PageUp People global chief executive Karen Cariss thinks there will be a number of key trends in human resources this year.
“Companies seeking to distinguish themselves as best places to work embrace innovation and process improvements,” she says. “When we look back on 2014 to make our predictions for 2015, I’m confident that those organisations that follow these trends will be further ahead of their competition.”
The first trend is in the area of talent intelligence, where analytics tools will play a huge role. These tools will enable companies to quantify the impact of talent on business performance and to forecast their short and long-term workforce demands. Cariss says as more businesses adopt software-as-a-service models, they will use new features such as candidate relationship management and career path management.
Mobile technologies will continue to grow when it comes to recruitment, Cariss predicts, with businesses leveraging mobile career sites and applications to source and hire, which will help them reduce time and cost-to-hire, as well as reach new talent pools.
Social media has become integral to recruitment, and will remain so in 2014, Cariss says. LinkedIn will continue to be a leader in this respect, while other sites will be a form of peer-recommended recruitment.
With cash flow one of the biggest concerns for small business owners last year, it is fair to predict they will be working hard to get invoices paid on time this year.
Sarah Riegelhuth, co-founder at financial advisory group Wealth Enhancers, told SmartCompany she predicts three key trends when it comes to small business and financial management.
“There will be continuing growth in small businesses using the cloud for their finance data,” she says.
“They will use products like Xero to show that they have the power to know their numbers in real time.
Riegelhuth says while this software has been around for a few years, “people are really starting to jump”.
“In the past it took so long to get up-to-date financial figures from an accountant or by doing the books, this way they can make decisions with all the financial information at hand.”
Riegelhuth predicts that business owners will get more engaged with the complexities of their finances, rather than saying ‘that is for my accountant to say’.
Outsourcing will continue to build, Riegelhuth says, as business owners see the financial benefits and the ability to upscale their operations at lower cost.
“The mental barriers are breaking down (when it comes to outsourcing),” she says.
Business collaborations with an eye on maximising profit will also rise in 2014, she expects. She thinks businesses will focus on their core skills in the areas that generate the most profit, choosing to let some aspects that are less successful go.
Instead, they will enter into partnerships with other businesses for specific projects, drawing on the skills that their own business is lacking.
The director of marketing firm JoElla, Megan Barrow, says in the last couple of years small business marketing has been dominated by making websites, creating content online, social media and search engine optimisation.
This won’t change, Barrow says. But in 2014 she thinks consumers will reject confusing messages and get back to the heart of what a business does and what it stands for via “authentic marketing”.
“It is a more traditional concept,” she says. “Online, they will want more of a story or a connection to a brand.”
While Barrow says this desire for a “brand story” stems from the fast access they have to brands via Facebook and other social media, this year the story will further impact consumer action.
“Consumers are more savvy about money and conscious of where they will be putting that money,” she says.
While social media and websites will still be “massive”, she thinks that print marketing could get popular again.
In terms of small business marketing budgets, she is not expecting a surge, with many businesses still expressing that they can only afford to pay for short-term marketing strategies.
Melinda is a business writer and editor and helps companies to bring their brand stories to life through her small business, Oliver Content. Melinda was previously the content manager for KPMG Australia, an editor of SmartCompany, and spent many years as a journalist.
