Category Archives: Research

Is Employee Apathy Insurmountable?

By Mark Stelzner | Published: May 6, 2008
Greetings Readers!  I think everyone can relate to Mark’s story of employee apathy.  What bothers me most is that Mark’s experience, repeated billions of times per day, carries with it a great cost.  Frustration to customers, waste of capacity, damage to the brand and the organization’s goodwill, are just a few of the negative consequences of [...]
Also posted in Human Resources | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Real (HRO) World Solutions

By Mark Stelzner | Published: April 14, 2008
In Friday’s post, As the HRO World Turns, Mark called for buyers to independently tell their stories about experiences with outsourcing providers.  I concur with his plea, as there is a need for this type of dialogue in the marketplace (and the workplace) based on two important factors – (1) the reconceptualization of commoditization and (2) the value of [...]
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The Power of Collective Wisdom

By Mark Stelzner | Published: April 7, 2008
As a serial entrepreneur, I am constantly seeking new and innovative approaches to a wide variety of market challenges.  Imagine my excitement when a good friend recommended a click over to Springwise.  The hip web 2.0 site engages 8,000 “spotters” who scan the world for new business ideas.  The result is a wide ranging and constantly updated [...]
Also posted in General Thoughts | 1 Comment

With Whom Do You Associate – A Research Initiative

By Mark Stelzner | Published: March 25, 2008
A little over two weeks ago we posted on a growing challenge within the HR industry, namely one’s ability to assess which association (or associations) appropriately match the specific needs of your HR staff and leadership.  The interest in this issue was immediate, with over 150 senior HR executives contacting us within twenty four hours of posting. [...]
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How to Address Risk and Sustainability Among HR Vendors

By Mark Stelzner | Published: March 21, 2008
Earlier this week we addressed a growing concern surrounding sustainability of HR vendors.  Issues such as financial solvency, management turnover, ongoing investment into product portfolios, backwards compatibility and support, legal action, and acquisitions (among others) can cause significant disruptions to both near and long term value propositions.  So how should one address these concerns, and does a system [...]
Also posted in Finance & Strategy, Human Resources | 3 Comments

Productivity? But It’s March Madness…

By Mark Stelzner | Published: March 20, 2008
Each year, Inflexion likes to take a moment to acknowledge the beginning of 16 business days of lost productivity. In 2007, we posted that an estimated $3.7 billion was lost due to the annual NCAA tourney, an amount that nearly every firm struggling in today’s challenging economy would love to recover. Once again, we look to our [...]
Also posted in General Thoughts, Human Resources | 1 Comment

Sustainability Among HR Vendors

By Mark Stelzner | Published: March 18, 2008
Several months ago, my partners and I were solicited by an HR firm who intended to sell their company.  The founding partners had built value over their ten years in the market, largely leveraging their personal credentials as a means of entry into very large public and private entities.  These relationships had bloomed and the [...]
Also posted in Human Resources | 5 Comments

With Whom Do You “Associate”?

By Mark Stelzner | Published: March 10, 2008
For the next several weeks, we will be taking a hard look at the litany of industry and member-based HR associations and consortiums.  This will include: SHRM (The Society for Human Resource Management); IHRIM (The International Association for Human Resources Information Management); CLC (The Corporate Leadership Council); HCI (The Human Capital Institute); HR.com; HROA (The Human Resources Outsourcing Association); [...]
Also posted in Human Resources | 6 Comments

Boomer Overload

By Mark Stelzner | Published: February 14, 2008
It is estimated that the 79 million US Baby Boomers have over $8.5 trillion dollars in investable assets today.  Add to that number an estimated $12 trillion in inheritance over the next 20 years, and one can understand the frantic race to bring products, services, annuities, recreation and thousands of other goods to this fragmented [...]
Also posted in General Thoughts, Human Resources | 1 Comment

There Is A Difference…

By Mark Stelzner | Published: December 19, 2007
(posted by Inflexion’s Shannon Flumerfelt) It is somewhat unpredictable how and where one makes sense of things within a moment of consideration, especially in the midst of doing something else.  For instance, as I was running this morning, my MP3 player kicked out a song.  As the song drew me in (and with the help [...]
Also posted in Human Resources | 1 Comment