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Unified Software for Talent – well…what’s “Talent”?

Usually talent=employees. But inevitably you know better. There are more than just employees doing the work that your company needs. Contractors, consultants, vendors, temp labor, outsourced partners, and so on.

They are all part of the human capital chain. Simultaneously, lots of companies are unifying their talent / HR systems. You know – using something like SAP or SuccesFactors and using one program for all things “talent”. The recruiting, performance management, payroll, and so on.

That totally works. We have a baby sized business, and even we are unified into one system, so I would imagine at larger companies the benefits are even greater (and I have witnessed that). So lets assume that your company does have a unified or best in breed combination of systems to give you visibility to your talent…

How did you define talent? Can you tell which consultants have done what or have which expertise that you rely on? What about the competencies of your engineering contractors in the plant? How about the successes (or failures) of your outsourced partners that you rely on? Are these things in your unified / best in breed system, and can you produce reports or business knowledge that can be leveraged?

What if 20% of your human capital is outside the system? It could be. Take a look. Here is a clue if you have a gap – if you can’t quickly understand the competencies and experiences of your OWN internal employees, then you probably can’t tell me the competencies of the talent you use that are non-employees…

Something to add to the to-do list. Define what your unified system DOES tell you in regards to talent, and more importantly, what it does NOT tell you.