HR Tech Roundup

Tool Photo by johnb2008

Each year the hoi polloi of HR geekery converge to meet at the HR Tech Conference. In case you didn't attend the conference in person last week in Las Vegas, here's a quick roundup of some of the notable vendor releases and intros:

• Blissbook showcased a product that helps you create beautiful, engaging, culture-filled employee handbooks. Their tagline: "Employee handbooks you can smile about."
• Hunite is mindful of the employee experience. It introduced a solution that createsan elegant mobile interface that bridges different HR Systems (quite  helpful for companies that employ multiple vendors for their HRIS needs).
• Zao helps you leverage the power of "word-of-mouth" to magnify your recruiting efforts. It converts your employees' social networks into an additional recruiting channel.

Zao wasn't the only vendor making hay out of social networking. For instance, SilkRoad's POINT product leverages social sharing on an iPad interface. In adition, Ultimate Software gave a sneak peak at UltiPro Recruiting which will integrate into popular social networks like LinkedIN. The product which is slated to launch sometime in early 2014 will also integrate gamification mechanics.

When you manage a Talent Brand it's important to make sure you have a good tool box. Since we're now in the information age, HR departments are leveraging technologies to aid in the recruiting process, benefits administration, employee onboarding, skills training and performance management. Tech isn't just for payroll processing any more. In fact, one of the largest HRIS vendors Workday announced that its product adoption is going to to more than double (from 5% today to 12% next year). Adoption of tech into HR is becoming widely held.

HR isn't well known to be a field surrounded by gadgets and gizmos. But that perception is quickly changing.