The Consultant Factor’ | How To Build People Analytics Products That Non-HR Leaders Actually Use
In early 2024, a Sage survey found that people analytics tools were the most common form of HR technology being adopted by HR leaders across the world.
45% of over 1,000 HR leaders said their organisation was embracing people analytics products. For context, only 33% voted for Chat GPT and just 6% for other AI-powered HR tools.
These positive signals about the maturity of the people analytics function were exciting for those who have worked in the profession for a number of years. Perhaps, finally, HR departments were catching up with peers in other departments, such as finance, and becoming less gut-feel and more data-led?
In many ways, yes. Unfortunately, however, research shows that the same issues are still blocking the adoption of people analytics products more widely across the business.
What is the people analytics product adoption problem?
Ok ok, it’s not all doom and gloom. People analytics departments across the globe are expanding their organisational footprints. Insight222’s People Analytics Trends study found an increase in people analytics product adoption across HR practitioners from 2023 to 2024.
But crucially, the adoption of people analytics products among leadership outside of HR fell over the same period.
And as a Visier 2023 study identified, organisations that fail to democratise people data beyond the HR function into roles like finance managers see a more limited impact on organisational impact and business outcomes.
Nadine Daliah Roth, former Global Head of People Systems, Data, and Analytics at Superbet and current Project Consultant at Williams Racing, spoke to HR Grapevine about this problem.
“While the business recognizes the need for regular workforce data, KPIs, and deep dives with self-service capabilities, creating impactful solutions that align with strategy and successfully measure the organisation’s progress to reaching goals or targets is still a work in progress,” Roth explained. “Too many products are launched but see little uptake, or usage drops off soon after go-live.”
This is the pressing challenge facing businesses and HR teams as they invest time, budget, and team resources into people analytics functions: How can we build people analytics products that non-HR leaders actually use?
How to build & distribute better people analytics products
To overcome the challenges that get in the way of wider people analytics product adoption, Roth argued the answer lies in addressing a common problem: “This often has to do with the business struggling to translate their strategy into ongoing people goals and targets,” she noted.
Partly, that’s a skills issue. Limited data and analytics literacy among users of the products – inside HR and out – means the value and purpose of the products are not understood by the leader.
HR teams must start by training themselves, Roth suggested, to become more adept at dashboarding and processing people data. “There’s still work to do in upskilling HR teams, especially business partners, to understand when and how to use dashboards and data to support the business effectively,” she said.
Knowing how to build more impactful products also means becoming more capable of dealing with non-HR business stakeholders.
“There’s often a skill missing in People Analytics teams, which is the ‘consultant factor’,” Roth continued. “While many team members are excellent at delivering what’s requested, the ability to ask the right questions and guide stakeholders to what they actually need — which is often quite different — is still uncommon.”
AI is further cementing this need, with people analytics teams less likely to be building products in-house in the future.
“There will be greater investment in flexible, evolving analytics solutions,” she asserted. “In essence, people analytics teams will have more of a partnering function in the business, supporting it in using the insight from the tool(s) in the most impactful way.
“System configurations, changes, and integrations into downstream systems should start with the question: ‘How are we planning to use this data going forward?’”
As a final best practice, people analytics and HR technology teams must work closely together, given that the data captured in HR systems forms the backbone of any analytics delivered.
The risk of stopping at the ‘minimum viable product’ stage
Roth described the people analytics product adoption problem as “one of the most persistent challenges” she encounters. “While organisations increasingly recognise the value of a data-driven approach and the strategic importance of people analytics, investment often stops at the minimum viable product stage.”
Although getting off the ground with a minimum viable product is where most businesses will start on their people analytics journey, this risks losing out on what Roth believes is “the most impactful and forward-thinking work.”
In other words, if people analytics products fail to serve meaningful insights beyond the basics, adoption will never pick up. And businesses, leaders, and employees will be all the poorer for it.
Originally published on HR Grapevine,
