David Halliday, senior partner at The Quo Group will tell HR professionals at the Softworld HR & Payroll event next month (20 – 21 October, NEC, Birmingham) that new technology and the training that often accompanies it is unlikely to change the behaviour of staff and the performance they deliver. Halliday argues that in fact, it often leads to a reduced performance.

Halliday commented: “HR is part of the value chain, delivering this through its relationships with other internal functions and into the organisation’s relationship with its customers, users and stakeholders.

“Systems, per se, add limited value down the value chain in terms of improved performance unless they are accompanied by changed behaviours in the people themselves. In many organisations, systems are introduced under the pretext of adding value to a customer (internal or external) when in reality they are being introduced for the greater convenience of the service provider, rather than for the greater value to the customer.”

Halliday’s debate at Softworld will focus on two inter-related issues:

• Marrying behavioural change with technology change
• Linking both to added value through to the internal partners and the external customers

This will then lead delegates to a simple model against which HR can self-assess the way it selects and introduces new systems.

The Softworld HR & Payroll event features an exhibition of around 40 leading solutions suppliers, as well as an educational programme comprising vendor seminar, breakfast briefing and masterclass sessions.

The event is co-located with Softworld Accounting & Finance, Softworld Business Integration Expo and Business Performance & Project Management Forum (BPPM Forum). Visitor badges will allow a free cross-over between all four events.

See Softworld for further details including event highlights.