How to create an HR technology strategy and roadmap

Your HCM covers administration. Who covers skills?

75% of enterprises will run cloud HCM by 2027. But Gartner finds they'll still need specialized solutions for 20 to 30% of their most critical HR requirements. Skills visibility, workforce data, job architecture: these are the gaps your core platform can't close alone.

Why this report matters for you

Most HR technology leaders we talk to face the same challenge. They've invested in Workday, SAP, or Oracle. They assumed the core platform would handle everything. It doesn't.

Gartner's latest research confirms this. Fragmented workforce data blocks analytics and data-driven decision making. More than half of HR tech leaders expect a spending decrease in 2026, even as AI creates new capability gaps. The result? HR teams stuck reacting to crises instead of planning strategically.

We see this pattern across our 50+ enterprise customers. Organizations like HSBC, Ericsson, and PayPal all reached the same conclusion: their HCM handled transactions, but couldn't tell them what skills their people had or how AI would reshape their work. Closing that gap required a specialized skills intelligence layer, purpose-built to sit alongside the core platform.

This Gartner report provides a structured, 4-phase framework to evaluate exactly where those gaps sit in your technology portfolio and how to close them.

What you'll learn

• 75% of enterprises will still need solutions beyond their HCM for 20 to 30% of critical HR requirements, according to Gartner's 2026 research. This report explains which requirements those are.
• Fragmented workforce data remains the top blocker for analytics-driven decision making. Gartner outlines what a unified data strategy looks like in practice.
• Job architecture modernization is a prerequisite before any meaningful HR technology transformation. The report shows why and how to approach it.
• A 4-phase framework (define outcomes, capture gaps, determine best-fit, develop roadmap) to align HR technology investments with business outcomes.
• How to evaluate vendor viability, maturity, and integration fit when selecting point solutions to complement your HCM.

"Organizations without a robust and frequently updated HR technology strategy and roadmap tend to respond reactively to a specific functional need or crisis, lacking strategic intent."