Oracle updates HCM cloud with AI, LinkedIn integrations

Software giant Oracle has added artificial intelligence capabilities, a LinkedIn integration and other updates to its human capital management cloud, the company said Monday.

The system’s embedded AI HR concierge and digital assistants are voice-enabled and meant to free human resources professionals from spending time answering basic employee questions about payroll, benefits or other matters.

That feature can be especially helpful for new employees, who often have a lot of questions during onboarding, says Emily He, senior vice president of marketing, human capital management at Oracle.

“People have a lot of questions, especially when they’re going through an onboarding process,” He says. “HR staffs are simply not staffed to scale that kind of interaction.”

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The silhouette of Thomas Kurian, president of product development at Oracle Corp., is seen on stage during the Oracle OpenWorld 2016 conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. OpenWorld gathers leading members of the industry to provide insight into Oracle Cloud, customer success in the cloud, and the next wave of opportunity in the enterprise. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Employees can use the assistants to inquire about a broad range of information, from questions about benefits to the number of vacation days they have left. Employees already use digital voice assistants such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa at home, so taking the same approach at work should be second nature, He says.

The company also integrated LinkedIn into its HCM system. The integration syncs employees’ LinkedIn information with Oracle’s system, making it easier for the company to match employees with potential future roles, He explains. Along with the LinkedIn integration comes automated sourcing, candidate search, referral recommendations and recruiter system connect. Users of Oracle’s system will also have access to LinkedIn’s learning tools and online courses, she says.

“That’s going to help companies better retain employees and prolong tenure of employees,” she says.

He also highlighted the company’s new HCM experience design studio, which allows HR teams to tailor the user experience by branding the system to align with the company culture. HR and IT teams can change the web background or use a specific type of language to customize the system, she says.

“What we are doing with design studio is giving the power to HR to configure the user experience,” He says.

Along with these upgrades, Oracle has made the system mobile responsive which allows users to access the system on their desktop, tablet or mobile phone. He explained that users don’t have to download an outside application to access the HCM system on their phones. Instead, they can view it in the mobile browser.

Oracle said it will continue to invest in updating its HCM system, including investing in more AI technology. Oracle still is in the early stages of implementing AI, He says, and moving forward the company hopes to integrate it even further.

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Employee engagement Artificial intelligence HR Technology Oracle
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