things that suck that should stay in 2009, and yes, Christmas lists (notice the obvious omission of grocery lists – that’s one list I don’t do!).  This year is no different, and I have my business Christmas list here ready to share!  It’s Christmas Eve – I have a bad sweater on, spiked eggnog in hand, and am hoping that Santa brings me these things in the business world for 2010:

1. Better Demos from Vendors – Seriously.  I spent a great deal of 2009 in software demos on behalf of my clients, most of which completely missed the mark. It’s not that hard: show up on time, connect, demo to the clients needs, be cognizant of your audience (and especially your buyer!) and PLEASE don’t start talking about shortcomings in this release that are fixed in the x.xx release that is going GA in 9 months from now.  Capiche?  Michael Krupa shared similar sentiment in his blog post Psst Vendors – Some Software Demo Tips For You.

2. Transparency in Corporate Communications – The economy is taking a nose-dive.  Lay-offs are coming.  You (HR leadership/Management) think it’s a big secret, but everyone else knows it’s coming, and guess what – they are talking about it!  I saw this a lot in 2009 – companies unable to come out with some true candor in their communications around staff reductions.  The rumor mill becomes reality, and your best employees might just get scared and jump ship.  In 2010, there will likely be more opportunities for them to do just that, which brings me to my next point…

3. Employee Engagement Initiatives - Companies need to continue to find both ways to be competitive, and ways to retain top talent.  Strategically investing in improving (and effectively measuring) employee engagement can help you with both.  The problem?  This is hard to do, and it’s hard to measure.  Lance hits on this on his blog Rehaul with his post My Christmas Wish: Employee Engagement.  I’m with Lance on this, let’s get this on the agenda for 2010.

4. More focus on Adoption for Technology Projects – Project managers and Business Sponsors are defining user adoption too narrowly.  Most projects are at least trying to manage adoption for their true end-user.  The neglected aspect, in my experience, seems to be managing a wider view of stakeholder adoption within the organization.  I have seen A TON of this in 2009.  HRIS upgrade goes live – we throw a big party – Employees and Managers know what’s coming for ESS/MSS, and global operations teams trained on all of the changes to run operations, but my new data model smacks finance in the mouth and breaks their executive reporting.  It also breaks Comp’s total comp process because all of their files leveraged bank titles, job codes, and the organization hierarchy, which has all changed – their expectations haven’t been managed on the changes and they are involved far too late.  Massive #FAIL.  In 2010, lets see Project Managers and Business Sponsors manage all stakeholders – and make sure your definition of “user” is wide enough to cover the employee, manager, administrators, and anyone who depends on that data downstream.

5. Accountability – 2009 was a bit of a mess in this area wouldn’t ya say?  Economic meltdown.  Bear Stearns – gone.  Lehman Bros – gone.  American Home Mortgage – gone.  AIG – should have been gone but was saved by taxpayers.  Executive compensation was never discussed with such furor.  People wanted accountability for greed and corruption on Wall Street, and for the much slimmer 401K’s and new retirement time lines.  In 2010, standards have to be higher.  We need to hold companies, and individuals accountable.

What things do you want “under your tree”?  Comment it up!  Let’s get this party started early!

Dear Santa… is a post from: HR Think Tank