SuccessConnect 2024: The Basics Are Back and Better Than Ever!

When I attended SuccessConnect in Lisbon, I expected to hear a lot about artificial intelligence, talent and analytics. Let's face it, these topics have dominated HR conferences for the last two years.

What I didn’t expect? Core HR, payroll, time, and integration stealing the show in Dan Beck’s opening keynote—complete with live demos. It was a pleasant surprise, because these processes have been out of the spotlight for far too long.

Why do I think that's a game changer? Because everyone looks at these as admin processes. Many companies consider them part of Operations and centralize them in a service center. But let me tell you one thing: if you don't get the basics right, your talent processes won't work either. No employee cares about career development when their payslip has errors. Nail the basics, and you have a solid foundation to deliver talent processes that contribute to a great employee experience.

It was a refreshing change in tone, and one that was long overdue. Because as Dan mentioned, what he hears from customers is "love the AI, love the skills, but if we don't get the fundamentals right, we can't serve these innovations to our employees!" And that is spot on, so let’s explore what we need to do to get ready.

Let's start with AI

The message that we heard consistently throughout the conference was that SAP develops AI to adhere to these three principles:

• Relevant: is it contextually relevant given what we know about the user?
• Reliable: is the answer repeatedly accurate and without bias?
• Responsible: is the data secure, and are ethical and regulatory standards being upheld?

SAP SuccessFactors has over 90 AI use cases in production, and more will be delivered next year. We saw demos about hiring and skills matching in recruitment. When making compensation decisions, AI will help you with feedback and comparisons including talking points for the conversation with the employee. Joule (SAP's AI assistant) can also consume video and audio content: you can e.g. ask it to identify the key learning points of a training video and show that segment to you.

The demo that I was most excited about was Explain my Pay (follow link to see it in action), because it's such an improvement for both payroll admins and employees. This scenario has real potential to lower the volume of payroll tickets. Considering the number of likes and comments I received on this video, you want to see this one too!

We heard from customers who are early AI adopters: Richard Richardson from Honda and Nick Hawkes from BT stressed the importance of working with an AI council to set boundaries. They emphasized transparency: employees must have a clear understanding of the role of AI in your processes. We learned that awareness training is a continuous effort. Because while 75% of employees would continue to use AI (Honda), it's important to understand what barriers the other 25% see. If you don't convince them, you won't achieve your goals.

All customers stressed the importance of having a robust data model as a solid digital foundation before you can even think about rolling out AI pilots. Which brings us to the next topic:

Core HR and Payroll are back!

Dan Beck ’s opening keynote didn’t just bring attention to the admin processes—it reframed them. Core HR, payroll, and time aren’t "backend operations”; they are the foundation for every innovation HR wants to roll out. And this year, the innovation on display reflected that shift.

SAP SuccessFactors is firmly focused on modernizing payroll and this shift was evident in the updates. There was a lot of emphasis on localizations: more than 100 countries for core HR and payroll supported in 52 countries. The extensive localization support including payroll has always been what sets the solution apart for multi-country employers. Since governments don't seem to focus on simplifying regulations right now, it's clear how EC, ECP, Benefits & Time help HR teams focus on the content, while SAP focuses on compliance.

Dan emphasized that real innovation is happening in the SuccessFactors suite, where Employee Central has now surpassed 6,500 customers who process more than 8M transactions per day. (But don't assume that all cloud transformations are behind us. A significant number of customers still need to transition from on-premises HR, time, or payroll systems before the support window closes.)

The innovations shown included enhancements to Time Tracking, the Regulatory Change Manager, Payroll Control Center (PCC), planned integrations with the AI copilot Joule and the addition of position budgeting control with seamless integrations to EC, ECP and SAP S/4HANA. All with a key focus on improving the admin user experience while leveraging Joule for advanced analytics insights.

During the keynote, Barbara van der Zanden came on stage to introduce the audience to the HR transformation that she led at Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch food retailer with 402,000 associates worldwide. Tim Piepers added that their systems were fragmented and not mobile-friendly. At the global level, key data and insights were lacking. Back in 2018, Ahold began the journey to streamline HR processes onto a single platform, SuccessFactors including payroll. And since most people who work there are deskless (you know I was going to point that out ;), it also meant that mobile access was an important goal.

In the summer of 2023 they completed this phased implementation of EC and ECP. The new setup allows all associates to manage their own data on their mobile devices, and decide on their personal learning and career trajectories. The company generates over 1M payslips every month. Having worked in large, global HR & payroll roll-outs, I know first-hand what an achievement such a transformation is.

Talent: Personalization is Key!

Don't worry, Talent wasn't forgotten! In fact, it was the third (and final) topic of the opening keynote. It was also expressed in the conference theme: "Make every employee a success story." And for that to happen, the seamless combination of core HR, AI and Talent is key!

The talent focus was firmly on skills and personalization. They announced the Career and Talent Development solution: a data-driven approach for career planning. It allows an employee to generate insights, based on a skills-based approach and create a personalized, charted roadmap for career possibilities. The Talent Intelligence Hub provides you with a comprehensive understanding of skills within your company that is continuously updated as people learn new skills. Bringing these pieces together with the help of AI allows you to develop employees: hyperpersonalization is here.

In the client keynote on the second day, we heard from Isabelle Minecci how L'Oreal is developing a skills-first workforce to stay "future-fit". They deliver 38 hours of training per employee and have built an impressive library of 600 skills: 50% are transversal to all functions, and 50% are specific. This allows them to optimize and personalize the learning journey. Like BT and Honda, they've discovered that mandatory AI training lowers the anxiety and fear that employees have around the topic of AI. Their L&D approach will involve AI-based candidate matching, skills extraction, job matching while providing personal assistants to employees.

When it came to the talent demos, we saw examples where AI helps you quickly complete feedback tasks, write performance reviews etc. I thought that one of the most useful demos was the AI feature that rewrites your feedback into actionable feedback. This makes it more valuable to the receiver, and it's often hard to write yourself.

Language and culture matter!

Also a word of caution: because LLM's are mostly trained on American English input, the output can sometimes be culturally inappropriate, especially when it comes to talent and performance. E.g. in a European context, words like "outstanding", "phenomenal" and "exemplary" do not often appear in performance reviews. If you would use them, employees would probably expect a raise, if not a promotion. Having worked in international settings, I am aware of the differences. Culture matters when managing employees and giving feedback. LLMs should be tuned to create output that is in line with local customs in other regions around the world.

So before you jump onto the AI in HR train, have a conversation with your vendor about language support (how many languages? how large is the training volume? how much training?) and cultural awareness. If not, prepare to adopt an American (or German or Indian or ...) style throughout your HR, based on the LLMs your vendor provides.

Let's connect: APIs

I was amazed by the number of people who attended break out sessions on technical topics like integrations. Often, there was standing room only. I remember when these sessions where niche, with only a handful of attendees. It goes to show that API's (Application Programming Interfaces) are making integrations more accessible (even though you should not underestimate the work involved!).

APIs are simplifying what used to be complex, and make it easier for companies to connect their systems and create seamless workflows. They allow systems to “talk” to one another in ways that in the past could only be realized by integration specialists, and required large-scale IT projects (with equally large budgets!).

During the client keynote, Maria Tachataki shared how Eurobank implemented real-time time tracking in three months(!), to adhere to changing laws in Greece. This also required a live integration with the Ministry of Labor for real-time monitoring of work schedules. The financial consequences of non-compliance can lead to a €10k fine per employee, so the business case was clear.

Because physical clocking was non-practical and expensive, they implemented the digital Time Tracking solution. The process integrates with their internal payroll system as well as the official government platform by leveraging SAP's BTP (Business Technology Platform) Apps and Cloud Integration, including 27 APIs. It was an impressive showcase of how you can quickly set this up in a fully integrated way, thereby eliminating much of the old-fashioned and manual file-based transfers while allowing real-time monitoring.

From conversations with attendees I learned that HR tech professionals recognize that mastering integrations isn’t a topic that you just outsource to third parties anymore. People want to know how they can make their HR tech ecosystems more cohesive and efficient. The days of treating integrations as an afterthought are clearly over.

Why It Matters Now

So, why is this back to basics shift happening? I think it comes down to three major factors.

1. Economic Uncertainty: Companies are under pressure to do more with less. Investments in talent initiatives are great, but when the economy tightens, businesses focus on what truly matters: efficiency and accuracy. If your core processes are inefficient or error-prone, you’re wasting time, money, and employee goodwill.
2. Employee Experience Expectations: Employees expect seamless, consumer-grade experiences at work. They’re comparing your HR solutions to their other apps, and they’re not forgiving when processes feel outdated or cumbersome. Data errors, payroll mistakes, slow approval processes, and poor integrations aren’t just annoyances; they are barriers to engagement.
3. Cloud Meets AI: Cloud systems have made HR solutions more scalable, flexible, and accessible, providing real-time data and easier integrations through APIs. When combined with AI, these platforms become even more powerful, offering predictive insights, automation for routine tasks, and personalized employee interactions. This enables businesses to streamline operations while elevating the employee experience, making innovation in core HR both practical and essential. But you can only get there with a solid and accurate HR foundation.

Final Thoughts: Back to Basics, Forward to Impact

The focus on core HR, Payroll, and Time at SuccessConnect wasn’t just a throwback; it was a reminder that getting the basics right isn’t basic at all—it’s transformative. And that was the message we heard over and over in the customer keynotes: moving core HR and payroll to the cloud allowed companies to release more innovative functionality which transformed both HR and the user experience. It's the foundation for employee engagement and a successful HR strategy.

So as we move into 2025, here’s my advice: don’t ignore the basics. On your journey to an AI-driven, hyperpersonalized HR service, transform your core processes first. Simplify, streamline, and elevate them. Because when you do, you’re not just fixing admin tasks—you’re creating the conditions for your people and your business to thrive.

Want to know more about SuccessConnect 2024? You can watch several sessions online.

Curious about how these innovations can transform your HR strategy? Let’s chat!

Have a great day, Anita

I give keynotes and workshops on the Future of Work and innovative technologies to HR & payroll audiences. At conferences, in-company or virtually. Do you need an interactive session to kick off 2025? Please reach out!

This newsletter is free. You can support me by buying my books Equal Pay for Equal Work and How to Select Your Next Payroll. Or call me for advice when you are selecting new HR or payroll tech.

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