At Oracles first-ever HCM World conference, the technology company demonstrated its commitment to human resources customers, explaining its strategy for Modern HR in the Cloud, which is focused on meeting the needs of employees in a large, dispersed workforce. The conference was insightful both intellectually and practically in its discussions of how workforces are changing. Oracle also showed its commitment by having both President Mark Hurd and CEO Larry Ellison present keynotes. This was the first time both have addressed a conference other than the flagship Oracle OpenWorld. It is worth watching the replays of their talks, which reveal the companys motivation and investment in human capital management (HCM). In developing its HCM products Oracle has in mind multigenerational workforces that require software that is adaptable to people, competencies and new technologies such as mobile devices and social collaboration and recognizes the imperative to access workforce information and analytics immediately. The rebranded Oracle HCM Cloud Service has gained significant momentum, as my colleague Stephan Millard pointed out in his recent analysis of Oracles HCM portfolio. Taking a global approach it supports users in 196 countries, 34 languages and multiple currencies and operates entirely in a cloud environment.
Also at HCM World Oracle demonstrated its efforts in the new area of wearable computing. This presents mobile technology as part of clothing or attached in other ways to the users body. Through Bluetooth or WiFi these new technologies can transmit information bidirectionally from the device to the cloud or smartphones. For example, addressing the area of employee wellness, Oracle gave all attendees a free Fitbit tracking device so they can measure their exercise through walking and see how this works with Oracles software. Presenters at the conference demonstrated how this information is transmitted from a wearable device to a central cloud application and can be accessed and integrated to HCM for promoting wellness in an organization. Wearable computing has the potential to be used for a range of information recording and notifications that employees agree to allow or employers require, and the technology is now available at retail outlets like Best Buy in the United States. Even technology like Google glass are part of the wearable computing technology market. Oracles work with wearable computing is another part of its commitment to HCM.
