The strategic application of Business Intelligence (BI) for talent management can yield key insights about the workforce for better decision-making and streamlined processes. This includes determining baseline skills for talent acquisition, calculation of CTC (cost to the company) and benefits based on candidate profile, resource utilization across various departments based on individual project requirements etc. HR managers will be able to make better decisions related to talent with the help of well-quantified metrics and based on personal screening.
Data aids business intelligence and for capturing data, a completely automated system is essential in the human resources department. Better data can help HR managers to take better decisions. When a fully automated system is in place, managers across the organization can capture the personal information, performance metrics of employees, their achievements, skillsets, health status and their personal goals. The data thus captured over time will help HR managers have a holistic view of the present talent pool of the organization and additional requirements.
Based on the above data, the BI system can arrive at useful suggestions to aid HR decision-making. The key inputs provided by BI are as follows.
[1] Talent Pooling – Based on the skill set, experience and expertise level of the employees, the BI system helps understand the bench strength to fill crucial roles and protect the business against attrition. In other words it can be called as succession planning where the HR can prepare high-potential employees for key positions.
[2] Effective Resource Utilization - Fitting the right people in the right department is very essential for high productivity across departments. BI helps HR managers to understand the skill set requirements for a particular department and suggests suitable employees for that department based on the employee profile. In addition, the BI helps in re-allocation of employees to the teams having talent insufficiency.
[3] Training & Mentoring – BI helps identify the training needs of individuals as well as for the teams according to requirements. Also, it helps team managers keep track of training programs attended by team members throughout a year. Employees who are ready for leadership roles can be identified and appropriate mentors can be assigned for coaching and mentoring sessions.
[4] Performance Appraisal & Benefits – Well quantified performance metrics helps HR team to arrive at benefits for team members and managers. Achievements of individuals, bottomline impact of his/her performance etc. are calculated based on a number of data inputs and thus BI suggests suitable appraisal slots.
[5] Talent Value linked to Financial Performance – BI helps the COO and the CFO to measure the value of the complete workforce and links it to financial performance of the company. Sophisticated analytical calculations help measure how the policies and procedures affect employee behavior which in turn influence customer behavior. This ultimately drives the financial results. Thus the talent value and the business strategy are both linked to financial performance of the company.
Hiring, retaining and deploying employees with appropriate skill sets could be challenging and has strategic implications to companies across sectors. With BI and relevant analytical inputs, senior management can get great insights and take decisions with the highest level of accuracy.
