the power of many: choosing a modern platform for today’s hr … · 2020-01-04 · the power of...

The Power of Many: Choosing A Modern Platform For Today’s HR Demands

1 / 7

© 2017 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

SAP SuccessFactors Executive Brief

The Power of Many: Choosing a Modern Platform for Today’s HR Demands

© 2

017

SA

P S

E o

r an

SA

P a

ffilia

te c

om

pan

y. A

ll ri

ghts

res

erve

d.


2 / 7


New Demands Mean New Pressures for HR Leaders

An HR transformation is underway. Driven by mounting expectations from corporate leadership, as well as by shifting dynamics within the workforce, HR leaders now play a much more active role in helping their organization define and execute on its strategic vision. As these responsibilities build – and continue to shift and emerge at a rapid pace – they have a direct impact on HR processes, the people these programs support, and the systems put in place to enable them.

Like many HR leaders, you’ve likely responded to new demands – such as the increased use of contingent labor, the need to bring more diversity into the workplace, a shortage of viable candidates, or something else – by supplementing your core HR platform with solutions that are purpose-built to manage specific aspects of your operations.

While acquiring and implementing individual technologies for tasks such as recruiting, learning, performance management, payroll management, talent management, and reporting may seem necessary, the cost and complexity of these technologies can become overwhelming over time.

It’s expensive to implement and maintain so many disparate systems. All of the moving parts require complex integration work and continuous IT support. And this jumble of technologies means that you have to juggle and rationalize separate release cycles, support structures, and vendor contracts, to name a few of the issues.

Because these issues can actively undermine your ability to keep pace with new demands – and reaffirm HR’s strategic relevance to the business – it’s only natural that you might look for a simpler route forward.

While implementing individual technologies may seem necessary, over time, the cost and complexity can become overwhelming.


3 / 7


Option 1a

Is There “Power” in the Power of One?

Like many HR leaders, you might find some appeal in the idea of moving from an environment marked by disparate, disjointed systems to one that’s supplied, managed, and owned by a single provider.

If this move toward consolidation sounds familiar, that’s to be expected: HR has been here before. Toward the end of the twentieth century, many human capital management software vendors sought to differentiate themselves by touting the benefits of an approach driven by the “power of one.” They promised that one all-encompassing solution, built on a single line of code, would increase simplicity while eliminating the need to manage a collection of add-on applications.

The problem is, these single-platform vendors struggled to keep pace with HR’s ever-increasing demands for innovation, so their generic solutions failed to effectively address changing business requirements. As the belief that one vendor could do it all and innovate everywhere started to break down, HR departments had to look to additional suppliers to close the gaps their single provider couldn’t fill. And this put them precisely in the position they were looking to avoid.

And if this “one vendor” approach was unsustainable then, it’s even less sustainable now.

In the past, single-platform vendors struggled to keep pace with HR’s ever-increasing demands for new innovation, resulting in generic solutions that failed to effectively address changing business requirements.


4 / 7


Is There “Power” in The Power of One?

In today’s fast-changing environment, no single provider can anticipate every need before it arises – nor can a single provider move quickly enough to satisfy every HR department’s unique demands. And, as the nearly 2,500 startups dotting today’s HR landscape can attest, anyone with a good idea and access to a cloud infrastructure can build and release something of utility and value. Because of this, no one vendor can hope to own all the innovation needed to respond to changing organizational dynamics and disruptive external pressures.

So while a single-platform environment seems appealing – and some consolidation is certainly necessary – the reality is that there are significant limits to what one supplier can provide. Such thinking is a relic of a bygone era. It doesn’t account for the speed with which HR is moving today. And a single provider can’t realistically promise to supply your organization with the capabilities it needs, at the moment they’re most critical.

Depending on one vendor could, therefore, put your competitive standing at risk. It could erode your position as a strategic partner to the business. And it could cause you to respond too slowly to the latest demands placed on your shoulders – if you can meet them at all.

Of course, you could always compensate for your vendor’s inability to provide what you need by sourcing these technologies on your own. But that will just push you right back into the very same disjointed environment you wanted to move away from in the first place. You’ll end up repeating the same costly cycle.

When you consider the tension this situation creates – between aspiring to operate a single platform and realizing that you actually need innovation from multiple sources – the fallacy behind the supposed “power of one” becomes clear.

No one vendor can hope to own all of the innovation needed to respond to changing organizational dynamics and disruptive external pressures.


5 / 7


From One to Many

These risks emphasize the importance of following a different approach, of moving to a modern HR platform that embraces the realities of today. This new approach offers an alternative to disjointed, multi-vendor infrastructures while avoiding the limitations created by “single-platform” environments.

Adopting this modern platform requires a provider that can build out the core, strategic capabilities you need to run HR today – and into the future – while maintaining the flexibility to innovate, scale, and expand as new challenges and opportunities arise. That means acquiring additional functionality instead of developing it all in-house, adding value through partnerships with leading vendors, and opening up the environment so it can be extended by third-party and internal developers.

At SAP, we believe in the power of many: many innovators, many thought leaders, and many contributors coming together in a unified, elegant ecosystem. It’s why we’ve made this “build, acquire, partner, extend” strategy the driving principle behind our HR technologies.

Rather than trying to own everything, it allows us to acknowledge the groundswell of innovation happening across the HR market and serve as an orchestrator that quickly facilitates the connection of these innovations – while still delivering a single, connected experience and the trust you demand from SAP.

We believe in the power of many: many innovators, many thought leaders, and many contributors coming together in a unified, elegant ecosystem.


6 / 7


From One to Many

Bringing everything together in a single, ever-evolving ecosystem means you’ll still benefit from the consolidation of essential HR technologies, and you’ll have fast access to the best solutions the world has to offer – now and in the future. You’ll have more control over how

your HR programs and processes shift in response to emerging external pressures and internal initiatives. You’ll reduce risk and strengthen your strategic relevance to the business. And you’ll stay ahead of the curve and remain poised to address tomorrow’s needs, whatever they may be.

BUILD, ACQUIRE, PARTNER, EXTEND: THE POWER OF MANY COMES TO LIFE

So, how does a modern HR platform both leverage and benefit from this “build, acquire, partner, extend” philosophy?

• Build: With nearly 2,000 internal developers, SAP can freely expand a solution to deliver what you need to run HR today – and tomorrow – including features that help you nurture employee performance, leverage Intelligent Services, and eliminate bias throughout the employee lifecycle.

• Acquire: Our purchase of Fieldglass illustrates our ability to spot an emerging trend – the increase in contingent labor in this case – and quickly answer the challenges and opportunities it holds by integrating the market’s best available solution into our ecosystem.

• Partner: Uniting our core features with the electronic signature capabilities offered by DocuSign is just one example of how our partnerships bring additional value into the environment.

• Extend: Encouraging partners and developers to freely build on our platform is how we inspire new innovations, such as the alumni management application that helps companies build valuable connections between current and former employees.


7 / 7


www.sap.com

SAP Americas, Inc.3410 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 USAT +1-650-849-4000F +1-650-849-4200Products and Services: +1-800-872-1727

(17/01) © 2017 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. Please see http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx#trademark for additional trademark information and notices. Some software products marketed by SAP SE and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors.

National product specifications may vary.

These materials are provided by SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP SE or its affiliated companies shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP SE or SAP affiliate company products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

In particular, SAP SE or its affiliated companies have no obligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this document or any related presentation, or to develop or release any functionality mentioned therein. This document, or any related presentation, and SAP SE’s or its affiliated companies’ strategy and possible future developments, products, and/or platform directions and functionality are all subject to change and may be changed by SAP SE or its affiliated companies at any time for any reason without notice. The information in this document is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates, and they should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.

the power of many: choosing a modern platform for today’s hr … · 2020-01-04 · the power of...

Documents