How harmonised data helps build a resilient, future-ready workforce

From the boardroom to the break room, workforce strategy is under scrutiny. Leaders want more intelligent recruitment practices. Employees want to develop their skills with purpose and meaning. And everyone wants clarity on how people, performance, and potential connect to business outcomes.

However, even the best HR teams are still working with fragmented systems, siloed analytics, and a patchwork of reports. When every decision from recruiting to retention and reskilling depends on clean, contextual data, gaps in the flow of workforce intelligence can create friction and missed opportunities.

That's why HR leaders at all levels demand harmonised data and AI-driven insight to shift their people strategy into sharper focus. And now, with SAP Business Data Cloud Intelligent Applications, they can.

Making data work for people, not the other way round

Harmonised data is becoming an essential lever for strategic HR decision-making. When human capital management systems are unified on a business-aware foundation, leaders are better equipped to connect the dots between workforce insights and business outcomes—at greater speed and scale.

This clarity enables HR leaders to lead with insight instead of intuition. Take workforce composition, for example. A real-time view of roles, locations, and organisational structure eases the ability to evaluate internal mobility, identify leadership gaps, and help ensure talent is placed where it can drive the most value. These insights inform organisation design, support diversity and inclusion efforts, and foster a culture of transparency and trust.

Compensation analysis becomes more actionable, too. With visibility into average salaries and comparison ratios by role, grade, and geography, leaders can identify outliers and uncover pay disparities. Doing so allows businesses to take swift, data-backed steps towards pay equity, which is critical for attracting and retaining top talent in a competitive market.

And when it comes to skills, intelligent applications provide the transparency to match workforce capabilities with evolving business needs. By identifying skill gaps at the role level and tracking shifts in proficiency, HR leaders can better target learning investments, support career growth, and build a workforce ready for what’s next.

In real-world practice, these capabilities of intelligent applications empower HR teams to:

• See where the talent strategy is working—and where it's not—by evaluating pay fairness, internal mobility, and workforce trends as they happen
• Identify and address skills gaps early by mapping workforce expertise with the capabilities the business actually needs now and in the future
• Monitor the impact of learning by understanding how training relates to retention and performance
• Streamline recruitment processes to uncover sourcing issues, improve time-to-fill metrics, and bring more clarity to the recruitment pipeline
• Develop future leaders with predictive analytics that identify high-potential employees and guide their development

Harmonised data gives HR leaders the power to spend less time stitching together reports and more time driving transformation. More importantly, it provides the knowledge to move from reactive support to proactive strategy, so employees can grow, teams can thrive, and the business can lead with confidence.

No better moment to get started

Workforce transformation isn't on the horizon—it's already underway. But for many HR teams, getting the data right is half the struggle. With disconnected systems, inconsistent definitions, and manual processes, building a clear picture of the workforce can seem impossible.

By using the people analytics in SAP Business Data Cloud Intelligent Applications, HR leaders and analysts gain the clarity they’ve been missing all along. Rather than piecing together reports from isolated sources, they have a unified view of workforce data enriched with AI-driven insights—ready to be explored, shared, and acted upon.

Join me and IDC analyst Zachary Chertok for a webinar on 17 September 2025, where we explore the latest trends shaping the future of talent and showcase new innovations designed to help you attract, grow, and retain your workforce.