Talent Management System – How to Choose the Best Solution

A good talent management system is software that will assist HR leaders and their teams with the four key areas of Recruitment, Learning and Development, Performance Management and Compensation Management. How do you choose the best talent management solution from the huge and constantly changing array on offer?

For the roll out to be a success, the disruption involved when implementing any new system must be far outweighed by the benefits, at least in the long-term and, ideally, quickly.

Since analysts McKinsey identified Talent Management as a key business challenge back in 1990, IT companies have been competing hard to become the leader in addressing the challenge for HR professionals using technology. This has resulted in many types of talent management software on the market, with various features and benefits. However, labeling a single solution as ‘the best’ for everyone is like suggesting that every business has the same attributes and challenges.

As the world of business is changing ever more rapidly, perhaps the most important factor to consider in finding the best talent management system for your company is flexibility, especially if you have large and perhaps disparate teams with diverse skillsets.

Good talent management software will offer the following:

Recruitment
– Tools to help identify the right candidates based on skills and cultural ‘fit’
– Easier recruitment processes prior to meeting face to face, such as video interviews

L&D
– Setting and tracking of goals
– Online learning with peer to peer collaboration
– Self-paced learning and the ability for highly motivated staff to find and self-enrol on courses to help themselves progress

Performance and Compensation Management
– The ability to hide / switch off options by role to reduce distraction / clutter
– Encouragement through awards / online badges
– Easy identification of existing and future stars
– The ability to transition groups and individuals without losing track of their progress and other important data
– Data and tools to enable and encourage managers to coach and inspire their teams
– Sharing of schedules and facilities for online meetings

Most companies will have various tools and processes to support each of the above, so the best software to enhance talent management for you depends on the relative strengths and weaknesses of those existing systems.

For those looking for a highly future-proof solution that will grow with their company, an open source talent management system may be a good option for 4 key reasons:

1. Many open source software packages, such as Totara, are supported by developers worldwide who contribute new plugins and functionalities to constantly improve them.
2. There are no licence fees to pay, so no danger of expensive price hikes when new versions are released
3. Companies with in-house technical staff are free to build new functions from the base software if they can see ways to improve it specifically for their needs
4. As open source does not tie you into a specific vendor’s support, you are able to change provider without losing the functions and data that you built time.

Want to learn more?
Webanywhere are specialists in delivering bespoke talent management solutions for complex organisations using open source software, such as Totara LMS. We are an official Totara Partner for the UK, Poland and the USA.

Contact us on 0800 862 0131 or +44(0)1535 604 026 for a no-obligations discussion of your talent management requirements.