The Futurist: 2026 will see HR practitioners as astute users of tech, not merely adopters

Evelyn Chow, managing director, Decode HR, points to technology and new business alliances completely altering businesses in 10 years.

Technology and new business alliances will completely alter businesses in 10 years.

In my mind, 2026 will see HR practitioners being astute users, initiators and proponents of technology, and not merely adopters. HR technology will come in shapes and forms beyond what we can imagine today, and the chasm between innovative organisations and companies that are not agile will continue to widen. With this in mind, data literacy, in terms of strategic computational thinking and analysis, will be a key HR skill.

The emergence of artificial intelligence will completely change the way businesses run, and the impact on job design and core competencies will be immense. HR will need to stay close to this revolution, to help their organisations harness the benefits as well as guide their senior leadership team to make decisions that will drive future success.

Business alliances will also change the dynamics of the economy or even entire nations.

The smartest companies are beginning to recognise the competitive edge of powerful alliances and the best way to win the game is to reinvent the playing field.

For the HR leader, the implications are staggering. Depending on the alliance model, these partners canleverage on each other’s talent pools. Alliances will also have greater bargaining and negotiating capacity in their stakeholder relationships.

Clearly, HR leaders will need to be comfortable in teams that orchestrate such alliances, and anticipate and resolve potential challenges inherent in such covenants.

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The June 2016 issue of Human Resources magazine is a special edition, bringing you interviews with 32 HR leaders, with their predictions on the future of HR.

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