Start with the end in mind.

The first step in your SAP S/4HANA implementation project – is understanding your business objectives and clearly defining expected outcomes. Your leaders have objectives – profit, market share, customer engagement, innovation, use of resources, or increased productivity –  and technology should align to support and enable that vision. Perhaps your leaders have aligned on fixing a specific weakness that will enable these goals or on innovation to accelerate success above and beyond your competitors.

Whatever the purpose of the technology engagement, leadership alignment at the outset, not only on the objectives but also on the priority and weight of each objective, guides implementation project decisions. Throughout your project, you, your technical team, and your business leaders should return to this often, especially when changes to scope are proposed, questions arise, or decisions are needed. The outcomes you all agree to should guide difficult choices and decisions that will be needed throughout your project.

A successful SAP S/4HANA implementation:

1. meets the business requirements,
2. is delivered on schedule,
3. is maintained within the allocated budget, and
4. provides a return on investment (ROI)

ROI is only achievable with an understanding of expected outcomes and clear adherence to business goals.

Define your fashion or retail industry challenge: What’s holding you back?

Many users will go into a project like an SAP S/4AHANA implementation with specific requests in mind:  “I need better reporting, so give me SAP Analytics Cloud,” for example. As a business analyst, my first question to every user was, “what is the business problem you are trying to solve?” because simply applying technology won’t solve all your challenges.

Consumer Industry experts who really understand fashion and retail processes and know SAP will be crucial to your success.  Conversations about your unique challenges – your pain points, benefits, competitors’ successes, and future vision – lead to a greater understanding when you and your consulting team are “speaking the same fashion/retail language.”

What are your fashion and retail competitors doing?

Considering your business case, project plan, and defined outcomes, it might help to look at other customer success stories. In fashion and retail especially, it pays to have a healthy understanding of your competition – including how they optimized their technology.

Success with SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and Retail

Case #1: Simplification enables the agility to support responsiveness to customers.

Goal: Achieve leadership’s aggressive growth strategy.

What held them back: A complex legal structure strangled the efficient movement of goods. The legacy ERP was unable to handle this kind of complexity.

Solution:

• The company’s complex legal structure was setup using standard out-of-the-box capability in SAP S/4HANA
• Innovation by Rizing provided a seamless and transparent process by automating the flash transfer process
• S/4HANA functionality enabled a relatively simple process for statutory reporting required for the complex legal set-up

Carhartt managed rapid growth and marketplace disruption with flexible omnichannel capabilities. Read more.

Case #2: Retail inventory audit and tracking contains expenses.

Goal:  Increase profitability and eliminate waste.

What held them back: The inability to track and trace or audit inventory discrepancies in stores resulted in differences between stores and warehouses that had to be written off.

• Significant inventory discrepancies in the retail stores
• No ability to track and trace inventory or audit inventory discrepancies in stores
• At the end of the day, inventory between the warehouse and stores would be overlayed as the new inventory – any differences would have to be written off without an audit

Solution:

• SAP’s suite of FIORI applications for store operations provided the customer with the capability to perform inventory operations in stores in real-time
• The store operations apps, along with SAP CAR (Customer Active Repository) provided the customer with the capability to have real-time visibility of inventory in the stores
• Rizing-developed enhancements enabled the capability to audit discrepancies due to over and under-deliveries from the warehouse

Maxport Improved FI month-end closing lead times with real-time logistics movements. Read their story.

Case #3: Increase customer satisfaction with real-time inventory evaluation

Goal:  Prioritize key customers and manage backorders in the proper sequence.

What held them back: Outdated ERP platform needs to provide real-time data.

Solution:

• SAP S/4HANA® out-of-the-box functionality solved supply assignments
• Rizing delivered Advanced Available to Prioritize (aATP) functionality to manage last-minute order changes and unanticipated production problems, ensuring top customers’ orders are fulfilled in priority order
• Back Order Processing (BOP) with aATP in SAP S/4HANA provided the capability to run availability checks and reconfirm the entire order book

Nice Apparel applied industry best practices across the organization with SAP S/4HANA’s digital core providing the ability to extend and expand as business requirements evolve. Read more. 

Experience matters. Get the Right Solution with the Right Fashion and Retail Industry Expertise

When it comes to what you need to make your business excel, you are the experts. You know your business best. We’re here to help you reimagine the solutions to your real-world challenges. We’ve been there in your world, we speak your language, and we’re driven to solve the smallest or most complex challenges in fashion and retail.

The post Measuring Outcomes for a Perfect Fit: SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and Retail appeared first on Rizing.

You probably wouldn’t want us to design the latest runway style. We do, however, know SAP S/4HANA for the fashion and retail industry, so let’s talk about that.

Reimagine Fashion and Retail with SAP, Rizing, and S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical is an end-to-end solution that supports companies with retail, wholesale, and manufacturing processes across the supply chain. Rizing works with you to take SAP S/4HANA from assessment through design, implementation, and post-go-live support – all with the understanding of someone who has worked in your industry because we have.

An important component of the design is establishing your digital core to support your business wherever it goes. Jumpstart your blueprint and make future development simple with a template built on best practices by fashion experts: Rizing’s Future Reference Solution. And, as a partner certified with advanced competency in SAP’s Business Technology Platform, we can help you design your solution to automate processes, integrate discrete applications, create custom user interfaces, and improve analytics and forecasting.

Imagine your brand supported by

·      Unified systems and processes

·      Accelerated innovation and time to market with the SAP Business Technology Platform

·      Flexible and dependable eCommerce that supports purchasing decisions by your target audience

·      Integrated, real-time merchandising management

·      Omnichannel shopping journeys to take the customer from online to in store

·      Promotional planning integrated across platforms

·      Competitive, intelligent pricing

·      Real-time customer and sales insights – harmonized across multi-channel customer experiences

·      A consistent brand image visible to and embraced by both customers and employees

Reassess the paradigms of your organization,
define your company to meet the future demands of a shifting economy and changing buyer behavior, and become the leader who wins in the digital era. 

Design to Optimize Resources and Outcomes

We know time is critical in fashion and retail, and – while there’s a lot that goes into the design of SAP S/4HANA – we can help accelerate your implementation timeline with the right technical resources combined with real-world experience in your industry. Our Future Reference Solution helps to design your SAP S/4HANA experience in a way that shortens timelines and minimizes risk. This is especially critical with global business plans.

Fast is good.

Risk-free is great.

But outcomes mean even more. At Rizing, we are focused on helping you win.

Carhartt Inc., an apparel brand for workwear, outdoor gear, hunting accessories, and – more recently – streetwear, achieved outcomes by minimizing custom code modifications and reducing web page loads to milliseconds. SAP S/4HANA is the foundation for future innovation and agile responses to disruption.

Getting the SAP S/4HANA Digital Core Right

SAP S/4HANA will form the digital core of your enterprise. The digital core enables your end-to-end business strategy and is the foundation that enables your organization to scale, to adopt innovative technical solutions, and to advance with real-time insights. It’s imperative to get the design right. Everything else – all of your future innovation – builds upon that. And innovation is what it takes to thrive in this rapidly-evolving digital market.

Learn how others have gone from imagination to design to build of SAP S/4HANA  in our customer case studies.

Case Study | Global Sportswear Brand Accelerates Business Transformation with SAP S/4HANA Fashion

Carhartt Implements SAP S/4HANA to Support Customer Demand

Maxport’s Digital Transformation Starts with SAP S/4HANA Fashion Manufacturing

Nice Apparel Group Transforms it Business with SAP S/4HANA Fashion Manufacturing

The post SAP S/4HANA Design for Fashion and Retail: A Mix of Imagination and Planning appeared first on Rizing.

SAP® Business Technology Platform (BTP) is the foundation for all of SAP’s latest business applications. It provides an integrated suite of capabilities to help your organization get a faster start, simplify integration and deployment, and extend the value of your SAP investments.

OK, really, what is it?

There’s a popular line of toys made up of brightly colored plastic bricks, gears, and other pieces. You can snap them together in various ways to make models of whatever you imagine.

BTP is similar for developers and advanced SAP users who want to automate a manual or incomplete process.

BTP’s 90-plus building blocks offer application functionality in five areas:

• Integration
• Application Development
• Process Automation
• Data and Analytics
• AI

Users, developers, and business process experts use the different building blocks to rapidly develop automated solutions to manual or incomplete processes.

What Makes BTP Unique?

BTP benefits users by being:

Consolidated

BTP offers a simplified user experience consistent with other SAP-based applications. SAP BTP uses existing solutions like the SAP Integration Suite.

“Integration Suite is the glue between SAP business applications, third party apps, business partners, and entities like regulators and business networks,” says Martin Stenzig, Rizing CTO. “Our customers use it for its tight integration with SAP apps and the reduced implementation effort necessary due to the quantity of pre-packaged integration content.”

Easy to Use

With low-code and no-code environments available, even users with limited development experience can use BTP to create or extend applications quickly.

BTP also speeds up development by offering out-of-the-box services, content, security, and compliance.

“SAP’s Process Automation represents a combination of workflow and bot-based automation,” says Stenzig. “At Rizing, we used it to automate internal process effort by up to 60 percent.”

Flexible

BTP is flexible both in deployment and licensing.

Companies can choose where to deploy their finished applications – on-premise, in their local cloud, or on a hyperscaler.

Companies using BTP can choose different payment options based on application consumption.

Intelligent

BTP isn’t just for low-level process automation. BTP’s 90 building blocks include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

“SAP’s AI offering allows us to host the inference of our 3D machine learning models and detect assets and anomalies in record time,” says Stenzig.

Rizing’s BTP Products

Rizing has several commercial BTP-based products, showcasing the capabilities of the platform and Rizing’s experience with it:

LMS Planner

LMS Planner is a planning and scheduling tool that integrates with SAP SuccessFactors LMS to make corporate training management and resource scheduling easier and faster.

“We saw customers experiencing challenges with planning and scheduling in the LMS field,” says Stenzig. “We developed LMS Planner using BTP and can now reduce the planning effort by up to 25% and make the overall organization more efficient.”

LMS Planner on SAP Store

LMS Planner on Rizing.com

Lyra

Lyra’s superpower is seamlessly bringing together data from disparate sources.

Migrating from one software platform to another? Lyra can help. Worried about losing history? Lyra’s got you covered.

Built on SAP BTP, Analytics Cloud, and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, Lyra aggregates legacy system data with current data sourced from SAP SuccessFactors.

Rizing includes data analytic value packs with Lyra that jump-start your heroic reporting efforts.

“SAP Analytics Cloud and Data Warehouse Cloud are the foundation for Lyra’s HCM content,” says Stenzig. “Using these components and complementing them with Rizing’s subject matter expertise distilled into content packages we provide generate benefits for the customer in record time.”

Lyra on the SAP Store

Lyra on Rizing.com

Carbon

Built on SAP BTP, Carbon integrates SAP and Primavera P6 systems to ensure project, MRP, and financial data is always up-to-date.

Using SAP ERP and Primavera 6? Stop manually updating both systems and use Carbon instead. Carbon eliminates double entry, meaning your project cost, schedule, and resource data is always up to date.

Carbon on the SAP Store

Carbon on Rizing.com

OmniSpatial

OmniSpatial is Rizing’s browser-based field and office data collection and integration tool. Using it, staff can collect geotagged images, videos, notes, and audio memos for specific assets or any map location.

Built on SAP BTP, OmniSpatial provides GPS-enabled data collection that integrates with existing Esri map and feature services.

OmniSpatial works with or without an internet connection. The tool synchronizes local data with the enterprise database when network connectivity returns.

OmniSpatial on Rizing.com

LifeCycle Pricing

Rizing’s LifeCycle Pricing helps merchants make fast, smart pricing decisions using a centralized suite of retail pricing processes.

LCP integrates into your SAP environment to read SAP master data, TLOG, price, cost, competitor, inventory, and order data. It presents the information in a simple consolidated interface.

LifeCycle Pricing on the SAP Store

LifeCycle Pricing on Rizing.com

Rizing Custom BTP Applications for Clients

Have a business need not solved by one of Rizing’s existing BTP-based solutions?

No worries. We also provide custom BTP-based application development services.

“We bring our subject matter expertise and combine it with technical expertise to help you use BTP and leverage your existing SAP investment,” says Stenzig. “BTP has functionalities that allow us to accelerate the development of custom extensions, integrations, or data and decrease the time to market.”

SAP Recognizes Rizing’s BTP Experience

Rizing was an early adopter of the SAP Business Technology Platform. SAP has recognized our knowledge and experience in two ways:

BTP Advisory Council

Rizing is a founding member of the BTP Advisory Council. We work with SAP to recommend future BTP enhancements and guide the overall development of the platform.

BTP Development Partner

Rizing is one of just 12 development partners chosen by SAP. This relationship means Rizing is often involved in advanced and aggressive BTP-based projects.

Request a BTP Demo

If this sounds like a technology that could help your business, get in touch! We can talk about how Rizing could help you leverage the power of BTP for your business.

The post SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP) – Explanation and Examples appeared first on Rizing.

To get there, HR needs (at least) three things:

1)      People with insights on how to ask the right questions. We need curious minds that begin with defining the precise problem or opportunity to be addressed and then understanding where to find the pieces to the puzzle that can tell the story.

2)      Reliable data on which to build answers. That is, you need an HR system with checks and balances to validate data and – perhaps even more importantly – accurate, clean data entry and audits that ensure accuracy and privacy.

3)      An efficient way to combine data from various platforms to create data-driven decisions. Few businesses run everything on one complete system. Even if you only need People data, that data often resides in at least three separate areas: time entry, payroll, and employee profile data.  And there are auxiliary systems for different aspects of the hire-to-retire process. The wise analyst must know how to find the needle in the haystack among these systems.

People, processes, and technology.

Despite our advances over the last seven-plus decades since HRIS systems found a footing with payroll data, we still – largely – have not conquered the People Analytics challenge. HR is often at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to prioritizing technology spending, and, too often, those investing in technology like to think of it as “once and done” – that is, “I’ll install this software solution and then I will have Analytics.”  And with the software, too often, HR doesn’t know the questions to ask or the right resources to push for the right answers.

Software developers have tried to solve for the lack of investment, knowledge, and dedication to analytics in HR by delivering a handful of “metrics” that it is believed every HR person should evaluate. But the fact is that embedded reports and standardized metrics do little to advance HR’s decision-making prowess.

Guess what? There are no quick and easy answers. You can’t install a piece of software and walk away.

The currency of growth is data. Unless we can mine the data effectively and assess it to make intelligent and even predictive decisions, we remain a transaction-based cost center in our companies. The challenge we face as HR leaders is to become evidence-based research practitioners. That means we make decisions based on hard evidence, facts, analysis, and experimental studies.

Evidence-based HR enhances our ability to align policies and practices with what works for our organization, our industry, and our locale.

People Analytics is a Journey

You know the annoying way Amazon knows exactly what you “need” and spins that up in front of you the minute you open their home page? That results from artificial intelligence (AI) enabled by machine learning (ML). It sounds magical. But Amazon didn’t get there overnight. They needed reams and reams of data – and continue to need data and analysis of data to fine-tune their recommendations and to change with changing market conditions.

We in HR need that too. That’s why understanding exactly where you are in your People Analytics maturity is so valuable. AI and ML are at the peak of analytics maturity. To get there, you need to have the right people, processes, and technology in place, all carefully orchestrated, working together, learning, and growing together.  You can’t just plug it in and play.

The software can get you part of the way there, but what you do with the software is what matters..

Take a look at your analytics maturity level and where and how you can grow. See if you qualify for your own roadmap evaluation with our People Analytics Maturity Assessment. 

The post People Analytics – Unbound appeared first on Rizing.

NEW YORK | BANGALORE, India — April 26, 2022: Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rizing Intermediate Holdings, Inc. (“Rizing”), a global SAP consulting firm, significantly expanding its breadth of capabilities in helping businesses transform into intelligent enterprises.

Rizing is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Wipro, underscoring the company’s ambitious growth agenda. Rizing’s high-touch approach, along with its industry expertise and SAP consulting capabilities in enterprise asset management, consumer industries, and human experience management, will be instrumental in advancing Wipro’s position as a sought-after advisor for clients’ most complex SAP transformations.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Rizing team to the Wipro family,” said Thierry Delaporte, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Wipro Limited. “Rizing’s complementary consulting capabilities and strong client relationships will significantly boost our existing offering, creating one of the most differentiated SAP services in the marketplace. Together, we will be able to expand our presence in high-growth industry sectors.”

Rajan Kohli, President of Wipro’s iDEAS (Integrated Digital, Engineering and Application Services) business, added, “Our clients’ digital transformation needs are rapidly evolving, and they are turning to us to help them become Intelligent enterprises. Rizing’s domain expertise, combined with our cloud and digital solutions, will allow us to help clients unlock new value and build agile businesses for a new era of digitalization.”

As one of the leading strategic partners in the world for SAP, Rizing will become a critical extension of Wipro’s SAP Cloud practice and Wipro FullStride Cloud Services. The combined offering will help clients surface unique business opportunities and new competitive advantages through SAP cloud implementations. It will also help Wipro expand its leadership in oil & gas, utilities, manufacturing, and consumer industries.

“This is the next phase of growth for Rizing. With Wipro’s backing, we will be able to enhance the value we deliver to our current clients and bring our differentiated offering to a broader universe of businesses,” said Mike Maiolo, Chief Executive Officer, Rizing. “Combining the two firms will allow us to scale our services and expand our footprint in the market. We are thrilled to join a company that shares our values and vision, enabling us to grow in new strategic areas.”

Upon completion of the acquisition, Rizing will operate as Rizing, a Wipro company, under the leadership of Maiolo.

Rizing is headquartered in Stamford, CT, and has more than 1300 employees in 16 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Rizing was previously owned by private equity firm One Equity Partners.

Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Rizing for this transaction.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close before the end of the quarter ending June 30, 2022.

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics, and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 220,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

About Rizing

It’s the experience that matters. Rizing professionals help your business succeed at any point in your SAP journey. Rizing’s objective is to empower your business to unlock the intelligent enterprise with SAP cloud technologies, our geospatial solutions, and our proprietary, cutting-edge products to optimize and extend SAP such as Blueline, Lyra, Mercury, and Hydrogen. With real-life experience in business areas like enterprise asset management, human capital management, and consumer industries, we know how to simplify your digital transformation so that your business can be everything you want it to be. From targeted small business needs to full-scale large enterprise resource planning solutions, our SAP-certified consultants are focused on your growth. For more information, please visit www.rizing.com or contact: Rizing Intermediate Holdings, Inc. at +1 (203) 517-0400, info@rizing.com.

About One Equity Partners

One Equity Partners (“OEP”) is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors in North America and Europe. The firm builds market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. OEP is a trusted partner with a differentiated investment process, a broad and senior team, and an established track record generating long-term value for its partners. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.oneequity.com.

Wipro Media Contact:

Sanuber Grohe
sanuber.grohe@wipro.com

Rizing Media Contact:

Sherryanne Meyer
Sherry.meyer@rizing.com

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipro’s beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipro’s control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipro’s growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, complete proposed corporate actions, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of  the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. The conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could decrease technology spending, adversely affect demand for our products, affect the rate of customer spending and could adversely affect our customers’ ability or willingness to purchase our offerings, delay prospective customers’ purchasing decisions, adversely impact our ability to provide on-site consulting services and our inability to deliver our customers or delay the provisioning of our offerings, all of which could adversely affect our future sales, operating results and overall financial performance. Our operations may also be negatively affected by a range of external factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

The post Wipro to Acquire Rizing to Create an SAP Consulting Powerhouse appeared first on Rizing.

The world is becoming more data-driven, though so far, data hasn’t exactly been friendly to women, as highlighted by some of the issues in the book “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez. As HR becomes more data-driven, using more data, analytics, and AI, we need greater awareness of how bias creeps into everyday life and impacts decisions made by HR.

Working with data, analytics, and AI in HR isn’t easy. Data, analytics, and data are being used in countless use cases, with more applications being developed every day. Examples of bias span the spectrum from Amazon scrapping its biased hiring algorithm to Textio helping improve gender language in job descriptions. We can’t change the world, but for HR, there is a lot we can do in our organisations to help improve the lived experience of our employees.

The challenges of getting data right

We’d like to explore the challenges of data, analytics, and AI and their impact on people. HR is using more data, analytics and technology to drive evidence-based decision-making. How will the inherent biases built into our world impact women and the gender pay gap?

In “Invisible Women”, Perez walks us through the history of the hegemonic masculine culture that we find ourselves in today. The world exists in a male default mode with exceptions made by adding modifiers: women’s football, female doctor, etc. A gendered world built on generations of women (and others) being barred from taking part in many of the critical elements of society like property ownership, access to education, the right to vote, and even protection from domestic violence impacts the data we have today.

Data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (including machine learning) are being deployed to help HR in various ways. Research in 2018 found over 75 use cases of AI in HR across all domains. This number grows daily with new applications being developed by vendors and in-house by organisations. Concerns for bias in HR, particularly with recruitment, succession planning, and promotions, existed before using data, analytics, and AI. As we use data to automate processes and decision making, we have to be aware that the data on which we are basing our work processes may be flawed by biased data. How can HR use advanced data techniques to improve outcomes and not amplify past mistakes?

Artificial Intelligence to Break the Bias

If we look at the use of AI in HR, we can see two ends of the spectrum with AI. On one side, we have issues like Amazon’s biased hiring algorithm and a plethora of examples of ageist, racist, and other biased systems. These are being discovered not just in HR, but as Cathy O’Neil highlights in her book “Weapons of Maths Destruction” (and the Netflix film “Coded Bias”), these troublesome algorithms are being deployed in all areas of life. They affect students’ grades, who sees which job advertisements, and many other examples that we know about and ones not yet discovered in this under-regulated industry.

On the other hand, there are products like Textio, a product that helps recruiters develop gender-neutral job descriptions. The product started with improving the language in job descriptions and has grown into a unique analytical tool.

In testing the product across several industries and levels of job descriptions, it quickly becomes apparent how much gender language is related to different jobs. Executive job descriptions weighed in as heavily masculine on average, and on the flip side, administrative roles weighed in as heavily feminine. The results emphasise Perez’s argument in her book about the underlying issues women face with the inherently masculine language used for senior leadership roles.

However, changing the language of a job description is just part of the battle. Once in the talent pipeline, women face other challenges. HR can use analytics to highlight the stages that women struggle with by identifying dropout rates at different stages of the recruitment pipeline and understanding why these dropouts are happening.

These examples highlight the issues women face getting in the door; however, the problems continue even when working in leadership roles.

Challenge #1: KPIs

One of the challenges research has found is that women are still not trusted in leadership roles. And, with the wonderful world of Zoom that grew due to the pandemic, we have recordings of every sexism that women face at work, as many of us related to Jackie Weaver’s frustrating experience in running a local government meeting while being belittled. These challenges play out in the world we live in, are captured inadvertently in our data, and can easily be repeated by algorithms we deploy when using historical data and KPIs.

When talking with researcher Jack Daly, whose PhD work examines the hegemonic male default and its impact on the gender pay gap in British based firms, about the effects of data, analytical, and AI on women in the workplace, he wasn’t surprised. He said it isn’t only an issue with using past data but also using measures and KPIs designed at a different time and from a different perspective.

Daly says when looking at hiring or promotion KPI, for example, it’s not always about the results but about how people go about getting the results. For example, what’s the impact of focusing on billable hours instead of developing technical skills? What behaviours are related to achieving the different measures? For HR, there is an important lesson to learn here; if we want to see the changes we talk about, we need to think about the measures we are using and what behaviours they are driving. Do more billable hours mean more late nights in the office, or does client engagement mean more time spent in after-hours social situations? What are the behaviours that KPIs are driving at your organisation?

Organisations use KPI and policies that were developed at a different time and are part of the reason for the challenges today. KPIs used for promotions, for example, could drive behaviours that were beneficial to the firm 10, 20, or 40 years ago. Instead, we need to think about what skills and behaviours are needed today or ten years from now. For example, working independently was highly valued a few years ago, but effective collaboration skills are much more valuable today and in the future. Not only are the in-demand skills changing, but often there were many assumptions and a lack of research when the original KPIs were developed.

Challenge #2: Employee Listening

The next challenge Daly points out is that many organisations don’t really know what their employees need or have insights into their daily lived experiences at work. Many organisations don’t really know what diverse employees want. Though they may collect and analyse data from surveys and other qualitative data, a lot of assumptions are made by most firms. Or worse, organisations rely on generic research into the topic, trying to apply generalised findings to help with the specific challenges at their organisation.

Daly points out that it’s important to ask your employees the right questions and think about what they need to be successful. This is particularly important for leadership development in diverse populations, solutions need to be customised to your employees’ specific needs.

Focusing on the positive nature of Perez’s overall argument, she argues that there is an opportunity to change the world around us. And, as HR and HR analytical professionals, we have a massive opportunity to make major changes in our own organisation, improving our business outcomes and the lived experience of our employees.

How HR and HR analytics leaders can break the bias

Returning to a question we raised earlier in this article, how can HR use advanced data techniques to improve outcomes and not amplify past mistakes? Here are three places to start to break the bias in the data we are using to make decisions.

1) Policies and KPIs:

The first thing that HR and analytics leaders should do is review their policies and KPIs for activities such as hiring, promoting, succession planning, and salaries.

Daly tells us that we cannot expect a different outcome of workplace diversity in a structure and system that created the inequalities in the first place.

• Policies should be reviewed for their impact on different employee groups, thinking about the behaviours that they drive
• KPIs, particularly those used for hiring and promoting, should be reviewed and balanced with skills and behaviour-based KPIs

2) Diagnostic Analytics:

Use diagnostic analytics to investigate the lived experience of people in your organisation. Many organisations make assumptions about what employees need.

By using diagnostic analytical techniques, the lived experience of employees can be understood, and programmes can be developed to support their individual needs.

• Use interviews, surveys, focus groups, and other qualitative techniques to collect the lived stories and voices of employees
• Develop policies and programmes that meet their needs or are flexible enough to meet individual needs; this is particularly true of women working to gain leadership roles or are in leadership roles

3) Real Resources:

Not just talking the talk but putting time and resources into making things happen! Research has found that senior leadership often talks about diversity or improvements but is disconnected from what’s really going on. Organisations can make meaningful changes by first listening and then dedicating real resources to improve policies and programmes.

Megan Butler is a researcher and ethics advocate in the application of AI in HR and the future of work. As Rizing’s Future of Work Strategist, she is actively focused on enabling our clients to define the next generation of digital HR and HR analytics best practices using evidence and experience.

The post Breaking the Bias: Let’s start with data, analytics, AI and the role of HR appeared first on Rizing.

In my 20s, my career was my identity in many ways – I spent more time at work than I did at home – spent more time with my work colleagues than I did with my husband. It was the heyday of Silicon Valley – start-ups were popping up overnight, stock options were thrown at you as one of many incentives to join a company; free food, chair massages, huge parties, and a constant go, go, go environment were the expectations of life in the Bay Area in the 90s and early 2000s. 

Then came the realization that my husband and I wanted kids, a home to fit a growing family, and one of us at home to care for those kiddos until school took over. When our first daughter came along, I shockingly and with great difficulty left my job – my career – to be a stay-at-home mom (SHM). 

When our second daughter was around two and the older was four, we began looking at pre-schools. By that time, our older daughter was reading voraciously. The schools we interviewed were only going to be teaching the little ones colors and letters, things my daughter was way past knowing. I had just read an article on homeschooling and the positive effects of keeping your children at home, and I tentatively approached my husband about this possibly being the solution to our dilemma. 

Even though both my husband and I were traditionally schooled, we embarked on this new path, deciding to homeschool our girls, vowing that we would take it one week at a time.  I figured that even if I screw them up terribly, I can always pop them in school, and they wouldn’t be too damaged! 

Twelve years flew by. I had taken my two girls through their formative early years; mummifying chickens, keeping nature journals, diligently practicing our cursive, and having poetry teas every week (reading our favorite poems while sipping hot chocolate and eating our fresh banana bread). Through the middle school years, we studied the Industrial Revolution, building mannequins in full gowns and wigs. We studied the aristocracy before the French Revolution of the 1790s. And we traversed through high school, where the hard sciences, advanced mathematics, and more philosophical discussions came in.  I loved so many moments of this time – forging a real bond with my girls, learning anew with them, being there for so many moments that I would have missed had they been in a traditional school setting. 

By the time my older daughter was in 10th grade, she decided she wanted to go to a more traditional school to experience school dances, clubs, theater class, and even prom. We found a school specially designed for homeschoolers – instruction for two days and homework for three days each week. This setting and schedule worked well to prepare the students for college. Two years later, my younger daughter started there as a freshman.  

And that’s when I realized, with my husband’s help, that my time as a homeschooling SHM had come to an end.  

I won’t lie and say I was excited. Being a mom and a homeschooler had become my new identity, my LIFE for over a decade – leaving it and starting a job outside the home was absolutely terrifying. And the identity I had carved out after leaving my “career” outside the home, the one that I thought would be so hard to recreate, was now what I didn’t want to lose.  

Now looking back, after four years back in the corporate world, with my older daughter at Baylor University in Waco, TX and the second one about to graduate high school and head to Texas State, I have realized that my role in a particular moment in my life does not define me, or my identity.  

I have come to maybe not wholly embrace the changes that life throws at me, but at least try to lean into them a bit more. I am grateful for the strength I gained by homeschooling my daughters for over a decade and for buffering that decade with substantial work experience on both ends.  

Who knows what’s in store for me in the coming years, but as a somewhat newly minted career woman, with a lifetime of amazing memories with my daughters, I am ready for what’s next.  

To learn more about this year’s IWD21 campaign, #ChoosetoChallenge, visit internationalwomensday.com. 

About the Author

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Rizing’s International Women’s Day 2021 Series:

• Choosing Change – Understanding our biases, challenging our beliefs, and creating new norms for women in technology – by Kimberly I Sharp
• On Hearing Each Other: Pause, Relate, Understand and be Authentic by Sherryanne Meyer
• Inspiration, Growing up in Ireland by Joanna Murphy
• A Seat at the Table by Donna Hahn
• I Choose to Challenge Corporations by Adam Greenberg
• The Challenge of Being a Challenger by Hannah Hale
• Adventures of a Homeschooling Mom by Anca Green

The post International Women’s Day: Adventures of a Homeschooling Mom and My Return to a Career appeared first on Rizing.

Bitcoin and its underlying technology, Blockchain, have incited a modern-day gold rush leaving people intrigued, confused, skeptical… and some very rich.

Both Bitcoin and Blockchain are revolutionary innovations that many believe will change how business is executed within finance, education, health, medicine, supply chain, real estate, and many more industries. It’s believed they’ll alter how we organize governments and economies.

Let us start by demystifying Blockchain and Bitcoin.

Blockchain:

• Blockchain is a secure ledger that stores value.
• It is maintained by a decentralized network of computers called miners and nodes, unlike the internet, where data can be altered, copied, and stolen.
• The concept of blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology (DLT). The DLT concept gives organizations and individuals the ability to work without depending on a centralized entity or government where once information is on the blockchain, this information is immutable.
• Blockchain and the internet use cryptography to secure sensitive data over the web, such as credit card purchases. Similar cryptographic technology is used by Bitcoin hence the term cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin:

• Bitcoin is one of several types of cryptocurrency. It is a decentralized, digital asset kept in check and secured through the process of miners and nodes.
• Bitcoin operates completely outside of the traditional banking system and is not controlled by any one person or government.

No one knows who created Bitcoin. It was first registered anonymously in August 2008 under the bitcoin.org domain name.

In October 2008, a coder going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper describing bitcoin’s workings. Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to be a fictional name created to maintain the identity of the inventor.

There are a few theories on who may have created Bitcoin, but none have been validated.

The Crypto Ecosystem

The Crypto Ecosystem is broken down into three sub-categories:

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and others are a fully transparent platform for storing and moving digital value.

Crypto Protocols

Crypto protocols are the foundation for data communication. An example is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”).

There are crypto protocols like COSMOS that allow the movement of value or information from one blockchain to another.

So, if JP Morgan needs to transfer a billion dollars to Goldman Sachs, each firm will have its own blockchain, and COSMOS will connect the blockchain and act as a toll bridge, earning a fee for each transfer.

Crypto Enterprises

Crypto Enterprises are businesses created on blockchain technology.

Individuals and organizations are on a level playing field due to the decentralization network and the immutability of value and information.

For example, the DeFi (decentralized Finance Market) is exploding. The DeFi market is moving the entire banking system on blockchain.

Sites like BlockFi.com allow the consumer to deposit money in the form of crypto, earn a high return rate of 8%, and even borrow against their bitcoin without selling it, hence not creating a tax issue.

These sites are close to issuing credit cards and are paying rewards back to the consumer in Bitcoin. The movement of money, whether to and from an institution or individual anywhere in the world, will take seconds instead of days.

Appeal of Bitcoin

So, what is the appeal of Bitcoin?

First, there is a set amount of Bitcoin available, distinguishing it from fiat currency. Because Bitcoin has no central authority, it is protected from inflation and negative interest rates. It’s designed to become more valuable over time because of its limited supply.

Here is a practical example: In the first quarter of 2020, Bitcoin’s value ranged between $3800 to $7500. In February 2021, Bitcoin’s value went as high as $58,367. However, 7 days into March and it is at $52,000.

Because of its volatile price, Bitcoin is not as widely used as a peer-to-peer exchange.

Bitcoin as Store of Value

As a result, Bitcoin is starting to be seen as a store-of-value, such as gold.

If you own gold, you don’t use it to buy groceries. Nevertheless, Bitcoin is widely used in many countries where access to banks or the banking system is impossible.

Kiosks are even showing up at filling stations and Walmart, where you can purchase crypto increments.

PayPal account holders are currently allowed to purchase Bitcoin and some stores accept it as payment.

In the U.S., Goldman Sachs may pursue a Bitcoin ETF, while Canada is about to launch its third ETF for Bitcoin. An Ethereum ETF is also in the pipeline to be approved.

Other Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin is only one of many types of cryptocurrencies, each holding its own value and purpose. Examples of cryptocurrencies include Ethereum, COSMOS, Polygon, Ripple, Frontier, Quantum Resistance Ledger, Stablecoin, and many more.

Some are more established than others, with several new ones springing up to support other blockchain innovations.

Learn More

• Ethereum – Smart contracts blockchain – (types of enterprise and protocol blockchains).
• Six obstacles preventing consumers from using cryptocurrency everywhere.

The post Demystifying Bitcoin and Blockchain appeared first on Rizing.

What does choosing to challenge mean to me? It starts with education, empathy, and action.

And sometimes, it’s uncomfortable to talk about.

I come from a long background of activism – beginning with my mother taking me to war protests as a three-year-old. The idea that we are all accountable for the actions of the organizations we subscribe to is deeply engrained in me – even if I did not quite understand the political or economic climate as a toddler. This is me – at age 3 outside of Sydney’s Town Hall marching for peace.

As an impressionable youngster, the infamous story of Australian sailor, Terry Jones, who challenged the military in support of his own values is one I often recall. He was placed on trial for being absent without leave when protesting Australia’s participation in a war. On the one side, he was a traitor, on the other an activist challenged by his beliefs. I learned early that choosing to challenge can be difficult.

How do we challenge our institutions and ongoingly assess that our values are aligned?

Now, as a reasonably well-educated person who is engaged enough in politics and social issues, I feel accountable for finding ways to participate and drive conversations that can bring awareness and change on important issues. Personally, I am a vegan environmental conservationist and humanitarian who is an active supporter of Indigenous rights, and a member of the Refugee Action Collation Sydney (RAC). Professionally, I am a strong female voice that is proud to dedicate my time to the adoption of award-winning solutions that facilitate workplace diversity and inclusion, and help organisations in asset and emission heavy industries such as Mining, Utilities, and Manufacturing operate more efficiently, reducing their environmental impact.

I have maintained my passion for rallying to drive awareness of violations of human rights, including those perpetrated against woman and children… I’ve protested wars, marched the Sydney Harbor Bridge for Reconciliation and Recognition of title and rights for Indigenous Australians, supported teachers on strike due to underfunding of government schools and overinvestment of Religious and Privet education, protested Australia’s environmental destruction for short term financial gain… amongst other causes.

I will admit I wasn’t always completely altruistic. As a mere child, I fought to “Bring the fritters home!” (instead of frigates) – an honest error since fried banana fritters with cinnamon sugar were a rare and coveted treat in my household. As a 14-year old I set out to protest the government defunding of a popular Indigenous Youth broadcasting network. I wore my best baby pink hipster corduroy jeans – because, after all, youth were there. Teenage boys had fabricated a petition just to get the phone number of cute girls. I was not called.

That time in my life also made me very aware of the special challenges women face in being present and participative in events, education, and activities. I unexpectantly and embarrassingly got my period which leaked through those baby pink hipster corduroy jeans. I carried on. But soon I realized I was the lucky one with access to sanitary practices and products.

I experienced first-hand the impact of menstruation on young woman’s education when in my early career, (becoming more introspective) I challenged myself to try and use my business and communication skills for ‘good, not evil’, quitting my promising career as Marketing Manager to go to South America to volunteer with a UN Development Project in Chile, supporting an English literacy program for their Ministry of Education. It was while in my high school placement within the coastal mining town of Antofagasta that it became blatantly obvious that female attendance rates were invariably impacted by their menstrual cycle. The stigma around tampon use and the need to brave 45+ Celsius degree days in unairconditioned classrooms meant that it was normalised for girls to say home for a week out of every month; thus best case were receiving 25% less education than their male counterparts, and worst-case contributing to the town’s high rates of school incompletion, teen pregnancy, and transgenerational poverty.

Globally 1/3 women will experience domestic violence and the chances of victimisation are increased with lack of education.

This is not just a second or third-world issue. A recent investigation reported ‘period poverty’ in Australia where there is evidence of teachers personally donating products, and girls using rolled toilet paper or socks to control their menstruation. Additionally, a US study conducted in 2017 found that one in five American girls aged 16 – 24 have either left school early or missed school entirely because they did not have access to period products. Scotland and New Zealand have both made tampons and pads free in schools in a bid to tackle this problem.

Lack of resources, information, and communication about menstruation can have a powerful ripple effect, leading women and girls to be subjected to stigma, discrimination, violence, or even have food, water, shelter, and other shared goods be withheld from them. As if the practicalities weren’t enough, taboos, cultural norms, and the lack of education around menstruation can contribute to higher school dropout rates, and, in turn, greater likelihood of early marriage and/or early pregnancy, and a transgenerational cycle of poverty.

Suffice to say, when discussing gender inequality, menstruation matters.

While this is just one small example of the distinction in the female experience… my point is simple here.  Whether we are discussing Refugees, Indigenous and ‘Black’ rights, or gender inequality …we must be responsible for seeking to better understand the causes of inequality, with empathy and perspective before we are truly able to come together to address the symptoms.  Calling out and addressing the symptoms is important, but we are truly wanting to drive diversity and inclusion, our homes and workplaces must become safer places for people to openly communicate about uncomfortable or taboo topics.

Only with education and empathy we can truly action change.

About the Author

Hannah Hale is the Marketing Director for Rizing’s Asia Pacific region. A graduate of Charles Sturt University, Hannah has worked in Marketing for several major corporations and volunteered her services to the United Nations for six months before joining Rizing. She is joined in her activist events these days by her dog, Bowie.

Rizing’s International Women’s Day 2021 Series:

• Choosing Change – Understanding our biases, challenging our beliefs, and creating new norms for women in technology by Kimberly I Sharp
• On Hearing Each Other: Pause, Relate, Understand and be Authentic by Sherryanne Meyer
• Inspiration, Growing up in Ireland by Joanna Murphy
• A Seat at the Table by Donna Hahn
• I Choose to Challenge Corporations by Adam Greenberg
• The Challenge of Being a Challenger by Hannah Hale
• Adventures of a Homeschooling Mom by Anca Green

The post International Women’s Day: The Challenge of Being a Challenger appeared first on Rizing.

#ChoosetoChallenge – Do you accept? 

My Story

In 2014 Hurricane Odile, recorded as the most intense landfalling tropical cyclone, devastated much of the coast along Mexico’s southern Baja.  Massive infrastructure was destroyed including airports, resorts, and roads.

I have a winter home in this area. It was miraculously left unscathed. An orphanage to which I had donated in the past did not fare as well; it was quite devasted. Thankfully, none of the children living there were injured, but they were clearly traumatized. One adult woman who volunteered there told me through tear-filled eyes how she felt like a mama chicken protecting her brood under her wings as she huddled with the children under a strong metal table in the boy’s dormitory to ride out the storm.

This is a volunteer-run facility for children who have been abandoned by their parents due to struggles with addiction, violence, and poverty; there is no government funding, and they were in a crisis- situation.

My first thought upon reflecting on the gravity of the situation was that someone should do something.  I showed the photos to my wife and said those exact words to her. Her response literally changed the trajectory of my life. “Everyone is always ‘should-ing’ on everyone else. Why don’t you do something?  Why don’t we do something together?” This was her #choosetochallenge to me.

Taking Action

In the months that followed, we campaigned in earnest. The funds necessary to rebuild were raised and construction began. I took an active role as volunteer director of the facility and accepted responsibility for financial sustainment.

Years later, I was approached by a woman who is a semi-retired attorney from California.  She had been following my work and wanted to help create some structure to help with these efforts.  She offered to help establish a formal non-profit organization pro bono. Together we formed the non-profit organization, LEADERS2GIVE INC., a California-based 501(c)3 organization.

My first step was to recruit a Board of Directors. I was joined by, Tracey Greenberg, Deb Lawson, Beth Cartlidge, and Phyllis Newton, the attorney who had approached me. These four incredible women and I set out on a mission to:

“inspire, teach & empower others to become leaders who possess the skills required to solve the problems facing society by providing an opportunity to convert ideas into action through hands on work in developing communities…” 

In other words, we #choose2challenge individuals to step up in a bigger way.

I also run another non-profit business, LEADERS2INSPIRE which I founded with two women. We #choosetochallenge corporations. Recently, we wrote a white paper entitled Corporate Social Transformation — A Better Way of Operating. The premise is that corporations have an opportunity to lead a transformation in our global society to assist their workers, communities, and consumers, to reach their full potential.

I’d like to highlight how the guidance contained within can be used to specifically support all women as we consider why we celebrate International Woman’s Day and how we want to contribute.

Set Your ‘North Star’

Corporations need to be very clear on the goals, mission, and vision of their organization. Everyone needs to be aligned so they will be able to help realise that vision. Consider adding a clause about gender equality as part of your organization’s mission.

Improve Lives

Pause before considering any transformation in your company and ask yourself and your team whether that change will ultimately be improving lives. Let us be certain, for example, that our changes are supporting gender equality for our employees, customers, and all stakeholders. If corporations adopt the tenant that transformation is only worthwhile if you are improving lives then they will employ and attract the next generation of leaders while having the strongest, most loyal workforce and customer base.

Understand the Transformation Process

When a leader in any organization wants to make a change, it’s important to understand and support the process their colleagues and teams need to experience to decide if the proposed change really is an improvement. This adopted process will then not only be accepted but will help to drive the change.

Consider Employee and Customer Experience

When looking to better your business outcomes, calculate your employee and customer experience levels through surveys. When combing through responses, look for red flags that could have gender inequality at their core. Include specific questions that could potentially highlight any gender inequality. Ensure that experience data is used to improve operations.

Create New Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

Traditionally, businesses have been primarily focused on financial KPIs. In other words, a business is deemed healthy based upon financial metrics. In most corporations today, there is far less value placed on other metrics such as employee satisfaction, wellbeing, consumer net promoter scores, customer loyalty, and contributions to the community. We recommend picking new KPIs that make the above topics a priority. A KPI that supports gender equality could be, “What percentage of leadership positions are held by women in our organization?”

Stand up for Gender Equality

On this International Women’s Day, I #choosetochallenge you just as my wife challenged me after the orphanage had been devastated –

“Everyone is always ‘should-ing’ on everyone else. Why don’t you do something?  Why don’t we do something together” to stand up for gender equality?

I believe organizations that could follow the guidance offered above will be leading the transformation in our global society to assist their people, teams, and communities to reach their full potential.

They will then be able to attract/retain the best talent, creating the most innovative products and services resulting in a desirable brand that yields better business outcomes. These businesses will also attract the consumers who are increasingly demanding social responsibility from the retailers they choose to shop at and refer products and services from.

Do you accept?

About the Author

Adam Greenberg is Vice President, Business Development Program in Rizing’s Sales organization. His expertise includes helping companies improve execution, increase engagement and drive performance to achieve superior business results through a collaborative approach. In his work, he is focused on unifying corporate social responsibility, talent development, and branding for improved financial performance. He is the Founder and CEO of Leaders2Give and Co-Founder and President of Leaders2Inspire.

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Rizing’s International Women’s Day 2021 Series:

• Choosing Change – Understanding our biases, challenging our beliefs, and creating new norms for women in technology – by Kimberly I Sharp
• On Hearing Each Other: Pause, Relate, Understand and be Authentic by Sherryanne Meyer
• Inspiration, Growing up in Ireland by Joanna Murphy
• A Seat at the Table by Donna Hahn
• I Choose to Challenge Corporations by Adam Greenberg
• The Challenge of Being a Challenger by Hannah Hale
• Adventures of a Homeschooling Mom by Anca Green

The post International Women’s Day: I Choose to Challenge Corporations appeared first on Rizing.