Developing talent intelligence to boost business performance

Purpose – It may be a cliché of modern business for a company to say that “people are our greatest asset,” but this is one truism that should be taken seriously. Up to 70 percent of a company's value is tied up in the skills and experience of its employees. All too often, however, business executives and Human Resource (HR) departments have very little insight into how to use this asset for better business outcomes. This paper aims to look at the importance of effective talent metrics and to examine the problems organizations face when trying to develop talent intelligence. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the findings of Talent Intelligence: Key to Business Success, an independent research report examining business and HR attitudes to talent metrics and analytics. Findings – Despite the business value that accurate, accessible talent intelligence can provide, the research finds that there are significant differences between those talent metrics that organizations consider important and the data to which they have access. A legacy of disparate technology systems and a focus on measuring efficiency rather than effectiveness are the primary reasons for the lack of talent intelligence among many businesses. Originality/value – The paper examines the findings of a comprehensive international survey of HR and business managers, identifying the barriers to collecting and analyzing useful talent metrics and laying out the key steps towards generating talent intelligence.