RACONTEUR.

NET 17
Commercial feature

Q&A
A question of teaching digital HR
The Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) is the world’s leading provider
of tuition in people analytics and digital human resources

he AIHR founders Nando What sets you apart

T Steenhuis and Erik van Vulpen from the rest?
were both 25 years old when I think the attraction of our
they started the company three years content and courses is their
ago, so they are digital natives them- depth and practicality. No one is cov-
selves. They now reach more than ering topics like the future of work,
200,000 HR professionals around the digital HR strategy and people ana-
world every month and educate them lytics in so much detail, making it
on digital and data. Mr van Vulpen so practical, while also making it so
answers questions about the skills gap accessible. Our courses teach HR
in HR and what action organisations can practitioners skills they can apply
take to fix it. at work the next day. We do this by
working with the best subject matter
Is there a skills gap in HR? experts from all over the world. They
Absolutely. Earlier this week I are practitioners themselves, so they
was in a call with an HR direc- know the ropes. Also, we are digi-
tor who has a staff of 550 people of tal natives and believe in the power
which twenty have technical skills. He of technology to change the lives of
needs to quadruple this to at least 80 employees. Our customers like us
people with technical skills in the next because we provide high-quality,
two years. That is pretty typical. Over innovative and practical education.
time the need for HR professionals to Do you want to learn digital skills and
have technical skills will keep growing. the future of work from an old corpo-
Many companies will struggle to find rate dinosaur or from digital natives?
the people they need. Obviously the latter. That’s how we’ve
been able to grow so quickly.
How can you help solve a full-time equivalent [hours worked by and the Middle East too. We now have Do students miss
this problem? How important is one employee on a full-time basis] to learners in more than 60 countries. classroom interaction?
We founded AIHR in 2016 data-driven HR? your payroll for a year to implement it. We offer a community for students
because of this skills gap. We Data-driven organisations out- It’s an ongoing process and it needs to Who enrols? to interact online. It’s extremely
started writing about topics like people perform on various financial met- be managed by people who understand The interest is astronomical. popular. Students can ask questions and
analytics and digital HR on our blog rics such as profit margins and return the process and see how technology We currently draw 200,000 get answers from fellow HR profession-
called analyticsinhr.com. We believe on assets. According to McKinsey, dig- can be leveraged for more efficient and visitors a month to our websites. The als from across the world. The instruc-
in free knowledge-sharing, as that will ital transformation has risen to the top effective HR policies. typical age is 30 to 50. Most of our tors participate too. This means that if
push HR forward. Our readers started of chief executives’ strategic plans. As courses don’t require any specific you have a problem at work, you can get
asking us for courses about people an HR professional, you need to under- Who are your biggest clients? technical or mathematical back- input from our HR practitioner commu-
analytics and digital HR. We decided stand this process and be able to ask the We supply 175 of the Fortune 500 ground. Naturally, you need to be in nity. This is incredibly useful. We also have
to create educational courses and the relevant questions to ensure this trans- companies, including Nike, EY, an HR role to apply the knowledge but a personal coach. This person will always
rest is history. We’re now the largest formation will be a success. But there is UBS, Philips, McKinsey and Tata. The you don’t need the technical skills. be there for you to answer any questions,
online educator in people analytics more to it. A transformation isn’t some- United States is our biggest market, then That is what we teach; we start with help you design your own personal learn-
and digital HR in the world. thing you do in a year. You cannot add Europe. We are expanding across Asia the very basics. ing path and motivate you to keep going.

What courses do you offer? What is the future for AIHR?

HOW FREQUENTLY DO YOU USE THESE T YPES OF EVIDENCE TO INFORM BUSINESS DECISIONS? (%) We offer different courses and We want to raise the technical
programmes. Popular pro- competence of the entire HR
Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never CIPD, 2017 grammes include the People Analytics industry. It is obvious that HR profession-
Certification Programme and Digital als who can implement and harness data
HR Certification Programme. Individual are the ones who will lead the industry
Personal experience 19 58 17 2 1
courses include Digital Transformation, and bring significant value to their organ-
The judgement of experienced HR Analytics Leader Course or the isations. We will ensure everyone has
15 56 21 5 1 People Analytics for HR Business a chance to succeed, even those who
professionals within my organisation
Data, facts and figures I or my colleagues
Partners course. don’t have technical skills or can’t use
21 48 21 5 2 tools like Excel. Our online courses are the
have gathered from my organisation
There is an ‘all you can learn’ fastest way to learn. Any HR professional
Values and concerns of people
13 50 28 4 2 option. Is this popular? can enrol and improve. At the Academy
affected by the decision
It is our most popular option. to Innovate HR, it is our mission to make
Advice from a colleague 7 48 36 5 1 You get unlimited access for 18 HR future-proof by offering world-class
months. From a user perspective, it online education programmes available
Intuition 7 38 40 9 2 makes sense, as when people com- anywhere, anytime.
plete one course they are eager to
Knowledge acquired 8 35 37 14 2 learn more. We also see companies
through formal education such as the ones I mentioned ear- To learn more or enrol please visit
Insights provided by external experts 3 30 41 19 4 lier buying tuition for entire depart- AIHR.com
ments. Our portal can be incor-
Management literature porated into almost all corporate
4 25 41 20 6
learning management systems, so
employees can connect from within ACA D E M Y
Results from scientific research 2 20 30 30 12
their own company portal.