Survey finds HR leaders will drive business transformation

Drive business transformation: two employees working at a laptop in an office

As organisations worldwide embrace digital transformation, HR leaders are turning to innovative solutions to make smart talent decisions, supercharge employee experience and increase operational efficiency.

HR executives will lead the way in stepping up digital transformation to drive business transformation over the next 18 months, according to research by ServiceNow and ThoughtLab. Our Employee Experience Trends 2024 report details the reasons why: to boost employee satisfaction, lower costs, increase growth and improve workforce productivity.

With the rise of advanced technologies, such as AI and generative AI (GenAI), HR leaders are realising the importance of aligning their strategies with C-suite objectives. In 88% of digitally advanced organisations, HR executives are working with the chief information officer to make the best use of technology.

How HR leaders and CIOs collaborate to maximize use of technology: support innovation & digital transformation initiatives, align technology strategies with HR goals, increase utilisation & adoption of existing technology investments, automate HR & IT cross-departmental employee processes, reduce people costs through technology, evaluate & select software & digital solutions

Revolutionising how work gets done

AI and GenAI are top of mind for HR leaders across all industries and regions. According to our research, 65% of survey respondents believe AI will revolutionise how work gets done.

“With the right approach”, says Jacqui Canney, chief people officer at ServiceNow, “GenAI personalises experiences and helps people focus on strategic, innovative, creative work that’s fundamentally human, rather than mundane tasks”.

HR leaders agree. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of HR innovators—senior HR executives in the most digitally advanced organisations—already use AI for everything from human call centre support to workforce optimisation to HR service delivery.

The 65% of HR innovators who’ve implemented GenAI are using it to create job descriptions, streamline research, generate communications and screen job applicants. The majority of HR innovators (73%) plan to increase the implementation of GenAI in their organisations in the next 18 months to further optimise recruitment and hiring.

Reinventing HR service delivery

While AI and GenAI are changing the workforce experience, HR-specific solutions offer additional efficiency for talent management.

Cloud-based human capital management, self-service portals, workforce optimisation services and other digital technologies help HR leaders execute their strategies. All survey respondents expect to increase the use of these solutions over the next 18 months to reduce HR costs and inform decision-making.

Top HR-specific solutions used by organisations to deliver their HR strategies: cloud-based human capital management, self-service employee portal, talent acquisition solutions, performance management systems, purpose-built agent workspaces

Using intelligence to inform talent decisions

Digital HR practices have created repositories of data across organisations. HR leaders are using this data to elevate talent management in numerous ways:

The focus on data will become increasingly important as HR leaders embrace reality: 55% believe half or more of their workforce is under-equipped to help propel future growth.

To fill talent gaps over the next 18 months, they’re adopting initiatives to upskill and reskill employees, hiring critically needed talent outside the organisation, and making the best use of the talent they have by increasing visibility into worker capabilities.

In addition, HR leaders plan to shift to a skills-based talent strategy, take measures to improve career development, use data to inform talent decisions and cultivate a culture of continuous learning.

Gain more insights in our complimentary Employee Experience Trends 2024 report. It includes data regarding C-suite priorities, talent, skills, GenAI and how HR leaders across industries are spearheading business transformation.