What Does a Great Tech Stack Look Like in the Era of Intelligent Staffing?

Ed Pederson looks at how the right tech stack can help organizations outrun the competition on talent.

The world of work never stops moving. From offices packed with clattering typewriters to a tech-conscious 80s and 90s and an increasingly ambitious post-millennium era, we’re always looking for new ways to innovate and evolve. In talent, this has powered the rise of the Managed Service Provider (MSP) and increasingly sophisticated Vendor Management Systems (VMS) along with a whole host of workforce-related technology.

So, where are we today?

Right now, I see us in the era of ‘Intelligent Staffing’ – a time where we have this incredible wealth of smart technology at our fingertips, and a growing understanding of cloud-based solutions. This unprecedented global access to tech is a great opportunity for organizations to rethink how they shape workforce strategy, but it’s also easy to become lost in the noise of innovation. It’s certainly never been more important to have the right talent tech stack in place.

Connected and Optimized Labor Channels

Labor channels are often siloed – procurement deals with external workers, talent acquisition deals with internal workers and the worlds rarely collide. But as organizations continue to aspire to total talent management, talent technology must provide visibility over the whole workforce, including contingent talent. The most forward-looking businesses are shifting away from this narrow view of talent strategy to drive connections between internal and external worker communities that power greater efficiencies and smarter decision making. If your tech stack leaves you in the dark about a key part of your workforce, you need to look again.

Automation and Robotics

When I talk to customers about automation, they are excited and engaged but often don’t know how this futuristic technology applies to their current talent challenges. The key to making automation a valuable tool rather than a cool idea is finding strategic ways to embed it into hiring and people processes. Whether you’re implementing smart workflows, business process management, machine learning tools, or chatbots, you have to know where and how a tool adds value. By removing the need for a team member to engage in repetitive or low-value tasks, you can empower your people and boost productivity. Automation is an essential building block of your talent tech stack, but it has to have a meaningful role to play in your wider goals.

The Best Technology

It sounds simple – you need to pick the best technology around to make up your talent tech stack. But in reality, that’s really tough. You don’t have time to keep a close eye on the ever-changing workforce technology market and the thousands of solutions and tools that are on the market. World-class technology will put you ahead of your competitors, but you probably need an expert guide to make that a reality. To make sure your tech stack stays relevant, make sure your talent partner understands this fast-paced world and that they’re proactive in guiding you to the right tools at the right time.

Supporting Organizations and People

When we talk technology, we often look at the hard business benefits – the cost savings, the process efficiencies, the performance insights. All of these are really important aspects of what a strong talent tech stack should deliver, but when you’re talking about hiring, it has to work for people too. Your chatbot may look awesome on paper, but if it delivers a miserable experience for candidates, it’s not working. Talent technology should support great candidate and worker experiences, make sense for hiring managers, and deliver on wider people goals such as diversity. It’s easy to get caught up in the bright lights of technology, but people have to be at the heart of a solution or tool.  

At KellyOCG, we’ve created and curated the very best talent tech stack on the market so we can deliver interconnected solutions that are intuitive and user-focused. I believe that this is a vital part of workforce strategy today and something that will only become more important as we move further into the era of Intelligent Staffing. If you’d like to talk about tech stacks or your talent challenges, drop me a line – I’m always happy to talk talent tech!