James Hatton

My name is James Hatton, and I've been an HR technologist for over 30 years. I've worked as a consultant, vendor and 'client' – as my 25 years in consulting have taught me to describe organisations on the receiving end of these services.

I love technology but not for technology's sake. Nothing brings me more satisfaction than seeing technology create great benefits. However, I hate it when technology delivers no benefit at all or, worse still, gets in the way.

I've sat through hundreds of vendor demos and witnessed many very polished presentations and a few trainwrecks. I’ve watched slick sales teams win over clients and less capable ones fail, often despite having great software.

Having been involved in many HR technology implementations as an architect, consultant, programme manager and consulting seller, my experiences have been mixed. Some have been very successful, but many have fallen short when I look back at the real value delivered. Despite some very talented implementation teams, almost all have been a struggle.

During the early days of software as a service (SaaS), I witnessed growing failure rates (despite the software becoming much easier to implement), and I became determined to understand the root causes. I realised that despite implementation teams often taking much of the blame, many projects failed because of decisions made before the implementation even started. This realisation led me to create a consulting approach focused on getting ‘phase 0’ right – the stage where we consider HR technology roadmaps, vendor selection, business cases and implementation readiness.

Working for a major consultancy, I found it challenging to provide genuinely impartial advice due to the influence of vendor relationships and the overriding objective of selling more implementation services.

It wasn’t until I enjoyed a stint as an Enterprise Architect that I recognised the immense value of unbiased guidance during the critical phase 0 stage—and how difficult it is to find. Moreover, while many organisations understand the basics of how to evaluate vendors, few understand the intricacies of the process or possess a reliable methodology.

Some years later, after more research and practice, I decided to share the many lessons and successful techniques I’d learned through an approach that I’ve named the SelectionWise methodology. My aim with is to empower organisations with the knowledge and tools to navigate the crucial early stages of HR technology projects, setting them up for long-term success.