THE RISE OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION TECH AS A MARKET SEGMENT

Just last month, RedThread Research and Mercer combined on a far-reaching report about the rise of D&I technology, ultimately determining it was a $100M market segment. (There is debate about how much money needs to be in an area of HR technology for it to be its own "category," with the general consensus somewhere around $1B. So while D&I tech is not necessarily a category, it's still in rapid rise.)

What type of tech is addressed in this report?

The breakdown:

Talent Acquisition

• Candidate sourcing
• Candidate selection

Development and Advancement

• Learning & development
• Mentorship and career management
• Performance management
• HIPO selection
• Leadership development

Engagement and Retention

• Employee experience
• Employee communications
• Employee voice

Analytics

• D&I analysis and monitoring, including pay equity analysis
• D&I business case
• Employee resource group management and analysis

Why is diversity and inclusion rising up now?

Many different reasons, not the least of which is the #MeToo movement, including TIME's 2017 Person of the Year being "The Silence Breakers." In such an environment, as Mercer and RedThread note, leaders across organizations are asking: "How can we systematically challenge the status quo, and build a more diverse and inclusive workforce?"

That's the core question everything begins from. Next, technology companies have begun to construct dozens of new and innovative ideas to support equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace -- recognizing that new technological capabilities, paired with this increased urgency, represents an opportunity to address D&I challenges in novel ways.

This Mercer and RedThread report unpacks four key questions of the current D&I space:

1. What are the most important things to know about D&I technology?
2. What is the current state of the D&I technology market?
3. What specific talent areas do these D&I technologies cover?
4. How might the D&I technology market change in the next 18 months?

The Oleeo plug

Yes, we got mentioned as a vendor that helps organizations do D&I properly, which makes sense, as we have an entire solution dedicated to diversity outcomes. It's been heartening to see recently that diversity is consistently embraced by the financial sector -- which has a long-standing history of being driven by white males -- and we've tried to meet that embrace with a D&I approach to financial recruiting events. In short: this matters to us.

What might you add on D&I?

How high can the ceiling go? Do you think we'll ever reach a spot where organizations buy suites for the D&I capabilities first? Would love to hear your thoughts!

?This article was originally published on Oleeo's Blog. Subscribe to receive a monthly digest of posts here.

About Jeanette Maister:

Jeanette Maister is the Managing Director and Head of Americas at Oleeo, an award-winning provider of innovative talent acquisition technology built using intelligent automation and machine learning. A front-line HR practitioner who made the jump to HR technology, Jeanette was recognized as an IT Women of the Year finalist in 2018 and received the Stevie silver Female Executive of the Year and the SmartCEO Brava Award in 2017. She regularly speaks at national HR events including the HR Tech Conference, Disrupt HR, SHRM’s Talent Management Conference, Recruiting Trends & Talent Tech Conference and the National Association of Colleges & Employers conference.