Dinesh Sheth, Founder and CEO of Green Circle Life – an innovative, comprehensive communication and engagement platform joins us in this TecHRseries interview to share a little about his entrepreneurial journey while discussing his thoughts on how HR Technology is set to redefine workplace management and cultures.
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Tell us about yourself Dinesh! We’d love to know about your entrepreneurial journey, what have been some of the best (and worst) parts about it so far?
I’m the founder and CEO of Green Circle Life, a communication and engagement platform that aggregates all employee-facing HR, wellness and healthcare services. Solving universal problems by building products and organizations that last is something I enjoy very much. I’m grateful to have executed several products and company launches — both domestic and off-shore — across multiple industries, including information technology, financial services and telecommunications. The best part of this journey is yet to unfold, but so far, I appreciate working with talented people who are also invested in creating delightful user experiences. Now, I am focused on helping organizations become more productive by building a culture of health and well-being as well as take advantage of their benefits and services. It is so exciting and rewarding to see employees and their families benefiting from this service.
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How do you see innovations in HR tech impact how B2B companies and teams will function in the future?
Innovations have interesting ways of getting into places one might not foresee. For B2B companies, engaging in a culture of collaboration and holistic well-being among teams is critical. Additionally, true HR tech success will be found once technology can be used to make employees and teams more productive so companies are able to meet their goals faster and produce a higher return on investment.
Could you share your thoughts on leading/game-changing HR tech apps or platforms that you feel are set to create new benchmarks for the industry?
Sure, I might be biased, but I believe the leading/game changing HR tech is one that allows companies to integrate all their company provided services in one single app that is easy to access from anywhere at any time. Once employees and their family experience this, they will grow their satisfaction with the company, increase benefits utilization and become more productive employees.
What are some of the things you would change about how HR teams in B2B/the Tech marketplace adopt, choose and use HR Tech?
I would encourage everyone to be a change agent. Take the initiative to make change on your own terms instead of waiting on traditional vendors and internal IT teams to bring what they think you might need for your multi-generational workforce. It is important to think in terms of long-term sustainability as well, so it is vital that HR teams find platforms that can be easily integrated and used with other platforms. Just doing what other companies are doing will not be enough to stay competitive. HR teams should actively be searching for ways to leverage HR technology to enhance the work environment and the holistic well-being for their employees.
Could you share some innovative examples of how tech companies/B2B organizations have used or use HR technology to redefine their work culture or HR process?
I think there are strong examples everywhere of how technology has made employee’s lives easier. At Green Circle Life, we have seen firsthand how our clients have improved their HR processes and built a stronger culture though a branded app that includes employee personal dashboards. By offering all company provided services and benefits in one platform, employees have a clear direction on how to access resources, which was not the case before. Additionally, since they now have that knowledge, employees are becoming self-serving and are able to increase their engagement and connect with company resources with ease. For example, at AutoZone, the HR team saw the platform usage grow from 2,000 users to 60,000 active users over a three year period.
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How do you see the role of AI in HRTech change how companies recruit/manage and retain employees in future?
This is a very good and timely question. I believe AI-based (artificial intelligence) engines have started to help HR deliver more personalized experiences to their employees. For example, the Green Circle Life platform provides custom dashboards with benefits and services that are appropriately tailored for a given user. As users share additional information about their daily health and activity and risk profile, the platform offers more customized plans designed to improve their well-being. This is just a small use case scenario of how such technologies will grow over time to really enable organizations to meet the specific needs of every employee.
What according to you are the top 3 HR Tech Trends that will define 2020?
We were actually very interested in learning about the HR trends that will define the year, so we conducted a survey with HR professionals to get their insight. We found that on a scale from 1-10, 62 percent of respondents shared that technology was the important solution for their organization when enhancing services. While the technology roadmap is still unclear for many, some other trends that will define the year are:
- New and existing initiatives to focus on controlling costs for the consistently rising healthcare costs;
- Building a strong company culture that helps attract and retain employees; and
- Addressing the unique challenges of a multi-generational workforce.
Tag (or mention/write about) the one person in the industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read.
I can’t pinpoint a specific individual, but I would be interested in hearing from someone who was promoted to an HR management role and what challenges they are seeing for the first time. I think there are plenty interesting as well as unique things our industry can learn from the day to day challenges that arise.
Any parting thoughts here you’d like to share? It could be on anything, work-life balance, career goals, etc.
As HR roles keep evolving, successful HR leaders will be defined by those that are change agents. Being able to recognize opportunities that can help the organization through increased knowledge and innovative technology will be crucial in today’s rapidly changing environment.
We’d love to know your future plans for Green Circle Life!
Our goal is to help large and small organizations alike build a strong branded identity and company culture with their employees while creating unique user experiences. As companies transform their HR initiatives, Green Circle Life will be there to help them in their journey.
Green Circle Life provides an innovative, comprehensive communication and engagement platform – SmartFHR – that aggregates all employee-facing HR, wellness, and healthcare services into a single sign-on, interactive dashboard that’s accessible on-demand from any mobile device. The platform seamlessly integrates with both internal and externally managed systems enabling users to perform a range of tasks from the same app, including benefits enrollment, personnel record management, payroll, time and attendance, wellness programs, scheduling appointments, and even managing health records. SmartFHR is EEOC and HIPAA compliant and is available on iOS, Android, and Web.
Dinesh is a serial entrepreneur, who has successfully launched several companies — both domestic and international — across multiple industries, including information technology, investment, financial services and telecommunications. Dinesh earned an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Vadodara, Gujarat, India. He is an avid reader and is dedicated to improving the lives of millions of people, one person at a time.