AI and the changing world of HR: An Interview with Andy Campbell, Oracle

Andy Campbell is HCM Strategy Director at Oracle and an expert on cutting edge HR solutions. As a speaker at the upcoming “AI - The Future of Talent Event” he brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the panel.

Ahead of the event, Andy spoke to Rullion about the future of HR and the whether AI could transform the world as we know it. 

How do you see AI impacting HR now and in the future?

It’s impacting HR now in that everybody is talking about it, it’s top of everyone’s agenda and creating a lot of hype. In reality, it will change the world but probably not in the next one or two years, although for some industries change will happen faster than others.

AI will have a profound impact on businesses and the way in which HR functions service these businesses. Everyday processes like requesting holidays will transform. Now and in the future self-service models will take over. For example, employees will be able to interact with chatbots through their phones to book a week’s leave and processes will be streamlined and automated. We will take the robot out of the human by eliminating mundane tasks.

How will AI affect jobs in HR?

The worry is that lots of jobs will be lost, but many of them will be manual and largely administrative. The jobs that will replace them may have a greater focus on service or analysis of data. They will be more rewarding in terms of development and satisfaction.

The issue is creating the right balance. You might get rid of 10 million jobs and only create five million. Or, you might create extra jobs but in a completely different industry. There are issues to consider from a macroeconomic level.

What could be the impact of AI on the recruitment process?

The focus in recruitment is increasingly on providing a great candidate experience. Making the process as simple and effective as possible. There are a number of AI tools that can help achieve that.

The role of AI could be quite profound. So, first of all, you can look at internal talent pools and start using AI to monitor and maintain these pools. From there you can try and ensure the best people stay within the business using predictive analytics. You can also use AI to understand the resources you have in your organisation and to identify the best places to source new talent

Advanced technology can address human problems like unconscious bias while robotics and automation can make all processes slicker.

What three things would you like people to take away from your contribution to AI – The Future of Talent? 

Firstly, the status quo is not sustainable and within the industry things have to change.

Next, we need to take a much more employee centric approach view of HR as a whole. We need to treat the people accessing HR services as our customers and understand their expectations.

Finally, there is an increasing focus and dependence on HR and we need to step up to the plate. We need to call out bad practice and support progressive and positive change. Our customers in the business are looking to us for guidance around issues like AI and we need to provide that expertise.