Dive Brief:

• Talent management software suites appear to be reaching mainstream levels of acceptance and use, but are not necessarily meeting HR, employer and employee expectations, according to Talent Management.
• The 15 years or so years during which employers have spent time and money on these HR tech projects are delivering mixed results, writes James Bowley, vice president at Authoria, an integrated talent management software provider. He notes that projects fall short for a number of reasons, including poor underlying processes and communications shortcomings.
• The times call for an evolution, he writes. Not one focused on cost savings, but aimed squarely at changing how such software helps people manage talent.

Dive Insight:

Bowley outlines several of the key challenges blocking the path to the "talent management technology evolution," including:

• Defining the wrong requirements 
• Having a flawed selection process
• Building an unrealistic timeline
• Creating a "fantastical" scope (reaching too far) 
• A rushed rollout
• Having a vendor with technology expertise, but limited subject-matter expertise 
• And finally, neglecting the evolution of the software.

In the article, Bowley offers a laundry list of very specific ways to to address each of those challenges, and concludes by saying that even the best efforts in crossing the software adoption gap require keeping tabs on talent analytics. It's critical that once a suite is in place, an organization must constantly prove the workforce is progressing. 

Employers who outperform others on this issue gain a clear competitive talent advantage, he writes.