Industry Leaders Explore HR Tech's Transformative Landscape

The 4th edition of BW People Nurturing Talent for Future Conclave & BW People HR 40 Under 40 Awards brought together industry leaders for a panel discussion on "HR Tech and Talent: Navigating the Digital Age." 

Viekas K Khokha, CHRO, Sharda Motor Industries reflected on the dynamic nature of 2023, emphasising the rapid pace of change. He highlighted the transformation of mandates throughout the year, citing an initial focus on the tech landscape to address the needs of farmers. As the year progressed, the evolution of technology prompted a significant redesign of their plans, showcasing the necessity for agility and adaptability in the contemporary business landscape.

“2023 was extremely fast moving. It is tremendously changing its fortunes every day, I’m really not talking about the turnaround and the new work force that we are hiring, but the kind of mandates which changed. Initially we started a tech landscape, our challenge was to cater the maximum number of farmers in the country and how AI can help us reaching there, second was how to maximise the yield of the farmers using technology and third was the quality of talent we hire. I remember working on all three aspects in the beginning of the year and when we reviewed, the technology available during the starting of the year and the till September was so different that we had to redesign our plans,” Khokha highlighted. 

Lokesh Gupta, VP-Product Management, Greytip Software brought attention to the evolving landscape of HR technology. He noted a shift among companies, particularly those traditionally focused on operational HR, towards a comprehensive HRMS. Gupta highlighted the increasing demand for advanced technologies like AI to foster a performance-driven culture, facilitate learning management, and enhance workforce training. Importantly, this shift was not confined to knowledge-based industries but extended to traditional sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and chemicals.

“In 2023, we observed that several companies that have traditionally focused on operational HR have started moving towards HRMS. They have started asking for advanced technology like AI to build performance culture, they want to introduce learning management assistance, they also want to train their workforce for the modern technologies and improve significantly on their productivity, it is not just limited to knowledge-based industries, we are getting a lot of requests from traditional industries like manufacturing, healthcare and chemicals. It’s a shift that is happening and that is going to continue in 2024 as well,” Gupta stated. 

Meenakshi Cornelius, Head of HR, JLL India underscored the pivotal role of technology in shaping the DNA of today's business landscape. She emphasised the importance of technology as organisations strive to grow and scale their businesses in the coming years. Reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, she highlighted the transformative impact of technology on remote work and business operations.

“Technology is something which has turned to be most important DNA in today’s market, most of the organisations are looking to grow their business in the next few years, India has the potential to lead the technology landscape in upcoming decades. The way we are moving into infrastructure, keeping in mind the benefits we are getting from what is happening in world, we have opportunities to scale up and grow up businesses and we can’t do that without investing in technology. Covid has taught us a lot of things can be done remotely, lot of things can be done in different fashion and technology plays the biggest role in this” she highlighted.

The panel discussion provided a comprehensive overview of the evolving landscape of HR technology in 2023. The speakers collectively highlighted the need for adaptability, the growing demand for advanced technologies, and the transformative role of technology in shaping the future of work.