My guest for this episode of #HRTechChat was Steve Goldberg, well-known HR industry analyst, advisor and thought leader. Steve and I were having so many interesting conversations of late, that we decided we'd better lay one of these tracks down on vinyl, so to speak. Steve shared a few ideas around the theme of "opportunities where HR technology can make a difference today and over the next several years," and here we are....

True to form, Steve got me to thinking about something in a way I'd never considered. It's loosely related to a concept I encountered many years ago. The idea "is really the byproduct of mashing together the vendor perspective and the customer perspective," Steve said. From vendors, there's a standardization of functionality for this or that need and area of practice in human capital management. And, at the employers that use this software, there's a fit for this standardization, but also a uniqueness that standardized solutions won't address. And, Steve asks, "I'm now thinking, can machine learning help? How do you bridge that gap with machine learning?"

That is a fascinating possibility. Another area of interest in HCM today "is what I call line manager enablement," Steve said. "It's a phrase that I started using when I was at PeopleSoft. Even fast forward to today. It's not getting anything close to the attention that I think it needs."

His point is sage. Essential stakeholders when it comes to HCM technology, line managers need attention. And what's intriguing is that the dam seems to be breaking, and vendors of technology for HCM are beginning to gear their solutions for the line manager — a welcome development.

"The HR department typically only comprises about one percent of the organization," Steve said. "How can HR possibly scale and have a finger on the pulse of the needs, interests, goals, potential issues, and challenges of every employee in an organization, every worker? So line managers have to be viewed as critical in listening to employees' needs, interests, and goals and in balancing these with the needs, interests, and goals of the enterprise."

Our chat covered a country mile's worth of ground. We discussed Steve's three P's for artificial intelligence. We threw a bone to Generation X and Baby Boomers by talking about the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island as a parable for the pitfalls in crisis communication at the intersection of internal and external brand (link included for the edification of Millennials and Generation Y). Even the topic of mergers and acquisitions came up, including the cruciality of managing cultural friction successfully during these events. This conversation was truly wide-ranging.

A friend of mine and member of our Global Executive Advisory Council, Steve is always a deep fount of knowledge and wisdom on all things HCM. Much of it comes from his decades in the business as a practitioner in HR, an HCM technology vendor executive, and an industry analyst and consultant. (He recently became a board advisor for Azilen Technologies, for example.) Anyone who likes to think deeply on technology, leadership and more in HCM will want to give this episode a view.