Talent management and development has evolved significantly in recent years. As the workplace changes, both employee and employer career expectations change as well.
Employees are increasingly seeking out new growth opportunities, demanding clear career paths and fluid mobility within their organisations. At the same time, as technology continues to develop at a rapid pace, HR teams are realising that upskilling and reskilling employees is often a more cost-effective and flexible option than consistently relying on hiring externally.
Despite the seeming alignment of these parallel developments, career paths and growth opportunities can be surprisingly difficult to navigate for employees and HR personnel alike. Many employees often hit invisible walls when trying to move up, over or into new roles. And HR personnel can experience difficulties identifying high-potential employees and keeping them engaged and eager to advance.
As a result of this trend, SAP has introduced a new Career & Talent Development solution to help organisations meet these challenges. Bringing together the strengths of the Succession & Development and Opportunity Marketplace modules, while incorporating AI-driven recommendations and skills-based workforce planning, it facilitates talent management processes such as career growth, internal mobility, and skills-based workforce planning to help organisations meet these new challenges.
Obstacles to career growth and mobility
By examining these challenges in more detail, we can see how SAP’s new solution can be deployed to address them.
Unclear career guidance
Employee often have difficulty making the right career moves. Many want to grow, but don’t know how. Available recommendations are often generalised, not taking individual skills, interests and preferences into account. Talented individuals may end up feeling overlooked and underutilised, and, without clear paths or support, may lose their motivation or seek out opportunities elsewhere.
Ineffective succession planning
Many companies struggle to spot the emerging leaders already on their payroll. While the majority of business leaders would probably list succession planning as an urgent priority, outdated or reactive approaches can result in costly disruptions and missed opportunities. High-potential employees often go unrecognised or get lost in the shuffle, causing leadership pipelines to run dry.
Limited exploration opportunities
Even when opportunities are clearly posted via internal boards or other tools, it can be difficult for employees to explore new areas of interest or new roles with skill sets outside their comfort zone. The risk of judgement or perceived managerial gatekeeping can create a culture where employees feel they must “stay in their lane.” As a result, employees may not feel empowered to stretch beyond their current capabilities and discover whether a new position might work for them, causing stagnation and a lack of internal mobility.
Disconnected systems
Career growth should be supported by learning and development, but too often these systems operate in silos, making it difficult for HR to have the up-to-date, accurate data needed to make decisions. Similarly, employees may build new skills, but if those aren’t connected to open roles — or, worse, even recognised by the organisation – both company resources and employee potential can end up going to waste.
The path forward with SAP’s Career & Talent Development solution
SAP’s Career & Talent Development solution redefines talent management by facilitating the implementation of the solutions below. Placing AI, skills, and career growth at its core, it empowers organisations to cultivate future leaders and retain top performers.
Build transparent and personalised career frameworks
Provide employees with the tools to help them find their way. Role clarity, defined career paths, and clearly communicated promotion criteria help individuals better understand the options available to them and the skill sets required.
Career pathing tools, like SAP’s Career & Talent Development module, can also help employees identify skills and competencies needed for different roles, while allowing them to explore potential career paths within the organisation that align with their interests, and access learning and development resources to help them achieve their goals.
This significantly improves retention by ensuring that employees continue evolving and remain engaged.
Adopt a skills-first approach
Move beyond job titles and resumes, focusing instead on skills—the skills your people have, and the ones they’re building. Using skills taxonomies, proficiency assessments and AI-powered matching can help you pair employees with their ideal opportunities, while also encouraging them to stretch.
This approach prioritises potential over pedigree, ensuring employees remain future-ready, while ensuring HR remains agile in fulfilling resource management requisitions to fill key positions faster.
Invest in leadership pipelines
Succession planning shouldn’t be a spreadsheet exercise — it should be a living, breathing part of your culture. Creating structured leadership development programmes, mentor matching, and stretch assignments can facilitate the identification and selection of high-potential employees for future leadership roles.
Integrate career, learning, and talent systems
Bridge the gap between career development tools, learning, succession planning and internal hiring processes with fully integrated talent management platforms, such as SAP Career & Talent Development, that support your skills-first talent strategy. These platforms can provide employees with an effective way to showcase their expertise and aspirations and connect them with customised growth opportunities.
Many of these platforms also provide real-time data analytics to facilitate HR decision-making and even offer AI-powered guidance to deliver personalised career and learning recommendations to employees based on their particular skills and experience.
This helps organisations stay agile, while keeping their employees engaged, and ensuring they’re ready to meet evolving business needs.
A skills-based workforce with SAP career & talent development solution
Talent management is no longer a back-office function. It’s a boardroom priority. And organisations can’t afford to let internal talent go unnoticed or underutilized. But without the right systems, guidance, and cultural support, employee ambition can quickly become employee attrition. Empowering employees to take control of their career journey, while giving them the tools and opportunities they need, is a strategic imperative.
By embracing modern tools, human-centered strategies, and a skills-first ecosystem, companies can turn today’s talent challenges into tomorrow’s competitive advantages and unlock their workforce’s full potential.
