HR Technology Conference & Expo

Thursday, October 16

11th ANNUAL INDUSTRY ANALYST PANEL:
Today’s Technology Trends and Predictions
Naomi Lee Bloom, Managing Partner, Bloom & Wallace
Jim Holincheck, Managing VP, Gartner
Lisa Rowan, Program Director, HR and Talent Management Services, IDC
Zach Thomas, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research

Thursday, October 16, 8:45 - 10 a.m.

Industry analysts are among the smartest people we know about HR technology. Their full-time jobs involve visiting and questioning end-users and vendors, plus reading and writing about the most critical technology issues you face. Hundreds of large corporations subscribe to their advisory services for five-figures a year. HR Technology® is the only public conference that brings them together so you can hear their thoughts on current technology trends and their predictions for the future. Join them for this 11th Annual conversation and always exciting and enlightening argument.

What You Still Need to Learn About Performance Management
Chris Howard, VP Research, Bersin & Associates

Thursday, October 16, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

After four years at the center of our stage (and the industry’s), there is still so much more to learn when it comes to Performance Management applications — especially before deciding which one to acquire. For instance, how informed are you about the integrative nature of Performance and what are the necessary touch points to Succession, Learning Management Systems, Career Development and Pay-for-Performance within the Talent Management Suite? Your guide to the answers will be Chris Howard, Vice President of Research for Bersin & Associates, publisher of the ground-breaking 300-page report, “Talent Management Suites,” which debuted at last year’s HR Technology®. His firm, after spending another year researching its latest report on Performance Management, will be ready in October to share many of the new findings, including naming names.

London’s GKN Adopts the Entire Talent Management Suite!
Cyndie Streather, Head of Remuneration and Global HR Systems, GKN plc
Dave Watkins, CEO, Softscape

Thursday, October 16, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Headquartered in London, GKN traces its roots to an iron company started in South Wales in 1759! Of course, it’s changed names and businesses quite a few times since, most notably about 30 years ago when it exited the steel business and became a leading component supplier for cars, aircraft and off-highway vehicles. More than 42,000 people work in GKN companies and joint ventures in more than 30 countries. You’d expect a company this old to be pretty conservative, but GKN has had to be nimble to survive the centuries. In the last four years, it’s taken the deepest dive possible into Talent Management, buying and implementing literally all the applications from a suite vendor and even transitioning off its PeopleSoft 8.0 installation. In short, Cyndie Streather will tell you how she’s actually done what other companies are only talking about and other vendors are only claiming they can do.

Updated Great New Technologies Just for You!
Jason Averbook, CEO, Knowledge Infusion

Thursday, October 16, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

We asked our favorite Gen Xer, Jason Averbook, to update his SRO session from last year, while remembering what he once didn’t understand so he can explain it to those of us who still don’t! This year, you have the option of bringing your wireless-equipped laptop into the session, and after paying McCormick’s connection fee, work right alongside Averbook as he creates reader pages, subscribes to information sources using RSS, gets and uses Instant Messaging, joins social networks like Facebook and adds friends and applications, searches tag clouds, finds Wikipedia entries and all the other things “digital natives” are doing to be more productive and “digital immigrants” aren’t. Do you remember not having a television set? Digital natives don’t remember not having a computer! His session will usher you into the new online world of HR.

How Rogers Communications Uses Technology to Enable Workforce Planning
Karen Jensen, Sr. Director, HR Planning & Performance, Rogers Communications
Peter Louch, Founder & CEO, Vemo

Thursday, October 16, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Yes, another Workforce Planning case study. It’s that important. Rogers Communications is Canada’s leading cable, wireless and entertainment company. Think a combined Time-Warner, Verizon and CBS – but colder. You may still be struggling to get started, wondering whether Workforce Planning is inherently consulting, spreadsheets or its own Talent Management technology. Karen Jensen will explain how Rogers got to being able to model talent demand based on strategy, budget and workload ratios. And you’ll learn how to move beyond a static, point-in-time plan that continuously helps prioritize workforce investments based on business impact. The bad news? Financial data has to be included. The good news? You’ll get actionable insight that drives business decisions.

VW Gets Very Talented to Grow 10 Times!
Mike Beamish, EVP HR, Volkswagen Group of America
Ed Newman, President, The Newman Group

Thursday, October 16, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

The Volkswagen Group of America doesn’t build any VWs or Audis. It is actually a sales and marketing organization that services and trains the privately-owned dealerships, runs a call center for owners, and maintains the financing service for them. With 2,400 employees here and in Canada, Mike Beamish got the corporate directive last year to increase U.S. sales 10 times and move the corporate headquarters. And you think you have it tough! Beamish will tell you how he reinvented his talent strategy, including branding, recruiting, competency strategies, workforce planning, retention and, of course, technology. If you’re also facing the challenges of growth, come for a practical understanding of what it really takes to meet them.

Lowe's Does Separate Process Outsourcing for Compliance
Aleda Howard, VP HR Syste,s, Lowe's Companies
Stacey Simpson, President, The Work Number, TALX, an Equivax Business

Thursday, October 16, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

You don’t often think of compliance as a reason to outsource processes from pre-employment to employee separation. But Lowe’s – the country’s seventh largest retailer and second largest home improvement retailer in the world with more than 216,000 employees in 1,550 stores – found that selective outsourcing was just what was necessary. VP Aleda Howard will also review some available surveys of outsourcing experiences, in addition to all the key steps Lowe’s has taken to strengthen compliance in all employment areas.

HR Portal 2.0: Best Practices for an Evolving Medium
Mimi Brooks, President and CEO, Logical Design Solutions

Thursday, October 16, 1:45 - 3:00 p.m.

After a handful of appearance with Fortune 1000 clients over the years at HR Technology®, we finally decided to give Mimi Brooks a session all to herself because no one knows more about portals and, as an independent consultant, she’s a great presenter. She’ll show you how leading portals today have moved well beyond the first stage of simply providing information and employee and manager self-service. Using corporate case studies, screen captures and first-hand anecdotes, Brooks will show how portals now enhance Talent Management and workforce optimization, help align HR operations with corporate goals, provide a key access point for employees across the globe (increasing engagement and collaboration), and even help integrate your HR and ERP systems with outsourced services. If you’ve taken a breather after getting your portal to the first stage, don’t miss learning about the opportunities that lie ahead.

Harris Opts for an Integrated Suite
Jeffrey Shuman, VP, HR & Corporate Relations, Harris
Tod Loofbourrow, Founder & CEO, Authoria

Thursday, October 16, 1:45 - 3 p.m.

A 113-year-old communications and information technology company, Harris serves government and businesses in more than 150 countries. Its 16,000 employees, including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists, generate annual revenue of more than $5 billion. VP HR Jeff Shuman, who reports to the CEO, found a hodgepodge of Talent Management processes when he arrived three years ago. With an emphasis first on processes and creating internal discipline around following them, he evaluated niche systems and opted for integration. He already had Recruiting and is using the same vendor for integrated Succession, Performance and soon Compensation. Come hear how he’s getting the elusive metric of “quality of hire” and making Performance more like Career Development, with employees judged against goals.

Cool New Technologies for HR

Thursday, October 16, 1:45 – 3 p.m.

Our most popular breakout session from two years ago returns with 10-minute demonstrations of new products that are the coolest things we’ve seen. You all know innovation is key to meeting the new demands on HR departments everywhere, and it’s alive and well, as you’ll see. If held today, this session would feature demos in Performance Management, Recruiting, Onboarding and other functional areas. But we’re still searching far and wide for other cutting-edge (and even bleeding-edge) technologies, including 3-D Virtual Worlds, likely to be in your future. Now you can see them all in one place.

Gulfstream Soars to New Heights With Time & Attendance
Bill Skinner, VP & Corporate Controller, Gulfstream Aerospace
Robert E. Farina, CEO, CyberShift

Thursday, October 16, 1:45 - 3 p.m.

Fifty-year-old Gulfstream is famous for manufacturing and servicing some of the world’s most technically advanced private jets: seven models priced from $14 million to $58 million each. But when it came to workforce management of its 10,000 employees in 13 operating locations, the $5-billion company was still in the propeller age. Three-quarters of them were until recently using manual IBM time cards. Faced with 20 percent growth, Bill Skinner knew he needed to put some jets into Time & Attendance; and also add some real-time integration with other mission-critical business systems (two different ERP systems!). Not to mention optimize the workforce, control labor costs and increase efficiency. Come hear how well he succeeded, but no free samples or rides.

Talent Acquisition 2010: Where to Focus for Future Success
Elaine Orler, VP, Talent Acquisition Management, Knowledge Infusion

Thursday, October 16, 1:45 - 3:00 p.m.

Except for our Analyst Panelists, Elaine Orler has presented at HR Technology® longer than anyone. This will be her sixth year in a row under various corporate banners. Why? Because she knows more than anyone we know about the nuts and bolts of nearly all the recruiting systems, plus the more important big picture of Talent Acquisition strategy. And both change a lot every year, especially in 2008. Come hear her explore today’s diverse and confusing vendor landscape, including suite providers, best-of-breeds and niche specialists. She’ll tell you who is getting it right; who might have the greatest chance of success in the future; what things are still wrong; and offer predictions for new consolidations. Most importantly, she’ll tell you who can help drive your success and name their names! Isn’t that exactly what you need to learn?

Expert Discussions

Thursday, October 16, 1:45 - 3:00 p.m.

Most of our Analyst Panelists will be hosting separate, group discussions and Q&A sessions focused on their own favorite topics and hopefully yours, too. So gather your team, create your most burning questions and take part. One of your fellow attendees may also have some answers for you! Naomi Lee Bloom will talk about what it really takes to support integrated Talent Management. Lisa Rowan will focus on HR Outsourcing in all its forms and flavors. Zach Thomas, the Gen Xer of the group, will appropriately discuss how Web 2.0 technologies are impacting HR initiatives. And Christa Degnan Manning from AMR joins us to talk about HCM.

GENERAL SESSION:
The Industry’s First Talent Management Shootout

Thursday, October 16, 4:00 - 5:15 p.m.

We’ve been working up to this for four years with our signature Shootouts: first for Performance Management alone, then Integrated Performance & Compensation, Integrated Performance & Learning, and last year, Performance & Recruiting. Finally, the Talent Management sector of the industry has matured sufficiently and enough vendors have integrated applications for us to present “The Industry’s First Talent Management Shootout.” We’ll use our traditional format that conference attendees have flocked to for seven years at 11 earlier Shootouts. Each vendor will tackle a fully scripted scenario of problems – like those your managers and employees face every day – and show in live, custom demonstrations how their software can help solve them. Leighanne Levensaler, the leading authority and Director of Talent Management Research at Bersin & Associates, will co-author the script, as she did the previous two. This one session can save you months of research and sales pitches. Come watch, listen, learn and then vote for your favorite. (Note: With vendor capabilities changing so quickly, the final contestants, certain to be leading providers in the category as always, will not be chosen until August.)