3 reasons you need to have a plan for people analytics in 2016

Reporting and analytics have been products of most HRMS since the early days of system usage. Analytics have evolved as reporting capabilities have become stronger, HRMS data warehouses appeared on the scene, and big data made its appearance. Times are about to change again because people analytics is poised to take a leap forward. Here are three reasons why you need to have a plan for this in 2016.

1) Data science brings insight and value.

Data science brings together various disciplines such as information management, statistics, data modeling, and big data tools and applies these disciplines to your HR data. By applying these tools to your HRMS data, you can bring deep understanding to your business. The top companies who fully use these tools are able to perform predictive analytics, in particular in areas such as workforce planning and optimization that heavily affect the bottom-line budget. Would you like to know which high-performing employees are flight risks so that you can influence policy or your total rewards policy to retain them? People analysts, using a variety of methods, can perform heavy analysis in a more efficient manner than a traditional HRMS reporting analyst.

2) People analytics is no longer only about HR data.

Operational HRMS reporting often involves basic reporting such as headcount or turnover. People analytics recognizes that these aspects are only a small piece of the pie. True people analytics combines core HRMS employee data with further employee data such as talent or performance aspects and then brings in other data sources such as financial data, revenue, and sales generated. Data-science tools are applied on top to derive insight and trends to help management make better, more-informed decisions. Also, these tools have the added advantage of speed and flexibility, which results in faster decision-making. Do you know the heavy factors that cause top sales staff to leave? If you’re only looking at HRMS data without people analytics, the best guess is often compensation or management. People analytics takes your understanding to the next level.

Recommended Reading: HRMS Software Guide - Find HRMS software with people analytics

3) New products bring a competitive advantage.

It is early days but the market already has a variety of people analytics tools that are making data science more achievable by packaging the statistics and modeling tools into understandable front-end user tools. These tools help all users build upon standard HRMS data rather than requiring the skills of specialized resources on a per-company basis. In 2016 people analytics will become a mainstream product. Predictive analytics is now accessible to your competition. Will you be ready for it?