Responding to cost control measures and smaller budgets, Watson Wyatt’s 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey found 61% of companies are looking to optimize their current HR processes and technologies.

For those who practice the principles and execute the initiatives, strategic talent management is the key to business management. Internet connectivity and Web 2.0 technologies now support software as a service deployment of these processes.

Additional findings from Seeking Cost Advantages in HR Technology and Service Delivery - 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey concur:

Talent management has become a higher priority for one-third of companies due to the economic crisis.

Social networking, while extremely new, is already being used more than most other Web 2.0 tools.

Further evolution of social networking habits and technology has created a great new opportunity: the ability to participate in and benefit from a talent community. Here is the definition as outlined in the Taleo Research white paper The Talent Community:

The talent community is defined as a distributed group of talent management practitioners who interact virtually rather than face-to-face, for the purpose of sharing talent management knowledge, talent management solutions, and talent profiles. Members are linked not by their place of employment, but by their common use—across organizations—of talent management technology applications.

Powered by user contributions on a common platform or Talent Grid, members benefit from conversation enabled by online discussion in an ecosystem of knowledge, solutions, and subject matter experts. This enhancement to talent practice adds new value to our customers and the growing talent community.