After back-to-back conferences in Las Vegas last week, it feels so good to be home, but a big part of me is wishing I could record, rewind and relive some of my HR Tech moments. With over 3,000 attendees, hundreds of vendors and almost 70 new product announcements, there never seems to be enough time.
If you missed it, find out about my experience speaking at Influence HR.
Influence HR and the annual HR Technology conferences, as usual, did not disappoint. The vendors, conversations, speakers and innovative solutions that I experienced just get better with each passing year. Without further adieu –the products and people that I was most impressed with at the 2014 HR Technology Conference…
Gild.com
Can we take a second and talk about how cool Gild.com’s newly patented technology is?! After snagging some highly sought after bench space outside the expo hall, I got the chance to chat up Director of Marketing, Elizabeth Schnitzer. When sourcing developers, Gild has a proprietary algorithm that objectively evaluates the candidate’s skill based upon a review of open source code.
They also can assess the “demand” for the developer, helping you evaluate the degree of competition and required compensation to close them. You know a product is truly amazing when you immediately start daydreaming about the implementation of it in your own organization. Needless to say, I hope to work with them soon. Between the great conversation and the moment off my feet, I was thrilled to get the chance to talk with her and learn about Gild.
AppLearn
This booth caught my eye, which isn’t easy to do with over 300 vendors. I was fortunate to capture some face time with Mark Barlow, their CEO. AppLearn, a UK based firm, is all about software adoption – a key success factor of any technology that we proselytize day in and day out at HR Acuity. After all, software is worthless if your team can’t use it consistently, correctly and compliantly.
According to Mark, their state of the art recording studio in Manchester produces over 100,000 just-in-time training videos a year. Currently this technology is offered as part of the Cornerstone On-Demand suite of solutions. Speaking of Cornerstone…how about that party?! A venue packed full of hundreds of people I wanted to chat with—I didn’t even know where to start. Again, I immediately thought this solution would be a great fit for HR Acuity.
ADP
I was also lucky enough to catch some time with Marc Rind, VP of Product Development at ADP. These folks specialize in data analytics, a topic that is hot on everyone’s mind. When it comes to data about our employees, ADP is simply the leader, so as a business owner, my time with Rind was very exciting. Marc and his team are working on more enhanced ways to take employee data, and convert it into actionable, useful insights for ADP clients.
Organizations are continuously collecting and storing this valuable data, but that’s where the magic ends. ADP is really filling a big disconnect between employers and their workforce data. While I wasn’t privy to all the ins and outs of this product enhancement, I think we can all expect a dynamic release very soon. I for one can’t wait for a demo.
I know there is a lot more to this short rundown, but like I said, HR Tech is always such a whirlwind. Like most conferences, there just isn’t enough time to meet all of your personal influencers, demo all the products that you have to have and meet the faces behind all of those email addresses. Thank you everyone for another eventful year at HR Technology. See you all next year!
