Building the Empowered Enterprise...this help to improve businesses’ best practices, it also allows for better employee information coordination and the avoidance of duplicated efforts

Building the

Empowered EnterpriseA roadmap for leveraging technology to enable greatness in your employees

C O R N E R S T O N E O N D E M A N D • W H I T E P A P E R • B U I L D I N G T H E E M P O W E R E D E N T E R P R I S E

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The nature of work continues to evolve in the 21st

century, driven in large part by globalization and

the mainstream consumer adoption of online, social,

mobile and cloud technologies. Access to these

technologies is changing how your employees live,

communicate and work. Whether it’s in the office, at

the neighborhood coffee shop or from their couch,

your employees are using social media, connecting to

mobile apps and flying into the cloud all before they eat

breakfast and start their workday.

This new world and way of working is 24/7, borderless

and constantly in flux. Work-team and organization

structures are becoming more matrixed instead of

hierarchical. And these technology and workplace shifts

are requiring organizations to adapt to new ways of

functioning and thinking, especially when it comes to

managing their people. It also presents an opportunity

for learning, HR and talent management leaders to

harness new technologies as a tool for fostering what

we call the Empowered Enterprise.

The Empowered Enterprise puts employees at the

center of the business strategy, creates a destination for

employee collaboration and mobilizes talent to deliver

bottom-line results. It’s a work environment where

employees are encouraged and given the resources

to learn, share, be engaged in their work and perform

at their very best. And the benefits can be felt across

the board, from lower turnover and greater employee

engagement, to increased revenue per employee and

higher customer satisfaction.

Managing the convergence of social, mobile and cloud

technologies — particularly as it relates to the way your

organization acquires, develops, engages and retains

talent — can be tricky. But it shouldn't discourage you.

There is a clear path that you can take to transform your

business into an Empowered Enterprise. All you need is

a road map to guide you there.

Introduction


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Since the Industrial Revolution, the use of technology

has been an inexorable tool leveraged by both

employers and employees. The latest technological

movement that workplaces are grappling with is the

“consumerization of IT” — the increasing influence that

our experiences as technology consumers have on the

tools that we expect to use at work.1 With ownership of

tablets, smartphones and other personal devices on the

rise, today's employees are more technology savvy and

more plugged-in to the electronically connected world

than ever before. And leaders within organizations of all

industries and sizes are taking notice and making plans.

According to a recent Avanade report, nearly 73 percent of C-level executives said that the growing

use of employee-owned technology is a top priority in

their organization. In that same report, 88 percent of

executives said that employees are using their personal

computing technologies for business purposes, 60 percent said they are now adapting their IT infrastructure

to accommodate employees’ personal devices, and 79 percent reported that they plan to make new investments

to support personal computing technologies in the

workplace within the next 12 months.2

Organizations are rethinking how IT impacts their

business and the way their employees work. This shift

and the trend toward the consumerization of IT is being

driven by three major technologies: social, mobile and

cloud computing. With these technologies, businesses

face a dynamic landscape that is changing customer

and employee demands — and changing how people

connect, what they use to connect and how they interact

with one another.3

The Impact of Consumer Technologies on YourEmployees & Your Enterprise

1 Foley, Mary Jo. The Consumerization of IT — and of Microsoft. Jan. 21, 2010. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/the-consumerization-of-it-and-of-microsoft/5019

2 Avanade Research & Insights. Global Survey: Dispelling Six Myths of Consumerization of IT. January 2012.

3 Lopez, Maribel. Three Trends That Change Business: Mobile, Social and Cloud. Jan. 28, 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/maribellopez/2012/01/28/three-trends-that-change-business-mobile-social-and-cloud/


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ENCOURAGING SHARING by creating an open, two-way dialogue that makes business more personal. It also reduces power distance to organizational leaders, connects employees globally on a person-to-person level and encourages the formation of work-oriented user groups.

CAPTURING KNOWLEDGE by identifying expertise and transferring that knowledge across the organization. Not only can this help to improve businesses’ best practices, it also allows for better employee information coordination and the avoidance of duplicated efforts.

ENABLING ACTION by helping employees solve problems better and faster, streamlining multiple processes and operations across the organization. These tools also make it easier to bring a company’s extended network of customers, partners and resellers into the organization.

EMPOWERING PEOPLE by giving employees a voice and allowing them to make meaningful contributions and innovations, which can lead to increased engagement, greater job satisfaction and better retention.

All of these business contributions closely align with today’s talent

management ideals, which is why more learning and HCM tech-

nology solutions are putting social and collaboration tools at their

core. According to Bersin & Associates, social tools bring democra-

tization to talent management, enabling teammates and employees

to communicate directly with each other — and changing the role of

line managers.7

Social tools foster a central, online destination for work and collabora-

tion, with a single, unified employee profile that captures all points of

talent engagement, from training and development initiatives to goals,

performance reviews and recognition.

Social: Networking, Collaborating & Connecting

4 Madden, Mary and Zickuhr, Kathryn. 65% of Online Adults Use Social Networking Sites. Pew Research Center. Aug. 26, 2011. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites.aspx?src=prc-headline

5 Digital Transformation: A Road Map for Billion-dollar Organizations. Capgemini and MIT Center for Digital Business. Nov. 19, 2011.

6 Altimeter Report: Making the Business Case for Enterprise Social Networks. Feb. 22, 2012.

7 Bersin, Josh. Strategic Human Resources and Talent Management: Predictions for 2012 – Driving Organizational Performance Amidst an Imbalanced Global Workforce. Bersin & Associates. 2011. To purchase the report, visit http://www.bersin.com/Practice/detail.aspx?docid=15034&mode=search&p=Talent-Management

Consumers have flocked to social

networking sites at a staggering pace.

In February 2005, Pew Research Center’s

first survey about social networking sites

revealed that only 8 percent of Internet

users — which is 5 percent of all adults —

reported that they use social networking

sites. In August 2011, a survey by the Pew

Internet & American Life Project found

that 65 percent of adults on the Internet

reported that they use social networking

sites like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn,

up from 61 percent the year before.4

Social technologies are not only chang-

ing how people engage with one another,

they are also influencing the expectations

people have about how they should work.

As a result, more and more businesses are

exploring how best to harness social media

and collaboration tools within business ap-

plications to better engage and enable their

workforce. For example, research from Cap-

gemini and MIT indicates that 52 percent

of companies are now using some form

of social media for their customer care op-

erations.5 But enterprise social networks —

social networking tools leveraged for busi-

ness networking and collaboration — are

more than just Facebook behind a firewall.

A recent report by the Altimeter Group

defined four major contributions that

enterprise social networks are making

across organizations: 6


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Today, mobile work is not just about laptops. The use of

mobile devices, tablets and applications is exploding. It

is truly changing how businesses and people are connected

– and it is coloring employee’s expectations for how to

access business applications and information, no matter

what device is being used.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 46

percent of all American adults have smartphones.8 In

another report by the Pew Research Center, 50 percent

of all adult cellphone owners have apps on their phones,

and downloads of apps have nearly doubled in the last

two years.9 The share of adults in the U.S. who own tablet

computers nearly doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent

between mid-December 2011 and early January 2012.10

And what about the next generation of global workers?

Before they even enter the job market, they will already have

expectations surrounding access to technology. Twenty-three

percent of teens (ages 12–17) have smartphones.11 And this

number is expected to grow in the coming years. Consider

that Ericsson and Cisco estimate that there will be 50 billion

connected mobile devices by 2020.12

Not surprisingly, consumers are now willing to buy their

own devices and bring them into the workplace — and 2012 is the year that CIOs are embracing the “bring your own

device” (or BYOD) trend.13 Not only are CIOs allocating

staff and technical resources to integrate employee-owned

devices, CIOs are reporting that they are committing an

average of 25 percent of their overall IT budgets to manage

some aspect of the consumerization of IT.14

With regard to CIOs and the adoption of mobile technology,

66 percent of global companies with more than 1 billion

dollars in revenue report that they are using mobile

applications in some form for their internal and external

operations.15 Something else to consider: Over 40 percent

of people using mobile devices for work purposes are

using them for more than email and social networking —

they are actually using them to run business applications

anytime and anywhere.16

To account for people at every level of an organization

who want and need to access talent management tools

and information via mobile devices — and to encourage

users to interact more with the system — learning and

HR leaders must consider how mobile devices factor into

their talent processes and technology support. This is

particularly critical for accelerating decision making and

ensuring that employees have the resources to do their jobs

and to drive productivity in enterprise environments that

are increasingly geographically dispersed and often consist

of virtual teams.

8 Smith, Aaron. Nearly Half of American Adults Are Smartphone Owners. Pew Research Center. March 1, 2012. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Smartphone-Update-2012.aspx?src=prc-headline

9 Purcell, Kristen. Half of Adult Cellphone Owners Have Apps on Their Phones. Pew Research Center. Nov. 2, 2011. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Apps-update.aspx

10 Rainie, Lee. Tablet and E-book Reader Ownership Nearly Double Over the Holiday Gift-giving Period. Pew Research Center. Jan. 23, 2012. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets/Findings.aspx

11 Lenhart, Amanda. Teens, Smartphones and Texting. Pew Research Center. March 19, 2012. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smartphones.aspx?src=prc-headline


13 Ibid.


15 Digital Transformation: A Road Map for Billion-dollar Organizations. Capgemini and MIT Center for Digital Business. Nov. 19, 2011.


Mobile: Tablets, Smartphones & Apps


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18 Zappe, John. Thinking SaaS? Considering the Cloud? Here’s What You Should Know. Jan. 2, 2012. http://www.ere.net/2012/01/02/thinking-saas-considering-the-cloud-heres-what-you-should-know/

In 2012, everyone seems to be head-

ing into the cloud — the delivery

of computing and Software-as-a-

Service (SaaS) over a network rather

than a product. But the reality is that

cloud computing and SaaS have

been around almost as long as the

Internet itself. And cloud and SaaS

providers are adding new comput-

ing models that are changing stor-

age, processing and access to data.

In a recent column by Maribel Lopez

for Forbes.com, Lopez reports that

CIOs are looking at network virtualiza-

tion and the opportunity to decouple

network services from the underlying

physical hardware. IT is evaluating

what lives on-premise versus off-

premise. Lopez reports that cloud ser-

vices provide a test-and-development

environment for new apps and have

opened the floodgates for new soft-

ware innovation as well as new pricing

and distribution models with SaaS.17

Cloud computing technology is the

engine powering the SaaS revolution.

SaaS providers are allowing enterprise

social networks, mobile devices, tab-

lets and apps to flourish in the work-

place. So what makes SaaS and cloud

computing the next IT choice for or-

ganizations wanting to empower their

enterprise? A recent ERE article by

John Zappe provides a quick summa-

ry of what makes SaaS and cloud com-

puting so attractive for enterprises.18

AFFORDABLE PRICING: Monthly pricing is based on head count with very low cost of ownership because enterprises don’t have to house servers or install software.

QUICK INSTALLATION: Uploading and transferring data only takes a few days to a few weeks, so more time can be spent on training and encouraging internal staff to use the system.

EASY SYSTEM MANAGEMENT: Keeping the system up and running, fixing bugs and installing upgrades is the responsibility of the vendor — not the customer.

ANYTIME, ANYWHERE ACCESSIBILITY: Because the cloud is Internet-based, SaaS operating in that environment makes it possible to access the data anywhere, at any time, on any platform.

SECURITY: SaaS and the cloud provide access and logins that are more secure than with location-based IT, as well as better access to scarce IT personnel.

ENDLESS INNOVATION AND AUTOMATIC UPDATES: Because there is one version of the SaaS vendor’s software powering all the company’s subscribers, developing new features and implementing them is easy compared with an on-premises installation. The cost of the development and implementation is spread across the entire base, encouraging innovation.

SCALABILITY FOR GROWTH: Cloud-computing storage and usage are unlimited, which means they can expand and contract as needed to suit the business’s needs.

While social and mobile are the channels through which employees, managers

and business leaders engage with learning and talent management tools, the

cloud is the catalyst that brings it all to life. You can’t realize the promise of

these other technologies without it.

Cloud solutions provide the flexibility and scalability for learning and HR leaders

who are trying to keep pace with ever-changing business needs and technology

advancements. Cloud technologies also make it easier for organizations to

create a single integrated environment for managing the employee life cycle,

from hire to retire.

Cloud Computing: Anywhere, Anytime


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90%

87%

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57%

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show increased revenue in the following three years

percent report increased market share

percent report lower employee turnover

percent of publicly traded respondents report higher stock prices

Social BusinessApplying social technologies like collaboration, communication and content management to impact business goals or outcomes.

Gami�cationTaking the essence of games — fun, play and passion — and applying it to real-world business and non-game situations.

Enterprise Mobility UnleashedEmbracing, creating and delivering business-centric mobile applications for employee use.

User EmpowermentDeveloping enterprise technology that embraces free-market principles that have become a central feature of today’s IT environments, re�ecting the democratization of corporate technology.

Hybrid-hybrid CloudShifting from a single cloud to integrating multiple clouds for enterprise use.

Big Data Goes to WorkTurning the growing volume and increasing complexity of structured and unstructured data sources into a real business advantage with measurable value.

Geospatial VisualizationConnecting visual images to cognitive analysis — enabling decision makers to quickly pull signi�cant results out of tremen-dous amounts of complex and diverse data.

Digital IdentitiesMeeting the demands of enterprise e�ciency, compliance and consumer expectations by unifying the increasing number of digital IDs and passwords that employees must manage to do their everyday jobs.

Measured InnovationShifting innovation from a eureka moment to an institutional discipline.

Outside-in ArchitectureFinding the sweet spot between “need to share” and “need to own.”

Business Technology Trends to Watch10A recent report by Deloitte predicts the top 10 trends for

practical business use. Deloitte grouped these trends

into two categories. DISRUPTORS are technologies that

can create a sustainable, positive disruption in IT capabili-

ties, business operations and sometimes even business

models. ENABLERS are technologies that, although many

CIOs have already invested time and effort in them, war-

rant another look this year because of new developments.

Disruptors Enablers

Deloitte. Tech Trends 2012. Elevate IT for Digital Business. Feb. 14, 2012.

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CAPABLE and enabled to go above and beyond.

READY TO GO the extra mile and bring new ideas.

NOT AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS and challenge the status quo.

WORKS WELL IN TEAMS and seeks out opportunities for collaboration.

AGILE, INNOVATIVE, efficient, effective and engaged.

INCLINED TO TAKE WORK PERSONALLY. It’s not just a job. They care about the company.

ACTIVELY WORKS to be a part of the culture and create a great organization.

The Empowered Enterprise: Where Technology & People Converge

Whether you are in senior management, HR, learning

and development, or any other function that deals

with people and talent in your organization, you set the

tone and create the culture for empowerment. You set

the priorities and create the support infrastructure that

enables greatness in your employees.

So how do you define employee empowerment? Why

is having an empowered culture important for better

business performance? And how do social, mobile and

cloud technologies converge with people strategies to

foster an Empowered Enterprise?

What is an empowered employee?

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The term “empowerment” can mean different things to

different people and be uniquely defined by an organiza-

tion’s culture and mission. But as a lot of recent research

shows, there are a growing number of people who feel

that a job well done is about more than financial rewards

and promotions.

At its most general definition, employee empowerment

is about self-motivation and the feeling that the company

has given them the tools and the go-ahead to make an

impact on the organization’s goals. The seven character-

istics of an empowered employee include:


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Why is it important to have an empowered culture?

Creating an empowered culture is about more than

company cookouts and casual Fridays. For Jim White-

hurst, the president and CEO of Red Hat, employee en-

gagement means “getting people to believe what you

want them to believe, and if people really fundamentally

believe what you want them to believe, they will walk

through walls. They will do anything.” Whitehurst’s path

to getting people to believe is quite simple: allowing

employees to voice their opinions, and giving them a

seat at the table to voice their concerns and ideas.

Employee empowerment is about creating an environ-

ment in which employees feel valued because they

believe their individual contributions to the company

really matter. Trust — in leaders and in co-workers —

can flourish. Teamwork is encouraged. Retention risk

decreases because employees are happy with their work

and their career.

But this goes way beyond touchy-feely: It affects the

bottom line. Quantum Workplace, a company that

conducts employee surveys for Best Places to Work

awards across the U.S., analyzed its results from 2005 to 2009 and found that among the highest-scoring 10 percent of the 18,000 firms it surveyed:

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report increased market share

report lower employee turnover

of publicly traded respondents report higher stock prices90%

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of publicly traded respondents report higher stock prices

90%

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of publicly traded respondents report higher stock prices

18 Bryant, Adam. The Memo List: Where Everyone Has an Opinion. The New York Times. March 10, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/business/jim-whitehurst-of-red-hat-on-merits-of-an-open-culture.html?_r=1


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What’s the ROI of an Empowered Enterprise?

Towers Watson analyzed three years of employee data

for 40 global companies and found that over a period of

36 months, companies with a highly engaged employee

population turned in a significantly better financial

performance (a 5.75 percent difference in operating

margins, and a 3.44 percent difference in net profit

margins) than did low-engagement workplaces. These

companies also maintained a consistently high level

of engagement and produced shareholder returns 9.3

percent higher than the returns for the S&P 500 Index

from 2002 through 2006.

90%

87%

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Companies with a high-engagementemployee population

Companies with a low-engagementemployee population

5.75%di�erence in operating margins

3.44%di�erence in net pro�t margins

19 Turbocharging Employee Engagement. Towers Watson.


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Defining the Empowered Enterprise

The concept of the Empowered Enterprise is rooted in

the convergence of technology and people. Technology

strategies are no longer being driven by IT departments;

rather, they are being driven by what employees need,

want and expect in order to get their jobs done using

the technologies from their everyday lives. With this in

mind, it makes sense for talent management leaders

to play a key role in driving an Empowered Enterprise

strategy because of the traditional things organizations

do to manage and enable their people — not just by

teams, but across the entire business. It's more than

just a system of record; it is now about talent leaders

creating and owning a system of engagement.

There are four elements that truly define the concept of

the Empowered Enterprise:

EMPLOYEES AT THE CORE. The Empowered Enterprise puts employees — rather than

the technology itself — at the center of the strategy. The seamless integration of social

capabilities allows people to have a single, unified user profile and identity that is the “hub”

of all of their activity in the talent system. They can collaborate, network and share with

others across job functions, teams and time zones. The more active the participation,

the better the intelligence that organizations will have at their disposal, especially for

understanding and identifying where valuable knowledge, skills and competencies reside.

TALENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AS A DESTINATION. Through this strategy, the talent

management system is transformed from a place people occasionally visit to complete

a performance review or required training to a one-stop, collaborative destination where

meaningful work gets done and employees learn what’s happening in the organization.

Employees have easy and convenient access to the resources they need to do their jobs to

the best of their abilities anytime, anywhere and on any device, driving accelerated decision

making and higher productivity.

MOBILIZATION OF TALENT TO DRIVE RESULTS. An Empowered Enterprise better enables

internal mobility in an organization, ensuring that the right people are in the right roles at the

right times. Talent gaps can be addressed through recruiting and by growing and nurturing

existing employees. Increased transparency means that employees are able to have more

meaning and context for how their role is driving business results, and their particular skills

and interests can be better aligned to drive results. And performance management becomes

more about development, coaching and mentoring, and less about judging and evaluating.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY AS THE ENABLER. Cloud-based talent management solutions

become the enabler for supporting every step of the employee life cycle, from hire to retire.

These systems make it possible for organizations to realize the vision of a single integrated

talent management and collaboration environment, supported by analytics and reports

for better workforce intelligence and smarter decision making. And they make it easier

for businesses to stay agile in a constantly changing business and technology landscape.

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Technology and Empowerment in Action: Neiman Marcus Profile

Neiman Marcus launched tools for learning management and social

networking across its organization in late 2011, followed by succession

planning and career management applications. The company plans to

launch performance management in the second half of 2012.

In the process of rolling out its new talent management suite, NM GPS

(Grow, Perform, Share), Neiman Marcus noticed there was a potential

barrier to technology adoption based on an employee’s tenure with the

organization. Since the retailer has exceptionally high employee retention

rates, the company is running an internal employee marketing campaign

to educate employees about the new talent management strategy and

technology system and encourage use.

While Neiman Marcus’ learning and talent management strategy is still in

its infancy, initial employee engagement with the social and learning tools

has exceeded expectations, marking a positive start to the company’s

movement to empower its people through technology.

As a global luxury retailer with over

15,000 employees, The Neiman

Marcus Group’s mantra for empow-

ering its entire employee population

is simple: Be the hero. This applies

not only to how Neiman Marcus em-

ployees uniquely serve customers in

its stores, but also how its corporate

office manages and enables employ-

ees across the organization.

Being the best in customer service

requires forward thinking and inno-

vation. And with social and mobile

taking off with consumers, Neiman

Marcus is exploring how to leverage

these technologies to enhance the

retail experience and better engage

its customers. The company recently

began testing a new iPhone-only NM

Service app to help deepen relation-

ships between its sales associates

and shoppers. Using the app, sales

associates are able to easily connect

and share store and new product in-

formation with customers.

The luxury retailer also realized early

on that new consumer technology

trends, particularly social and cloud,

could be used to enhance process-

es for managing employee perfor-

mance, providing just-in-time train-

ing and development, and offering

career advancement opportunities.

This drove Neiman Marcus to invest

in Cornerstone OnDemand’s com-

prehensive, organically developed

talent management suite in 2011. The integration of social networking

tools throughout the system was a

key factor in choosing the solution.


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Harnessing new and constantly evolving technologies

to create an Empowered Enterprise can be tricky.

It involves a high level of employee communication and

methodical change management. If your organization

is really serious about making technology and employee

empowerment a talent management priority, then

putting a solid strategy in place can mean the difference

between success and failure.

The following steps should give you an idea about

how to start down the path to finding the right mix of

people and technology in your organization to create an

Empowered Enterprise.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: A Road Map to the Empowered Enterprise

Incremental Improvements vs. Revolutionary Change

Getting Leadership Buy-In

Aligning and De�ning Talent Management Strategies

Aligning and De�ningBusiness Objectives

Assessing Your Enterprise’sTechnology Culture

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STARTHERE

EmpoweredEnterprise

ENDHERE


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The logical first step is to assess your enter-

prise’s technology culture. What percentage of

your workforce is already using social, mobile

and cloud technologies in their everyday work

processes? In what ways are they using these

devices and applications? What has been the im-

pact on employees, organizational culture and

business outcomes? And what technologies do

they want and need in order to be empowered,

successful and productive in their roles?

It’s also important that your organization

knows what motivates your employees to do

great work and perform at the top of their

game. A good place to start is by conducting

an employee engagement survey – or incor-

porating some new questions into your exist-

ing engagement surveys. Sample questions

could include:

ASSESSING YOUR ENTERPRISE’S TECHNOLOGY CULTURE

It is important to position your survey in a

way that explains why the organization is ask-

ing about employee technology usage as it

relates to better enabling them to do their

day-to-day work. You also should communi-

cate how you plan to utilize their responses

to develop a technology action plan for your

organization and/or talent initiatives.

Remember, you are not asking your workforce

about their attitudes, beliefs or opinions with

regard to corporate vision, employee com-

munication or management. This survey is

about assessing the technology culture of

your organization.

There’s no doubt that the answers from your

workforce will vary. In assessing your enter-

prise’s technology culture, it’s important to

find collective and individual themes that will

drive empowerment within your organization.

ALIGNING AND DEFINING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

When thinking about putting people and

technology at the center of your organization,

knowing which direction your business needs

to navigate toward is an imperative. It’s not just

about your current business objectives – it is

about where your company wants to be in five

to 10 years down the road and assessing how

best to align technology and your workforce to

achieve success. It also means that your organi-

zation needs the flexibility to adapt to changes

in global markets, shifts in technology trends,

and its own ebb and flow of hiring needs.

From a talent management perspective, it will

be essential for HR leaders to inventory a wide

array of skills and jobs and build strategies for

not only retaining the right people today, but

also planning for the skills and knowledge

needed for tomorrow. What talent needs, tech-

nical capabilities and employee competencies

will your organization need to succeed in the

future? That's an important question that your

organization needs to put some serious time

and thought toward.

Step 1

Step 2

How do you define empowerment?

What about the organization’s culture makes you feel empowered?

How do you perceive learning and career development opportunities in the organization?

How would technology help empower you to perform better or learn more with regard to your current position?

How comfortable are you with using social, mobile and cloud technologies?

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SOURCING AND RECRUITING: How is your organization using consumer technologies to identify and hire the

right people? With the right technology, you can have the ability to identify the right candidates from internal and

external networks, encourage collaboration and feedback exchange among candidate review teams, and nurture

ongoing relationships with candidates via talent communities.

ONBOARDING: How can new technologies help new hires excel in your organization? Determine what processes

and tools should be in place to reduce new-hire time to productivity, connect employees to the company’s culture,

and immediately align new-hire activity and development with business goals.

PERFORMANCE: How can social, mobile and cloud technologies improve and enable employee performance?

Consider what it will take to shift from transactional performance management to processes that are more

interactional, ongoing and transparent, and that allow the right people to provide feedback at the right time.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT: How is your organization going to use new technologies to deliver learning

and development across your organization? Consider what the right blend of tools or channels should be to

best facilitate just-in-time learning anytime, anywhere and on any device — whether it is addressing skills gaps,

ensuring compliance, providing access to valuable knowledge or developing your employees professionally.

SUCCESSION: How is your organization going to use new technology innovations to identify and groom future

leaders? Consider what is needed in order to build the right bench strength, looking beyond top executive positions

and nurturing talent at every level. Also, consider what is needed to foster talent mobility and to make it easier for

your employees to control their career paths and identify what skills and expertise they need to advance into new,

more exciting roles.

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3

Once you have a better understanding of

how technology and people are converging in

your organization today, as well as your com-

pany’s long-term business objectives, you’re

now ready to tackle your talent strategy.

While technology is bound to change, plan-

ning ahead and having the ability to quickly

adapt to new applications as they emerge will

keep your team nimble and ahead of the curve.

But the great thing about having existing tal-

ent management technologies is that they

make it easy for you to align business objec-

tives with the technology and empowerment

strategies you envision for your organization.

When assessing your current and potential

talent strategies, consider the following:

ALIGNING AND DEFINING TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Step 3

Talent management technology can help you

answer these questions while putting the tech-

nology tools you need into the hands of your

people. More important, talent management

technology helps you manage and measure the

impact of the social, mobile and cloud tech-

nologies you use to empower your enterprise.

4

5


– 1 5 –

Without leadership buy-in and support from

the C-suite, you could be fighting a losing

battle. If you have surveyed how social, mobile

and cloud technologies are already converging

within your organization, then you should have

a good idea about the isolated areas in your

company where technology use is flourishing.

Look into these areas, start measuring and test-

ing their value, and then build a solid business

case to prove the business and people value to

your organization’s leadership. Without a solid

business case in place, getting leadership buy-

in could be impossible.

GETTING LEADERSHIP BUY-IN

INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS VS. REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE

Changing all of your technology, business

and talent management processes in a revo-

lutionary fashion can be counterproductive

and a major shock to the organization’s cul-

ture. All organizational change takes time

and thoughtful management. It’s a given, but

it bears repeating.

To responsibly manage change, your orga-

nization needs to have a structured plan

with processes for transitioning technology,

business and talent management. But the

most important part of change manage-

ment is communicating how your organiza-

tion’s plans and processes will benefit your

employees. Communication reduces uncer-

tainty, making the unfamiliar familiar and in-

creasing employee acceptance and adoption.

Your empowerment and technology changes

should start slowly. Organizational changes

need to be in palatable and digestible incre-

ments. If you’ve done your homework and

understand your enterprise’s attitudes and

opinions towards different types of devices

and applications, the changes you make

should be in sync with your organization’s

culture and its business objectives. And

if you’ve communicated the benefits and

implementation process to your employ-

ees, while there may still be grumblings and

groans, your user adoption rate should war-

rant a better ROI on your technology spend.

Step 4

Step 5


– 1 6 –

Today’s connected world and workforce are

rapidly changing the way social, mobile and

cloud technologies are being adopted and used in

the workplace. The technology sea change isn’t just

on the horizon, it’s already here. To keep pace, your

organization will need to figure out how to harness

and integrate popular technologies into learning,

performance and talent management strategies. But

getting there can be difficult, and your organization

needs to determine which blend of consumer and

talent management technologies will be the engine

that propels your workforce toward empowerment.

To get started, your organization needs to analyze

how your workforce is using social, mobile and cloud

technologies, and then integrate those technologies

into a plan that motivates and empowers your

workforce to be the competitive advantage that drives

your business forward. But that’s easier said than done.

To manage this change and to create a plan that

delivers value, your organization needs a partner and

guide. Because there’s a lot more to it than just picking

a platform, handing out smartphones and tablets, and

shaking up your culture for the sake of “progress.”

You need smart technologies, solid strategies and

real change management to realize the promise of the

Empowered Enterprise. Acknowledging and preparing

for the sea change is the first step.

Cornerstone OnDemand is ready to take you to

step two. We can show you how social, mobile

and cloud technologies give employees the power

to collaborate, learn, perform and develop into a

workforce that embodies the ideals and values of the

Empowered Enterprise. We are also here to guide you

to the technologies that fit your needs, your business

objectives, your people and your culture.

Conclusion

About Cornerstone OnDemand

Cornerstone OnDemand is a leading global provider of a comprehensive learning and talent management solution.

We enable organizations to meet the challenges they face in empowering their people and maximizing the productivity

of their human capital. Our integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution consists of the Cornerstone Recruiting

Cloud, the Cornerstone Performance Cloud, the Cornerstone Learning Cloud and the Cornerstone Extended

Enterprise Cloud. Our clients use our solution to source and recruit top talent, develop employees throughout their

careers, engage all employees effectively, improve business execution, cultivate future leaders, and integrate with

their external networks of customers, vendors and distributors. Visit us on the Web at www.csod.com.

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Building the Empowered Enterprise...this help to improve businesses’ best practices, it also allows for better employee information coordination and the avoidance of duplicated efforts