As we gear up for HR2013 next week in Vegas, I've had numerous questions about what I'm looking forward to at the conference. This is the first time I'm going to be attending the conference in a consulting role. In the past I've attended/presented as an SAP corporate customer. While my role may be different, I'm still looking forward to similar things. I consider HR2013 to be the premier learning opportunity for anyone working directly in SAP HCM. For this year, the top three topics I am looking forward to hearing more about are the following:
1. SuccessFactors (Surprise!) - What Does the Future Hold
I am not a SuccessFactors expert. I've been fortunate to get exposure to the system as the company I work for uses it internally for Performance appraisals, so I've gotten exposed to the UI. I've tried to keep up with the latest news on SF, integration specifically, hybrid approaches, etc. And for me (and a lot of clients I talk to), the waters are still pretty murky for the future. I came from an organization that had a very established SAP HR core system, so my thoughts tend to go in that direction on how are companies with established SAP HR systems looking at the future of SF, specifically hybrid approaches with SF and SAP HCM On-Premise. The integration options I have read about all seem to have their pain points, whether CSV file integration, requiring SAP Netweaver PI (which not everyone has in place), or an upcoming option of SAP HANA Cloud Integration technology. So I'm wanting to see several things at HR2013 on SuccessFactors, specifically more clarity on the integration options for hybrid customers (including additional licenses where req'd), and I'd like to get the opinion of customers already running SAP HR on where they see SF in there future.
2. Future of SAP HR UI
In my years working with SAP HR, I could probably count on one hand how many people I've worked with that like the overall UI of SAP HR. Some people hate the usability, others tolerate it, fewer would admit they actually like it. But recently we've heard about HR Renewal, and as it has come out for general release at the end of 2012 with feature packs trickling in presently, I'm curious what further information we may hear from SAP at HR2013 or any customers who may have participated in ramp up activities. To me this is an area long overdue in needing to be addressed.
3. Future of Analytics for SAP HR
Reporting seems to be a common struggle for many customers, needing to get that right piece of information out of the system quickly and easily. With HANA and the shift toward big data in IT these days, I'm looking to see what is next in SAP HR for analytic reporting. A somewhat recent article from Bersin (SuccessFactors Unwraps Turbo-Charged Analytics Solution) from last year highlighted SuccessFactors analytics solution and talked about how the HR analytic market is white hot, but goes on to mention only around 6-7% of organizations have a deep level of expertise in HR analytics. I'm interested to see any customers out there attacking the need for better HR analytic reporting in SAP and how they're doing it, in addition to seeing what's next from SAP for HR analytic reporting from BI and how the SuccessFactors analytic product fits in.
Maybe more so than the three topics above, I'm looking forward to see old and new faces and trading stories and experiences over the past year. What are you looking forward to at HR2013 next week?
