• Discuss the key problems with the old system(s) and the factors contributing to these problems? How were the problems identified?
• How did the new system address these problems? What was the impact of the new system?
• What elements of the implementation approach likely promoted its success? In what way? What elements might have put the new system at risk? In what way?
• What measures would you use to assess the long-term impact of this change?

skills. The new, streamlined global system greatly country and is investigating capabilities that enable improved the global transfer process, and it also managers to request and approve bonus or salary in- serves as the system of record that feeds employee creases via mobile devices. data for many mission-critical downstream systems. This has improved data integrity but also greatly im- Sources April Mazon, 'Hitachi Consulting Realizes Significant proved the global visibility of HCC's workforce, facili- Value with HCM Cloud Transformation, " https://blogs.oracle.com, tating strategic analysis of global employee data. accessed January 10, 2018; Alan Joch, 'Disrupt Yourself," Profit HCC transformation experts teach clients that Magazine, Summer 2017; and www.hitachiconsulting.com, accessed January 19, 2018. fundamental change is an ongoing process, and that's a lesson the company's HR and IT departments are CASE STUDY QUESTIONS taking to heart. HCC leaders are now expanding their 13-14 Analyze Hitachi Consulting's problems with use of the compensation capabilities available within its legacy human resources system. What Oracle HCM Cloud to more closely manage sales management, organization, and technology force compensation, According to Sona Manzo, vice factors were responsible for these problems? president of the Oracle HCM Cloud practice at HCC, What was the business impact of these the company needed time to determine how it would problems? be transforming its sales organization, so it kept sales 13-15 List and describe the major information re- compensation as a separate initiative, quirements for Hitachi's new HR system. HCC is continuing to use new capabilities in 13-16 Was a cloud-based system appropriate for Oracle HCM Cloud to help its business grow. The Hitachi Consulting? Why or why not? new system has been able to handle complex bonus 13-17 What steps did Hitachi take to make sure its packages tailored for salespeople in each country. new HR system was successful? For example, "hot skill" bonuses are critical for at- tracting talent in Asia Pacific locations, but are not 13-18 What were the benefits of the new HR sys- used in other regions such as the Americas. HCC will tem? How did it change operational activities soon be able to track multiple bonus plans in each and decision making at Hitachi Consulting? How successful was this system solution?i had to quickly absorb large numbers of employ- ees from a new acquisition. At one point, Hitachi the HR modernization project also had to perform consulting had less than two weeks to bring hun- their usual duties, Project leaders devised a time- dreds of new employees into its legacy HR system. sharing plan that pulled individuals into the mod- with the old system, it was a challenge to ensure the ernization project when their expertise was most company had sufficient hardware and software re- needed, but quickly returned them to their regular sources to accommodate the new employees without jobs to keep HCC's business on track. overspending for additional infrastructure, or just as Implementation of the Oracle Human Capital risky, keeping a lid on infrastructure expenditures so Management Cloud to serve Hitachi Consulting's that the system couldn't handle future growth. With entire global workforce has provided many benefits a cloud platform, Hitachi Consulting could simply for Hitachi Consulting. It has reduced the time and bring the new employees into the HR application cost to hire new employees and improved top tal- and adjust its contract with Oracle to accommodate ent identification, development, and retention. The employee referral process used to falter because staff the additional head count. Switching computing to members questioned whether their suggestions were a cloud software service provider also would relieve actually implemented. With the new system, the re- Hitachi Consulting's IT staff from routine data center ferring party is more clearly identified and tagged for maintenance tasks, leaving more time for strategic eventual rewards if the referral leads to a successful business initiatives, such as creating reports and new hire. HCC's referral rate of new talent from cur- analyses for decision-makers. rent employees has increased from 17 to 35 percent Oracle HCM Cloud met all these requirements, The company was able to save $1 million in the first and it also featured a streamlined modern interface year the system was operational by reducing pay. that would make the system much easter for em- ments to search firms. It has become easier to absorb ployees to use than the antiquated interface of HOC's and integrate employees from acquisitions. legacy system. The Oracle cloud platform's flexibility HCC senior executives and regional managers can also appealed to the steering committee. With many now access workforce information when making de- cloud services, customers must adapt their processes cisions about HCC's new business direction. For ex- to the services' requirements. Oracle HCM Cloud of- ample, HCC's senior executives recently asked HCC fers standard processes, but It also lets organizations director of service delivery Matt Revell for the com- customize processes when necessary. pany's employee head count and turnover trends The HCC team steering committee also found that over the last 12 months to evaluate the investments Oracle HOM Cloud offered tight security and regula- managers were making for people in HCC's sales and tory controls required to safeguard HR data, some of solutions organizations. To gather that information which is highly sensitive. For years, many companies In the past, Revell's staff had to request the data from were reluctant to adopt cloud computing, concerned managers in each HCC region and then standardize that outside service providers would not be able to the information. (This was because some defini- safeguard sensitive data as effectively as systems tions, such as those for full-time employees versus housed and managed on-site. Over time, cloud com- contingent staff, weren't consistent.) Only then could puting's reputation for reliability and security has in- HCC's U.S-based analytics group aggregate the data Creased. More firms have decided that cloud security and run the final report. Oracle HCM Cloud has con- is on par with what they could do on premises, The tralized all of HCC's HR information and uses a com- HCC steering committee was convinced that Oracle mon enterprise-wide set of definitions. Reporting is addressing the latest security threats and is doing and analytics work can be accomplished much faster everything as well as or better than the company to and more accurately. Protect employee data. The new centralized system has also made the HR Senior management approved the HR modern- department more efficient by replacing dozens of ization plan in early 2014, with the new system separate processes that had been running in various projected to go live in September 2015. The project regions with standardized practices, and enhancing leaders realized they would need to carefully manage the ability to strategically analyze employee data. For the employee experience so staffers would become example, HCG routinely reassigns hundreds of indi- comfortable with the changes created by the new viduals a year to posts outside their home countries "Mem. Both HR and IT staff directly involved with for customer engagements that require specializedHitachi Consulting Moves Human Resources to the Cloud CASE STUDY tachi Consulting Corporation is an interna- legacy HR system needed to be replaced. One top H donal management and technology consulting priority was to improve business processes for tal- firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas and a sub- ent acquisition and development so that Hitachi sidiary of Hitachi Led. based in Tokyo, Japan, Hitachi Consulting could find the right people better, faster, Consulting currently employs approximately 6,500 and cheaper. In the past, Hitachi Consulting waited people in 22 countries, including the United States. until a new position opened before actively recruit- Japan, Brazil, China, India, Portugal, Singapore, ing new talent. Its new HR function sought to cul- Spain, the UK, Germany, and Vietnam, Because the tivate relationships with top candidates, fueled by company provides consulting services, its employees employee referrals and social networks. Through are its most important resource. To succeed competi- ongoing dialogues, the HR staff could identify star tively. Hitachi Consulting must ensure that it has the talent and quickly hire these people when the time right number of employees with the right skills and was right. Hitachi hoped that the new HR system expertise wherever and whenever the need for its would reduce recruiting costs, improve candidate consulting services arise. The human resources func- experience, engagement, and retention, and expand tion is especially important in a company of this sort. recognition of Hitachi as an employer of choice. Four years ago, Hitachi Consulting decided to Another high priority was having a single system grow its business model to include turnkey and of record as the authoritative source of information custom solutions combining business best practices for all of HCC's regions with a central repository for and leading-edge technologies such as the Internet HR data. With an enterprise-wide cloud application, of Things (ToT) as well as traditional consulting HR and IT managers could centrally assign author services, Hitachi is doing this across many areas- rail rizations for data access based on roles and respons and transportation, energy, water, cities, healthcare, sibilities, while also enforcing global security and and public safety. A key success factor is to collabo- regulatory policies. HCC's workforce regularly works rate with partners, clients and other stakeholders at client sites and requires access to enterprise data across entire industries. These new offerings require and applications from tablets and smartphones, so people with appropriate talents and skills to deliver the new solution needed to provide mobile access Hitachi Consulting's new solution portfolio. The as well, which was not possible with HCC's legacy company had to recast its Human Resources depart- systems. Other goals included expanded analytics ment to operate more strategically so that it would and reporting capabilities, and a global platform to have the right human resources in place to do the streamline compensation, benefits, and absence work management. Hitachi Consulting was saddled with multiple dis- A steering committee composed of HR, business, parate local human resources systems (and in some and IT leadership evaluated various technology cases just spreadsheets) that held its valuable em- options, selecting Oracle HCM Cloud for the solu- playec data. These systems were not integrated with the company's legacy Human Resources system in tion. Oracle HCM Cloud is a cloud-based system for the United States, There was no way to easily obtain Human Capital Management (HCM), providing a sin an enterprise-wide view of the company's workforce. gle global human resources solution to maintain em- When a senior executive requested such company- ployee records, align common HR processes, attract. wide data for decision making, HR staff had to manu- develop and retain top talent, improve employee ally assemble and aggregate the necessary data. The productivity, control labor costs, and address simple process would take days. Dealing with such complex and complex employee compensation needs. There manual processes and siloed data prevented the com- are capabilities for recruiting candidates, managing pany from operating under a single source of truth." performance, developing careers, providing learning. For the company to move forward, its Human performing talent reviews, and planning successions Resources function had to be transformed and its Hitachi Consulting was growing quickly, and the flexibility of cloud computing was helpful when