Introducing…. These are the nominees for the first HR Technology Awards: Oracle Grow
The HR Technology Awards will be presented for the very first time on 19 September 2023. The independent professional jury announced the six nominees last week, divided into two categories. Workday Peakon Employee Voice, UKG and Oracle Cloud HCM are still in the race to win the award for Best HR Technology Product Innovation of the Year. The Best Next Generation HR Technology (focused on scale-ups) will go to either Crunchr, Fanployer or WELDER. This week, we will introduce the nominees to you. In this article, Randy Lens, Solution Consulting Leader Cloud Applications Benelux, tells you all about Oracle Grow.
Can you start by briefly introducing yourself to us?
“I am Randy Lens, Solution Consulting Manager for the HCM applications for Oracle in the Benelux. I’ve worked at Oracle for 8.5 years and I manage a team of functional and technical consultants of our HCM solutions. I am often asked: ‘What do Solution Consultants actually do?’ These are the people with substantive HR knowledge who accompany our salespeople during a sales process. I have worked in the field of HR for 25 years. I once started out as an implementation consultant of HR and Payroll systems with PeopleSoft. I also worked at LogicaCMG and Unilever and have also worked as HR Directeur for an IT startup. Before I came to Oracle, I worked for five years at TU Delft as an HRIT manager.”
Randy Lens, Solution Consulting Manager for the HCM applications for Oracle
Can you tell us more about your company and the product?
“Oracle is a data management company that offers a wide range of solutions, from infrastructure and platform services to complete SaaS solutions. We are currently the fastest growing cloud company in the world. Our goal, in terms of HR, is that the employee should be central. So, everything our solution offers must work for that employee. That’s how we started, and we have gradually expanded it into a fully Mobile Responsive HR solution. If you look at where we are today, at the innovation we have achieved, we are a strategic HR solution and the only one in the world that works from one data model.”
“We are participating in this award show with our product Oracle Grow. This offers an unparalleled user experience to the employee, who can find all the information pertaining to his/her career development in one place, so that they can continue to grow as best they can. The innovative thing about it is that it is supported by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes suggestions that can help you as an employee to excel in your current and/or future position.”
Why did you choose to take part in the HR Technology Awards?
“Oracle Grow has already won a great prize with the HR Executive Award, as the most innovative product of 2023 for learning and skill development in the United States. That left me wanting more. To be honest, I was quite surprised that this kind of award did not yet exist in the Netherlands. Belgium has had an independent award show for some time already. It’s good that SuccessDay’s Bas Eggelaar has taken the initiative here. We have known him for a while, because the HRIT world in the Netherlands is small. He drew our attention to the independent award show, but we were also made aware of it through Finance on a Mission & HR on a Mission.”
What makes you unique?
“I think we have a good and serious chance of winning the prize, based on the strength of what Oracle Grow does. If you look at the market, it really stands out. Especially in the way we use AI and machine learning. The most important thing is that the employee is served in the best possible way. At first glance, they can clearly see: this is where I am, and this is where I want to be or could be. Our solution gives suggestions for future skills, learning possibilities, useful colleagues you could talk to or ask to mentor you in your personal development. It provides a transparent view of the future, with obvious routes as well as less obvious possibilities that you may not have considered before. This fills a gap and provides a service that no other HRIT solution has been able to do, including those of our competitors.”
Why do you think you have been nominated?
“Two weeks ago, in our video presentation, we tried to clearly explain exactly what Oracle Grow does. Then came the pitch at Nyenrode. I think we made it to the final three because we are the most innovative in terms of learning. And this involves both deepening and broadening your skills.”
What are you expecting from the award show?
“Of course, we didn’t see the other pitches, that’s not possible. On the other hand, we don’t want to be so sure of ourselves as to think we’re going to win. But I do think that we stand a good chance. It’s a great recognition for everyone taking part, for the nominees and of course for the winner. But above all, this is an award for all our customers. Our roadmap with new functionality is 80 per cent determined by input from our clients. Not only are we very proud of our solutions, but also of how these solutions have been created together with our clients.”
About the HR Technology Awards
As no independent awards have yet been presented for HR technology in the Netherlands, Bas Eggelaar, founder of SuccessDay, decided it was high time to make it happen. Several partners soon joined the event.
The jury of the HR Technology Awards consists of chairman Anne Jaakke (HR Changemaker) Louis Luijten (Diverse Board positions & Alumni CIO ASML) Rolf Jorna (Alumni Head of Group HR Action), Derk Jan Koole (Business Leader Career at Mercer), Helen Richardson (CHRO at Renewi), Erwin Hoogeveen (CHRO Fugro) and Pascale Peters (Professor of Strategic Human Resource Management at Nyenrode Business University).
The Award show will take place on 19 September in De Kazerne in Brainport, the heart of European innovation. Around 100 CHROs, CIOs, HR and IT directors have already signed up for THE networking event in the field of HR Technology. As well as the aforementioned categories, an award will also be presented for the Best HR Transformation using Technology.
