For this episode of the #HRTechChat, our guest was Melissa Swisher, chief revenue officer of Socrates.ai. To say Socrates.ai is an artificially intelligent chatbot to tie together various domains of the enterprise software ecosystem is probably the most straightforward description.  The description implies only a small sliver of Socrates.ai's potential application. Some of these domains themselves may have chatbots specific to various proprietary software, and Socrates.ai an draw information from it all.

As Melissa elaborated during our chat, Socrates.ai "is an employee experience platform. Think of it as an experience layer" that hews to employees' preferences. My take is this: Think of it as a prosthetic to facilitate a unified experience in employee self-service as this pertains not just to staff's employment, but to anything they wish or need to know over the course of a given workday. In my experience, ESS for human capital management specifically offers a rich potential vein of return on investment, and I can only imagine that this ROI grows exponentially when applied to more of the employee experience. Melissa and I delved into some interesting numbers around newfound efficiencies deployments of Socrates.ai have produced.

Naturally, because of the solution's relations to AI, our conversation expanded beyond Socrates.ai itself. And, as mentioned during the chat, I really wish something like Socrates.ai had been available to me much earlier in my career, when I worked with a team at civil engineering firm to figure out what the company had done, in its past, that was relevant to the many responses to request for proposals we drafted. A prosthetic to identify and pull that information from within the depths of the company's enterprise would have been nice.

Then again, it was 2003, not 2021 -- the age of AI. We've come a long way, and I encourage everyone to listen this episode.

#HRTechChat with Melissa Swisher, Chief Revenue Officer at Socrates.ai

Joining me for the #HRTechChat video podcast is Rachel Jordan. At Unit4, provider of business software for human capital management and enterprise resource planning, as well as financial planning and analysis, Rachel is vice president of HCM product management. Just like several of her fellow relatively new additions to leadership at Unit4, Rachel has a strong a pedigree in the industry.

Unit4 is a vendor keen on finding the best ways to align and combine HCM, ERP and FP&A. The possibilities are intriguing, and you'll be hearing more about these from 3Sixty Insights as we stroll through the second half of 2022. Think of this episode of the podcast as an appetizer. HCM technology (including the ethos behind it) has evolved drastically over the past five years, from a focus on talent management to one of supporting the success of people. (Those are two different things, yes.) HR continues to mature in its role, from a largely reactionary position mired in transactional work to one aspiring to proactively support organizational growth and strategy -- and capable of doing so.

It makes sense. Organizations have had to adapt their HCM systems broadly and deeply, especially since the pandemic took hold and ushered in work from home, hybrid work and other dynamics once considered novelties or exceptions to the rule. HR's charter now is to facilitate and advocate for the employee experience, and the HCM system is no longer just a database of people, but an ecosystem to support a total employee lifecycle that has, on average, become unconventional and nonlinear -- e.g., career progressions no longer track straight, effective internal mobility hinges on accurate insight into soft skills, etc. Better-delivered information from payroll and compensation strategy and regarding employees' skills influences the employee experience by optimizing internal mobility, facilitating tenure, and rendering current and future personnel costs more predictable.

All this change changes the fundamental calculus that HR and other organizational stakeholders must follow to justify their proposals to invest in HCM systems. One way for them to make this argument is to show the value of HCM data as HCM systems become better connected to other domains of the enterprise and the related data becomes more easily combinable in real time. The idea is to shorten the time it takes to figure out how or whether this or that decision regarding people success would deliver value to the organization.

As my conversation with Rachel ultimately implies, HR leaders and other HCM-immersed internal organizational stakeholders in positions of influence should emphasize that one major benefit of all this is not only greater organizational agility, but stability, too. Data that an HCM system produces can give employers invaluable insight into which actions are best to take. The ready availability of this data, especially when it's the result of data exchange between systems supporting areas of the business that need alignment anyway, means leaders can take these actions early.

3Sixty Insights #HRTechChat with Rachel Jordan, Vice President of HCM Product Management at Unit4

Google’s old hiring plan: Go to the toughest schools, find the smartest people, give them the hardest tests. Hire the ones who perform the best. They changed their plan. Google’s new talent acquisition process: Uncover the hidden qualities of the current highest-performing employees. Then, select candidates who replicate those same qualities, ensuring a cultural fit as well as a continuation of pre-established successes. We wanted to dive a little deeper, so we asked Juan Betancourt how to skip Google’s hiring mistakes, and hire faster, hire smarter, and higher stronger-fit candidates. Juan is the CEO of Humantelligence, where they have developed a 12-minute EQ test that allows an organization to uncover the hidden culture fit, eliminate 80-90% of labor in hiring, and find the highest-performing candidates. Previously, Juan was the Global Head of Strategy at Puma, USA Country Manager for DECATHLON ($20B global sports brand), and founded Gonza Executive Search, to help mid-market companies find and place C-Suite executives. Juan attended Harvard for his Bachelor’s in Economics, and has an MBA from Wharton. (If you haven’t got this already, this guy’s a brainiac.) We had to have him on our Digital Transformation Pioneers podcast.

1: How a 12-Minute EQ Test Helps You Hire Better, Hire Faster, & Eliminate Subjectivity w/ Juan Betancourt

If you’re consolidating, combining or migrating platforms, you’ll want to listen to this guy. He consolidated a digital landscape from 7 offices and 5 different ERPs. That can be quite a challenge: You have to create a system that satisfies all stakeholders, achieves all objectives, and launches on schedule. It’s a daunting task, but it’s one this Digital Transformation Pioneer didn’t simply accomplish, but conquered. His name is Scott Bendle, and he’s the CIO at Rigaku Americas Corp. He came on board in 2002 as the Director of Operation and oversaw a massive IT transformation across the organization. Scott joined us to share 3 life-saving tips on consolidation and combining systems. Don’t miss this pioneer!

This Digital Pioneer Combined 5 ERPs From 7 Offices. Here’s What He Learned.

If you are tackling a job that hasn’t been done before, you need a strong team. One full of people who challenge the status quo and who aren’t afraid to ask why. Stefanie Causey is the Senior Director of IS Solutions Delivery at Aspect Software. Aspect Software is a provider of customer engagement, workforce optimization, and self service solutions geared towards mid-sized to large enterprises. Stefanie has been in IT for many years and has witnessed a complete transformation in the way things are done in the industry. &nbsp;She was brought onboard at Aspect when it was clear they needed a solutions architect to work on their very outdated systems and servers. Stefanie joined us for this episode of Digital Transformation Pioneers to talk about putting together a team to overcome unique challenges at Aspect, Artificial Intelligence, and her key lesson learned along the way.

How To Challenge the Status Quo When Tackling Big Projects w/ Stefanie Causey

Getting things from A to B isn’t as simple as it sounds. Especially when we’re talking shipping on a continental scale. That’s what I recently chatted about with Lindsey Shellman, Vice President at WIN (Web Integrated Network), where she’s responsible for sales, operational, and strategic direction. “We identified early on that shippers wanted a tool to manage their own shipping,” Lindsey said. The old way to do it: Make a bunch of calls. Get a bunch of quotes and compare them. Go to different websites and start typing. Print stuff out. Try to coordinate all the info somehow. “It's not efficient and it takes up a lot of time,” Lindsey said. Cue the new way: WIN. “It's a single platform that you can use to manage all of your shipping,” she explained. “It takes a lot of time out of the process and provides a lot more efficiency.” Because everything’s integrated.

5: 3 Values of Digital Transformation Pioneers w/ Lindsey Shellman

While every modern company has some amount of technology, many IT professionals find themselves in companies where the main product or service has seemingly little to do with technology. Often, these IT workers are relegated to the back offices of systems maintenance. Worse, the IT department may desire to be in the back office, hiding away from the the frustrations of “real business.” On this week’s episode of Digital Transformation Pioneers, we took a different approach. Instead of finding an a hip IT professional at a tech startup, we found Joe Lalor, an amazing techie at a hot tub company. He spelled out the 3 dilemmas every IT pro faces when they are working at a non-tech-driven company. Joe showed how to confront each of these pitfalls and ensure success. Joe’s the Director of IT for Watkins Wellness, the leading hot tub manufacturer in the world. Before his time at Watkins, Joe worked at Callaway Golf as the Senior Manager of IT. He’s also worked at SAIC for nearly 23 years as a Software Engineer and Systems Analyst.

Episode 6: The 3 Dilemmas of IT Leaders Working in Non-Tech Companies w/ Joe Lalor

Manufacturing’s need for digital transformation is on par with that of every other area of modern-day business. Clunky systems, outdated backlogs, &amp; siloed data, are all continuous problems facing the millenia-old industry. Bringing up these traditional businesses to modern enterprises calls for a true Digital Transformation Pioneer. Enter in Andrew Rieser, President and Co-Founder of Mountain Point, where he and his team help “old school” manufacturers digitize their environment, all on the Salesforce platform. His expertise in IT, data, and software engineering were helpful to the DoD when he worked at CSC as a PM. Previously, his technical background was utilized at Permco as the Director of Technology, and various other IT positions across verticals. His MS in Software Engineering underscores his nearly 15 years in digital transformation across verticals. Yeah, he knows his stuff. On this episode, Andrew delivered a few powerful lessons on being a data-centric business, and how to navigate the difficult terrain of digital change in an under-digitized vertical.

Episode 7: Data Isn’t Simply a Goal. Data is the Change Agent. w/ Andrew Rieser

Consider the terms “technical innovation” and “digital transformation.” “Rope” probably isn’t the very next word you think of. Maybe we’re all thinking too conventionally. Digital Transformation Pioneers aren’t conventional. They’re pushing the limits of innovation, in every industry, in every possible function. They use technology in unexpected ways, sometimes for surprising industries. Dean Haverstraw is one such individual. On our latest episode of our Digital Transformation Pioneers podcast, Dean jumped in and told us 3 game-changing lessons he’s learned about digital transformation. (And he used a real example of how he put them all in practice, to intertwine rope, Tide, and IoT.

Episode 8: Think Your Business Can’t Use Digital Transformation? Think Again. (This Guy Combined IoT & Rope) w/ Dean Haverstraw

Today’s guest is Remi Beaudouin, Chief Strategy Officer at ATEME. &nbsp; If you watch on-demand content on your TV or computer, it’s very likely that it’s been produced at some point in time by ATEME. More than 95% of their business is done outside of their HQ in France. &nbsp; Like any other domain, the TV and on-demand content industry is in a period of transformation. Also like any other industry, some people are reluctant to change—but at some point they have to.

13: 3 Lessons Learned From the Leader of Video Delivery w/ Remi Beaudouin

The buying cycle for enterprise software and technology shouldn't be a power struggle between departments. 3Sixty Insights is a research, advisory, and consulting firm providing deep understanding of how to bridge the gap in perception and priorities between stakeholders. Through our research, we unearth strategic approaches for streamlining the decision-making process, successfully managing solutions, and maximizing value from business software and technology investments.

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