Definition of Integrated Talent Management
Integrated talent management is all the buzz in the industry. Although many vendors are striving to offer a complete suite of products that support the talent management domain, very few if any, offer all of the components. Integrated talent management includes several areas of functionality including but not limited to:
Talent Acquisition
Employment branding
Sourcing
Onboarding
Workforce Planning
Labour supply analytics
Demand planning and forecasting
Benchmarking
Employee Communication
Surveys and feedback
Engagement
Social networking
Performance Management
Performance reviews
360° feedback
Goal alignment and setting
Learning Management Systems
Leadership development
Career development
Content creation
Assessments
Skills
Behavioural skills
Cultural
Compensation
Job grading
Planning
Recognition
Succession Planning
Internal mobility
Mergers and acquisition
Right sizing
It is essential that all of these components be aligned around a single employee profile so that all employees understand their role in driving their organizational goals. In addition, HR should also be aware of all risk or compliance issues associated and tracked with these various components. A firm’s integrated talent management strategy must be aligned with the business strategy as well as key performance indicators that drive the day-to-day business in order for organizations to clearly demonstrate a significant ROI of implementing integrated talent management strategies.
In reality, a truly integrated talent management product line needs to have a single database structure for efficient and effective reporting, a single user interface including single sign-on, a single brand experience to drive user adoption, and a single line of support. Many of the Best of Breed Providers have expanded their product line in order to offer integrated talent management solutions. Integration of these firms and their product line is a considerable investment in R&D and technology. Often the complete integration can take over two years with dedicated resources focused on shared functionality across various applications. It is not recommended that corporations and their IT staff, under estimate or even attempt to deliver a fully integrated talent management suite that encompasses various best-of-breed solutions. This would be extremely labour intensive and very very costly and should be left for vendors. (Although many vendors will indicate that they integrate to other vendors, the integration tends to be superficial and result in fragmented reporting, duplicate data, and a poor user experience ultimately resulting in poor user adoption.
