The HR Technology Market Undergoing Massive Reinvention, According to Latest Josh Bersin Report

A new focus on remote work, wellbeing, and employee experience, coupled with disruptive products from Microsoft and ServiceNow, have market incumbents scrambling

In his latest report, HR Technology 2021: A Definitive Guide, industry analyst Josh Bersin describes the major disruption of the $40 billion-plus HR technology market as companies move from “HR tech” to “work tech” and seek ways to improve employee experiences for all areas of work.

“Driven by the pandemic, every company is reinventing the way people work, radically changing technology needs and expectations,” said Bersin. As described in the 96-page report, technology vendors are now focused on delivering productive and personalized employee experiences; adapting to flexible job models and agile organizational structures; and integrating with systems of productivity like Microsoft Teams, Workplace by Facebook, and Slack.

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“The entire HR technology market is shifting from systems of record to systems of design, which enable HR and IT departments to create flexible, AI-driven, productive experiences for employees in every role,” said Bersin. “The introduction of Microsoft Viva has validated the market for employee experience platforms, forcing every vendor to build tools that focus on employees first, HR second.”

Of the 13 market segments covered in the report, the hottest segment is the employee experience category, which includes tools for communications, surveys, case management, knowledge management, as well as visual tools to create workflows, chatbots, and portals. Currently, the major vendors in this space include ServiceNow, Microsoft, and Workplace by Facebook, with major offerings from Workday, Oracle, and SAP quickly coming to market.

In many ways, employee experience offerings replace the expensive, enormously complex employee portal that many companies have built. All are vying to develop single interfaces for employees for learning, connecting and collaborating with peers, for taking advantage of wellbeing benefits, and much more.

The recent announcement of Microsoft Viva — which includes applications for learning, collaborating and connecting, knowledge management, wellbeing and productivity analysis —  is already disrupting the employee experience space.  The widespread corporate use of Microsoft Office, Teams, and other Microsoft products will automatically give Viva a big market advantage and will require other vendors to rethink product strategies in order to compete or co-exist.

“Today we live in a service economy. More than 80% of jobs are in design, sales, management, service, healthcare, or other forms of human service. Person-to-person communication and interactions are vital to business success – especially when people are working physically apart and work processes are rapidly changing.  Therefore, companies need seamlessly integrated platforms to make employees productive, engaged, and happy throughout their career journeys,” said Bersin.

Other report highlights:

• The enormous growth of learning experience platforms and content companies that deliver skills development and training in the flow of work.
• The widespread use of AI to help with diverse hiring, pay equity, representational diversity, and overall fairness at work.
• The emergence of skills inference and skills taxonomy tools, coupled with internal talent marketplace platforms, to help people find new jobs, projects, and mentors.
• The explosive growth in surveys, sentiment analysis, and closed-loop employee listening systems to help HR and business leaders quickly spot employee problems and risks.
• Major mergers, acquisitions, and new product offerings in all HR tech categories, as well as the identification of up-and-coming market newcomers.

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Bersin’s goal in producing the report is to provide actionable information to HR technology buyers, implementors, and investors. Now in its seventeenth year, HR Technology 2021: A Definitive Guide is available for download here.  The report is also automatically available to all members of the Josh Bersin Academy.

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