BARCELONA
2000: Turn of the millennium
The turn of the century, which was also the turn of the millennium, is when I had just started out in the HRIS vendor business, having joined PeopleSoft as Product Manager for France and Spain. I still remember vividly the drivers for all companies investing in a modern HRIS system:
-Self Service
-Training and competencies
-Global HR system of record
-Total cost of ownership.
-Internet was barely starting out and edging out client-server-based systems.
2025: What has really changed
-Rebranding of major HR areas: Time and Attendance/Time and Labor Management has become Workforce Mangement, Strategic HR is now Talent Management, Training has morphed into Learning and, of course, Human Resources is now Human Capital.
-DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) became all the rage, although the pendulum seems to be swinging in the opposite direction
-BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) seemed destined to a promising future but, faced with security risks, many companies still insist on their employees, even on their contractors, using corporate devices.
-Generative AI and AI Agents are more hype than reality.
-Mobile HR has become reality with casual users (i.e. employees and managers) relying as much if not more on their smartphone and tablets to access their HR applications than power users (HR specialists.)
-Analytics has definitely become bigger and has become one of the success stories helping HR show its value to the business by relying on hard-to-refute data.
-Metaverse and gamification never held up their promises and the fad disappeared as soon as it appeared.
-Well-Being seems to be another of those fads which I have little doubt will slowly fade into the susnet of HR systems never to be seen again.
2050: Who knows
Since I am as likely to be wrong as right, but acutely aware that even if I'm still around many of my readers won't be, let me try the following:
-AI will become a cornerstone of HR systems in more ways than one.
-Reskilling and upskilling and any other dimension of skills will also feature prominently in HR areas of action (if not of concern) especially as a consequence of the previous trend.
-New career paths or new definition of what a career is will appear.
-Communication will go into directions which we can hardly envisage today (TikTok for HR?)
-One change though is inevitable: many vendors will disappear, some will survive and new ones will emerge.
What HRIS vendors for 2050
The table below looks at HRIS vendors in 2000, 2025 and 2050. I can see some vendors surviving in 2050, but some will be gone just like those I knew a quarter century ago. Who now remembers Peterborough Software? It was such a major vendor in the UK in 2000 and is now largely gone. The only two vendors that I see making it into 2050 is ADP, celebrating its centennial, and SAP. I have strong doubts that Workday, the current HRIS leader, will survive. It may well be on its way out while Cornerstone and Saba will be long dead. As ancient Romans used to say, "Sic transit gloria mundi" - and thus passes the glory of the world.
