HR vs. the business: The struggle for data, trust, and adoption

For the past 15 years or so, I’ve navigated both the IT and HR landscapes within global blue-chip companies, gaining firsthand experience in how technology can either enable or hinder workforce success. I’ve partnered with HR tech vendors, contributed to career programmes spanning secondary students to graduates, and most recently, as a principal consultant at Skill Collective, I’ve worked with leading organisations to drive real, measurable change. My focus? Helping companies untangle the complexities of skills and skills technology to transform the way they measure, manage, and optimise their human capital.

This journey has given me a unique vantage point on HR’s struggle with technology adoption. Time and time again, I’ve witnessed well-intentioned HR teams implement new platforms only to see them met with scepticism or outright resistance from the very leaders they were designed to support. The frustration isn’t due to a lack of effort—it’s a fundamental disconnect between HR’s approach to technology and the business’ actual needs, with data at the heart of the issue.

Many HR tech implementations fail because they don’t start with a deep understanding of what the business truly needs from its workforce data. Instead, HR rolls out systems based on HR priorities—compliance, reporting, and standardisation—while business leaders seek actionable insights that drive decisions around performance, innovation, and agility.

Without alignment on the purpose of the data, leaders struggle to extract value from HR systems, leaving them to rely on alternative, often fragmented, sources of information. This fragmentation fuels a vicious cycle—HR tech programmes then attempt to consolidate these data sources to create consistency across the enterprise. However, in doing so, they often dilute the true business needs in favour of standardised approaches that fail to deliver actionable insights. As a result, HR’s credibility takes a hit, leading business units to again introduce their own technology solutions that better serve their needs but further contribute to fragmented data sources. The cycle then repeats, with HR once again trying to regain control by enforcing enterprise-wide solutions, only to perpetuate the very problem it seeks to solve.

Until HR shifts its mindset from merely deploying platforms to ensuring they deliver meaningful, business-driven insights, it will continue to be sidelined in critical conversations about transformation and growth.

HR has a data problem. Not in the sense that data doesn’t exist—there’s plenty of it. Every HR system is a goldmine of workforce insights, from talent acquisition to performance, engagement, and beyond. And yet, here’s the harsh reality:

The business doesn’t trust HR’s data
That’s why HR’s technology investments often fail to gain adoption. Take Workday, for instance—often deployed with great expectations but underutilised because leaders struggle to extract actionable insights. It’s one of the reasons why executives don’t lean on HR for workforce intelligence, much like how sales leaders bypass HR data in favour of their own analytics tools like Salesforce. That’s why digital transformation efforts often hit a brick wall, as seen in companies where HR rolls out AI-driven hiring platforms but hiring managers continue to rely on personal networks and gut instinct over system-generated recommendations.

The irony? HR continues to see this as a tech adoption issue when it’s really a credibility issue.

The ownership delusion
There’s a fundamental misconception in HR: the belief that HR owns the data.

But let’s set the record straight—HR doesn’t own the data. The business does.

Finance doesn’t “own” financial data. Sales doesn’t “own” revenue data. They manage and interpret it so the business can act. But HR? HR hoards it, governs it, and locks it behind processes so rigid that it becomes inaccessible to the very leaders who need it most.

Here’s the result: a disconnect between HR’s systems and the business’ ability to make decisions. The business is often miles ahead, rapidly implementing enabling systems to meet their needs. Sales and operations teams, for example, frequently deploy tools like Salesforce or ServiceNow to optimise efficiency, while HR remains fixated on rolling out enterprise-wide systems like Workday that take years to implement and rarely align with real business needs. Instead of HR technology being an enabler, it becomes a blocker—insisting on uniformity when agility is required. Instead of empowering managers, it frustrates them by forcing them into rigid, slow-moving processes. Instead of delivering insights, it delivers dashboards no one trusts because they are outdated by the time they go live.

So, what happens? Leaders bypass HR. They build their own reports. They create shadow HR functions inside the business. They get the talent insights they need—just not from HR. And HR sits on the sidelines wondering why its technology isn’t being adopted.

HR rolls out new platforms and expects adoption because “it’s required.” But forcing adoption isn’t the same as creating value.

Ask any business leader why they don’t engage with HR’s platforms, and you’ll hear some version of this:

• “It’s clunky and slow.”
• “The data isn’t reliable.”
• “I don’t see how it helps me hit my targets.”
• “I don’t trust HR to interpret this data in a way that actually helps my team.”

HR keeps trying to fix this with more training, more policies, and more mandates. But here’s the truth:

The business isn’t rejecting HR tech. It’s rejecting the way HR implements and controls it.

HR has long excelled at fostering company culture, developing talent, and ensuring compliance—areas where its strategic influence is undeniable. However, if HR wants its technology to be adopted, it needs to leverage these strengths and shift its mindset from control to enablement. By applying its deep understanding of people and engagement, HR can create systems that serve as true business enablers rather than administrative burdens.

1. Stop hoarding, start enabling

HR’s job isn’t to own data—it’s to make data work for the business. That means engaging business leaders upfront to help determine and articulate the real problems that need solving, ensuring that any system implemented directly supports their objectives. Instead of designing systems in isolation, HR must involve key stakeholders throughout the process, aligning technology with business priorities and ensuring transparency. That means designing systems that are intuitive, transparent, and built for business leaders first, not HR administrators. If managers can’t get real-time workforce insights in a way that helps them make decisions, your HR tech has already failed. By bringing leaders along the journey, HR shifts from enforcer to enabler, ensuring that adoption is driven by value rather than compliance.

2. Build systems people want to use, not systems they’re forced to use

Would a sales leader tolerate a CRM that’s a nightmare to navigate? Would a CFO stick with a finance system that can’t produce real-time reports? No. So why does HR expect employees and leaders to engage with platforms that add friction instead of reducing it?

HR needs to stop deploying systems that prioritise compliance over usability. Take learning management systems, for example—many organisations roll out complex platforms that require extensive training but fail to align with real workforce development needs. Instead of empowering employees with agile, skill-based learning paths, these systems often create bureaucratic roadblocks. If a system requires excessive training just to complete basic tasks, it’s not a business solution—it’s an HR problem. This is why many businesses bypass HR tech in favour of self-service platforms like LinkedIn Learning or Coursera, which provide more accessible, user-friendly solutions to upskilling their teams.

3. Get comfortable with business metrics, not HR metrics

HR is obsessed with measuring what HR cares about—time-to-fill, completion rates, engagement scores. But the business doesn’t care about HR’s success metrics. It cares about outcomes like increased revenue, improved customer satisfaction, faster product delivery, and higher workforce productivity. For example, a business leader wants to know if a skills development initiative is driving innovation or accelerating project timelines—not just that employees completed a training module. If HR can’t link its efforts to tangible business impact, it risks being sidelined in key strategic decisions.

For HR to frame its data in the context of the business, it needs to fully understand what the business needs. That means collaborating closely with business leaders to define success in measurable terms—whether it’s increasing revenue, improving operational efficiency, or enhancing workforce productivity. HR needs to start framing its data in the context of these outcomes, ensuring that HR dashboards provide actionable insights that help leaders make decisions that move the needle. If HR fails to align its analytics with real business priorities, its data will continue to be dismissed as noise.

4. Let the business lead

HR can’t operate in a vacuum. The best HR tech rollouts happen when business leaders—not just HR—are driving the design and implementation. If an HR system isn’t solving a business problem, it’s solving an HR problem. And that’s the fastest way to irrelevance.

HR is at a crossroads. It can continue hoarding data, governing access, and wondering why no one engages with its platforms. Or it can reimagine its role—not as the owner of workforce data, but as the architect of systems that fuel business success.

Because here’s the truth: HR’s value isn’t just in the policies it writes or the systems it controls—it’s in how well it enables people to do their best work. HR has a unique ability to understand workforce dynamics, drive engagement, and create cultures where people thrive. When HR leverages these strengths to design technology that enhances productivity and aligns with business goals, it becomes an indispensable partner in driving success. But until HR starts designing its technology around that simple truth, it will continue struggling for relevance in a business world that has already moved on.

The choice is clear. HR—are you going to keep managing problems, or are you finally ready to build solutions that matter?

References
– TMI. “HR digital transformation explained: strategies, challenges, and case studies.” [tmi.org]
– Accenture. “Nurturing Nikkei’s future talent.” [accenture.com]