{"id":1532,"date":"2011-03-30T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T17:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/strodtman-future-of-work_033011\/"},"modified":"2011-03-30T17:44:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T17:44:00","slug":"strodtman-future-of-work_033011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/strodtman-future-of-work_033011\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Work \u2013 Who will lead?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you who’ve been close to the volatile world of HR Outsourcing, since it leapt into life in 1999 when BP and Exult tied the knot<\/a> with “E-Enabled HR” (ahem) – there haven’t been too many constants.<\/em><\/p>\n

I can barely recollect all the providers which dipped their toe in the market before either running for the exits kicking and\u00a0screaming, or selling off dismally-performing business units. \u00a0I can also barely recall the number of people who came, saw, conquered, and subsequently disappeared from the face of the earth, after dabbling in one of the most contentious areas of outsourcing we’ve witnessed to-date. \u00a0I also struggle to remember the number of executives whose careers were either made or broken by doubling-down on that wonderful HRO value-proposition.<\/p>\n

However, one face that has been ever-truly consistent – and\u00a0constantly\u00a0smiling – during this entire\u00a0roller-coaster\u00a0of HR navel-gazing… has been Keith Strodtman, who has been the face of global HRO provider Ceridian through so much of this market volatility.<\/p>\n

Yes, HRO’s smoothest man has become part of the HfS analyst family<\/a> to embark upon a brave mission to define, analyze and expound upon the Future of Work, and how HR service delivery needs to rise up the the challenges of a fast-changing global work\u00a0environment. \u00a0Of course, that is when he’s not predisposed to feeding the elks at his Dad’s farm… \u00a0So without further ado, let’s hear from HfS’ new Research Fellow for HR Services and the Future of Work, Keith Strodtman himself…<\/p>\n

The Future of Work \u2013 Who Will Lead?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For the past several years I have been thinking a lot about the future of work. Then, when Phil Fersht and I started talking about me joining the HfS Research team as a Research Fellow, I figured this was a great opportunity to start a bigger conversation on the topic and its impact on HR departments, service providers, and employers more broadly.<\/p>\n

While most of us frequently think about the future, for me, I never really sat back and thought, beyond the obvious, about how or why the world of work was changing.\u00a0 That changed in 2004 when we invited Thomas W. Malone, the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management to give a presentation on the Future of Work at a customer forum.\u00a0 Tom had just released his new book, The Future of Work,<\/em> which examines the how new technologies enable companies to unleash the creativity and innovation of the people in their organization.<\/p>\n

The key technology outcome that Malone was talking about is the falling cost of communication.\u00a0 Just as the lower cost of communication, think the printing press, helped enable the development of decentralized, democratic governments and markets over the past few centuries; today\u2019s technology is lowering the cost of communication and collaboration in business.\u00a0 Companies are deploying technology that makes it easier for employees, customers, and partners to share information and ideas.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Just sharing ideas and information will not produce success.\u00a0 Companies must organize effectively to capture the innovations that come from the improved flow of information and ideas.\u00a0 They must enable workers to make important decisions, respond to customers, and quickly develop products that meet customer needs.\u00a0 Malone argues that a more decentralized organization, or at least decentralized decision-making, supported by technology, is better able to do respond to customers needs more quickly.\u00a0 It seems like a logical argument to me and there are good examples of companies who are doing this today.<\/p>\n

Again, many companies are well down the path of evolving the future of work.\u00a0 The outsourcing industry would not be what it is today without technologies that allow us to move information around the world quickly and at low costs.\u00a0 Many companies use social media to promote their products and get customer feedback.\u00a0 Some have even implemented internal social tools to make it easier for employees to find and share information and ideas.\u00a0 Frank D\u2019Souza, CEO of Cognizant, in his recent interview<\/a> with Phil Fersht, gave an example of a mobile solution that Cognizant developed for a global consumer product company to allow their delivery people to collect competitive information as they delivered products to retail outlets.<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a><\/p>\n

Keith Strodtman, HfS Research Fellow for HR Services (Click for bio)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Okay, so I think we can all see how technology can enable changes in the future of work but there are many other drivers of the future of work.\u00a0 Big macro factors like:<\/p>\n