Technology and innovation: Where to next?

High-performing companies take a deliberate approach to fostering a culture of creativity, imagination, and original thinking – and today’s technology has taken this process to a whole new level.

As Ari Kopoulos, national sales and marketing manager at EmployeeConnect, says, existing HR tech vendors will look towards organic integration with social media platforms. The collective wisdom is calling for functionality that natively accesses:

• Social talent pools facilitating candidate search and acquisition
• The ability to profile a candidate based on their online activity and reputation
• The ability to track social recognition, influence and collaboration. Peerindex, Kred and Klout will become important numbers.
• Tools that connect and facilitate collaboration, making knowledge social and part of a conversation.

The evolution of cloud-based, mobile-centric applications will continue, with content and process for almost every aspect of HR – yet it is augmented reality that may be the most exciting development. This allows users to create more meaningful relationships between data, objects and location.

Kopoulos notes the introduction of Google Glass. Essentially, it’s a wearable computer in the form of stylish glasses, which offers the user a display of information in a hands-free manner. Interaction is by voice commands, but eye tracking and facial recognition will not be too far away. Although in its infancy, the market for wearable technology is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2014.

Leaving the privacy issues aside, this interface introduces a subtle, real-time decision-making element to the user. It allows you to address the challenges, in context and in the moment. It can add layers of content and data over the object, facilitating a richer and more informed experience. Through the action of changing location and looking, you will be presented with context-specific information, effectively improving and enhancing your relationships, objects and events.

“It has extraordinary potential as a learning tool. Delivering a truly immersive, context-sensitive and engaging learning experience in real time,” Kopoulos says. “These can be curated into stories, streams and narratives, adding more value to the process.”