Unlocking the Potential of Business Intelligence in HR: Assessment of how maturity is to be developed : A case study

Abstract: The rise of technology and digitalization has greatly impacted organizations, particularly in the field ofHuman Resources (HR). To stay competitive in this evolving landscape, HR departments are increasingly adopting Business Intelligence (BI) as a useful umbrella concept to collect, store, access, and analyze data for data-driven decision-making. However, as research states, many HR organizations struggle to fully leverage the benefits of BI and therefore only adapt mere basic BI capabilities. This study aims to address this gap by examining how HR organizations can develop their BI maturity and identify the key categories and factors that influence it, as well as highlight the main hurdles in the journey towards higher BI maturity. To fulfill this purpose, a case study was conducted which centered around semi-structured interviews with respondents from the case company. The results from the interviews show that there are several factors deemed important when assessing BI maturity and we classify these factors into Organization & Structure, Data Governance and System, Tools & Technology. This study’s results are for the most part consistent with previous research on assessing BI maturity. However, the focus on HR departments reveals some interesting findings. Within these categories, the following factors, among others, have emerged as important to consider. Namely organizational culture and a collaborative mindset to promote the adoption of higher levels of analytics through the entire organization. Moreover, making HR more impactful in the sense of actionability and by demonstrating a cause-effect relationship emerges as a central and multi-faceted aspect when assessing BI maturity. Organizational management of data centralization is also considered a significant factor for HR. In addition, another central aspect to regard is GDPR, as it directly affects the collection, storing and analysis of personal data, consequently becoming crucial for HR to assess. The study also identified hurdles hindering HR departments from reaching higher levels of maturity, such as cross-functional collaboration and data transparency between departments. Furthermore, GDPR legislation hinders the possibility of distributing certain data and combining sensitive data with other sources. Additionally, a barrier to the successful utilization of existing tools and systems is considered to be related to the competence of employees.