To meet the growing demands of the highly skilled workforce during the age of globalization and aligning the team with the mission and vision of the business, technology as a major disruptive force is revolutionizing the role of HR worldwide. Organizations are having higher expectations in terms of revenue growth and are betting on the capabilities of HRs for building a strong and skilled workforce that is quick to adapt to innovations and herald its growth. 

This can be clearly seen the way CIOs in Southeast Asia (SEA) expect their growth rate to be 11.5 %, slightly higher than what top leaders predict globally. Probably, the capabilities of HRs and the potential of emerging technologies are the rationales behind this sheer optimism.  

An ocean of opportunities in the SEA

With the fiery competition between Southeast Asia’s dominant start-ups Grab and Go-Jek, it is clear that Southeast Asia is going to secure its position in world’s hottest hubs for startups and innovation in a coming few years. Having easy access to almost 60% of the world’s total population, the markets including digital entertainment, financial services, ICT, and tour & travels have an immense potential for commendable growth in SEA. And, it has emerged as an attractive choice for investors and entrepreneurs worldwide. 

Also read: Chatbots are the future of everything that’s happening in HR: COO, Acuvate

Looking at the current scenario, demands for the skilled workforce in the sectors like ICT, Finance, Trading and Exports, tourism are increasing in the SEA as digitalization continues to transform the traditional market ecosystem. But, the dominance of unorganized players, lack of highly skilled talent in the demanding sectors, and moderate spending in IT are the challenges that SEA still has to face. If compared to European developed countries, the workforce is less skilled and less mobile in the SEA which always has remained a major roadblock for further development and progression. This is so because there are many organizations that still rely on the outdated HR management approach. So, there is a need to bring innovation and transformation of HR in the SEA for improving productivity and efficiency in the industry and win over the world markets. 

Changing technologies for the changing HR scenario 

However, things really have started changing in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam where HR innovation is a top priority. Singapore, one of the early adopters of technology, is today regarded as the most tech-oriented and innovative country in Asia. SEA organizations have been buckling up in order to overcome this roadblock by means of incorporating HR technology to reform the HR practices. Even the SMEs in the SEA are learning how to embrace the digitalization, e-commerce, enterprise mobility, and business analytics. 

For the rapidly growing companies, AI has a big role to play in HR & recruitment process. The AI-enabled chatbots make relevant searches for job candidates and even get the basic information through social media. Be it about directing the job seekers from social media to the job portal or giving a complete data about the candidate that best fit a particular job role, AI reduces the burden from the shoulders of HRs. HR people do not need to do any 6 hours of research, calling, skimming through resumes as AI can do this for them. In short, AI can identify the top-notch talent in the industry, simplify the hiring process and cut the time span for the onboarding process by automating the simple tasks. Also, it even helps HR protect the employees’ data safe and secure by denying any unauthorized access. 

Technology as productivity multiplier

Moreover, HR leaders are leveraging Machine learning best as the recommendation option. Whether they have to evaluate the performance of an employee or judging an employee’s skills for a senior job role, Machine Learning makes the accurate recommendations on the basis of data. Machine learning and predictive analytics reduce the total time taken by such activities while making them more unbiased, accurate, and reliable. 

In fact, the time seems not too far when the cognitive bots could also draft customized job offers and letters and manage the entire payroll process without human intervention. Today, on-chat or on-phone bots are able to give prompt reply to the queries asked by the job seekers. 

These technologies are disrupting almost every sector today, but their implementation in HR promises improved productivity, better hiring, enhanced productivity, and cost-effectiveness for every organization. And, in the developing countries in the SEA, HR technologies can give a much-needed boost to the potential business leaders.

To learn more on how organizations are gearing up to leverage technologies, join us for People Matters TechHR Conferenceon 28th February 2019 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Register Now!