Analyst Perspectives

In my more than two decades in the world of human resources and human capital management technology, I have never seen a topic become so completely ubiquitous so quickly as has employee experience. This is great news from my perspective. As I addressed in this recent analyst perspective, market factors have forced organizations to acknowledge the tremendous bottom-line value of an engaged workforce, and that engagement is wholly dependent upon an employer's commitment to providing a personalized, well-rounded experience.

Recent years have seen an abundance of entrants into the employee experience technology landscape, with offerings ranging from peer-to-peer interaction tools, to enhanced learning management systems, to pulse surveys for measuring employee sentiment, to AI-powered digital assistants that offer 24/7 access to common workplace questions and issues that previously would have taken a call to HR during regular business hours. With the Oracle ME employee experience platform, part of Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, Oracle has released a breadth of capabilities, delivered from a single platform, that position it to drive employee engagement, productivity and retention.

Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM is a platform that connects a multitude of human resource processes from start to finish. Organizations using this system benefit by having all employee data connected and accessible in the cloud rather than stored in disparate systems. In and of itself, this is not revolutionary. With Oracle ME, however, experiences are curated from and delivered wherever an employee is working – inside any Oracle Cloud application and even integrated third-party applications – so recommendations and guidance are both contextual and meaningful. This is particularly relevant, as employees crave and have come to expect personalized interactions in the workplace, whether it be job-specific information, training or education recommendations based on career goals, or even insights into non-office topics, like health and wellness.

Ventana Research asserts that by 2024, one-quarter of organizations will expect their HCM platform to suggest jobs, projects and a range of personal or career growth opportunities to system-matched employees. By synthesizing data gathered from the very applications in which an employee works and delivering individually curated journeys and experiences directly back in those same systems, employee experience becomes a total business win and not just a segmented HR initiative.

Oracle ME showcases six components of employee experience management: HCM Communicate, Touchpoints, Journeys, Connections, HR Help Desk and Digital Assistant, all of which are fully configurable by HR or business owners without IT intervention. This autonomy is critical, as it empowers those who are responsible for delivery to complete the work, sidestepping the delays of an IT project queue and increasing organizational agility.

Covering a range of employee experience technologies, this one system can potentially take the place of multiple point solution approaches, including everything from communications to manager engagement with the employee, complete with actionable insights delivered directly to a manager's desktop. Social relationship building creates a sense of belonging, and an automated HR help desk delivers timely, consistent information.

One obvious benefit of a single system is the time saved from multiple implementations and integrations. What may not be as obvious is the power that comes from intertwining data from all of Oracle's cloud-based systems. This allows the technology to get to know the employee better across their entire world of work, delivering more personalized and relevant content, insights and recommendations than would be possible with a traditional tech stack.

Clearly, Oracle ME is not for everyone. The cost and work required to configure and instrument it across an entire organization should not be underestimated. Oracle’s significant investment in service and support for HCM helped prepare it for a broader employee experience transformation in processes and systems. Oracle ME is a powerful new tool that has the potential to revolutionize the worker experience. It recently received the 15th Annual Overall Digital Innovation Award from our firm. By consolidating all employee data into a single platform, Oracle ME makes it easier for employees to access the information and tools they need to make better informed decisions about their job and career. I am excited to see how this tool develops and grows in the coming years.

Regards,

Quincy Valencia