Paris Based Global HR Leaders Discuss 'Big Data'

More than 25 Global HR Leaders met in Paris on 27 March to discuss “HR Analytics and the Growing Importance of ‘Big Data’ in HR Management.” Christophe Gattegno and Prasad Swaminathan of Carrefour hosted the session, the second leg of The Chapman Consulting Group’s sixth European Global HR Leader Series. Bertrand Leroux, acting Chief HR Officer of Carrefour, opened the session, along with Matthew Chapman, CEO of ChapmanCG.

In the first of two keynote presentations, Dawn Cheyrouze, Global Head of Talent Development at AIG, discussed the company’s ongoing journey towards more effective data management. The key focus for AIG has been to determine how the business can consolidate data, whilst creating the right global reporting, in order to achieve a competitive advantage. The organisation also wants to be at the cutting edge in terms of shaping their workforce for the future, including predicting success in leadership development, team structure, promotions, expatriate assignments and many other areas. “It’s about moving from monitoring talent management to predicting it,” commented Cheyrouze.

Sven Van de Wynkele, Global HR Head for TP Vision, provided an overview of his company’s transition to the increased use of data in HR analytics. At TP Vision, the HR vision is changing and expanding, leading to a greater need for stronger analytic measures, which is being driven by the business. He talked about the fact that the HR organisation is becoming increasingly fact based in their assumptions, through smarter use of data, and this has enhanced HR’s credibility. More benchmarking is going on, and HR is becoming more forward thinking, hence the need for increased predictability. He did issue a warning; however, about putting too much trust in the data. “Data is one thing, but it’s important to apply common sense around the story that attaches to it,” said Van de Wynkele.

Discussions on the growing importance of ‘big data’ in HR decision-making will continue over the next two weeks, as ChapmanCG hosts the Zurich, Milan, Copenhagen and Frankfurt legs of its Spring 2014 Global HR Leader Series.