Rubbish In = Rubbish Out = Waste of Time.  Not much we can do about it, right?

Wrong.

The biggest problem in dealing with Data Quality is the tendency to do nothing: “Rubbish Out” gives you the perfect opportunity for a focused Data Quality effort.

Waiting for a Business Case for Data Quality management to build itself is like never brushing your teeth and waiting for a tooth ache before going to the dentist. Perhaps a better approach is to learn how to brush your teeth and look out for decay before it is too late.

Do this, if like your teeth, you would like to take care of your data:

• Write-down each complaint you receive about data quality and say, “THANK-YOU.”
• Get the person to explain what they would achieve with good information in the same context.
• Work out who owns the data – the Data Owner is someone senior from the line of business (not IT). If you are lucky, there will be Data Owner appointed Data Steward(s) either by line of business or function or both. This probably means that your organisation is placing some of the required focus on Data Quality. If not, find the closest thing – Business Analyst / Functional Analyst / Reporting Specialist. Note the Data Steward is not the Data Owner, rather the Data Owner’s appointed “Bull Dog”.
• Do a cost benefit analysis by Data Owner. Easier said than done but this does not need to be 100% accurate.  Look for easy wins.  The benefits almost always outweigh those identified at the outset.
• Do nothing if the benefits don’t outweigh the cost, but don’t throw away your cost benefit analysis – the process needs to be reviewed and repeated.
• Send your Data Owner(s) the results – whatever the outcome.
• Set-up a meeting with them to plan actions.

Organisations need to treat intangible Information Assets like their Fixed Assets on the Balance Sheet. Nurture your data and you will be rewarded with more efficient and successful decision making efforts and easier business execution.

When you look at the fact that mobility and turnover have decreased at the macro level and retirements have reduced due to the economic climate and the decimation of retirement funds, you can begin to understand why some organisations have not made significant investments in their human capital processes.

BUT… organisations are going to be strong-armed into examining their human capital operating models with recovering market conditions set to double current retirement trends and mobility and turnover significantly increasing. 

The million dollar question at this juncture is: “How can business leaders ensure that their current workforce issues don’t blow up into critical business issues?”

The answer (and I will pocket that million thanks!): workforce planning.  Workforce planning enables business leaders to unpack the anatomy of their workforce, understand key business drivers, implement necessary change to business operating models, and most importantly, align human capital strategies with business strategies.

What are the critical elements for a successful workforce planning process I hear you ask? The workforce planning process must be aligned and integrated with all organisational planning and budgeting processes.

Is everyone committed? Stakeholder engagement is an absolute must to ensure that the process is allocated adequate priority and resources.

Workforce Planning… Is it just a Human Resources initiative? Definitely not! The business needs to adopt workforce planning and have a sense of urgency committing to planning into future years, well beyond this budget cycle. 

Lastly, do we have the skills, capability and experience required to establish and execute on the Workforce Planning process? Resources that are able to initiate and implement all pieces of the Workforce Plan are unique and extremely sought after.  Generally, this is where we see organisations engage expert assistance and seek partners across the business to assist and execute on the planning process.

As talent pools are continually placed under stress, workforce planning at a strategic level will become an essential component of human capital operating models.  Understanding how to position your workforce to obtain the best return on investment will sustain and grow the success of your organisation into the future.

Don’t rest on your laurels, business leaders – it is time to take the bull by the horns and show those environmental factors (such as the economy, labour shortages etc.) who’s boss.

Predicting the future is a big business. Economists, financiers, demographers, pollsters and pundits are paid big money for their insights into what might happen next in their respective areas of expertise. If we can catch glimpses of the future of something as complex as the economy, why can’t we look into the future to predict our human capital needs? I started researching human capital metrics in the 1970s, when almost no businesses were really crunching the numbers on their people. Today, I am working hard to push the frontier of predictive analytics. Last year I kicked off a predictive analytics initiative, and partnered with SuccessFactors Research to find out what works.

In business, gathering and analyzing data is only a beginning. Managers want metrics that are actionable, metrics that support business decisions. They want a glimpse of their future. To answer that call, we have developed HCM: 21, a better way to collect, integrate, process, analyze and predict business results. It links external forces and internal factors, plans with it, processes it, analyzes it and predicts it within a single, integrated system much like FedEx does with small packages. The value add is compelling business intelligence about our most mission critical resource: human capital.

Most great advances in the information era have not revolved around new products. They have been about the distribution of something. Consider Avon in cosmetics, FedEx in package delivery, Amazon in books and USA Today in newspapers. In every case upon introduction adoption of the better method was condemned by naysayers. Innovation today is about efficient movement of data and products.

Just as other breakthroughs have been built on integration, HCM: 21 incorporates human capital information from many sources. But it is not about information technology in the sense of computers any more than Gutenberg was about paper and ink. Movable type launched the efficient distribution of information, which made possible widespread education and facilitated trade. HCM: 21 is the first successful method for combining mission critical, human capital data to manage risk and predict return on investments all within a single, comprehensive system.

You can find a preview of the HCM: 21 system in the whitepaper I wrote with Erik from SuccessFactors Research, Managing Tomorrow, Today. It is not a crystal ball for the future, but rather a blueprint for putting your data to work, not just to solve the problems you are facing right now, but to ready yourself for tomorrow. How integrated, actionable and relevant is your human data? Don’t get stuck looking backward and reacting, make sure your data is good enough to look forward to tomorrow.