HRaaP: Human Resources-as-a-Protocol
Directionally Correct Newsletter, The #1 People Analytics Substack
By: Cole Napper
This article continues my "Forbidden Ideas" series—content deliberately tucked behind a paywall. Why? Because if I risk my reputation to surface these provocative perspectives, you're going to share skin in the game to access them.
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Don’t Worship the Wrapper, Own the Data
Everyone keeps talking about AI for HR. Every pundit gushes about “AI wrappers”; these chatbots that sit on top of the same dusty software and pretend it’s innovation. It isn’t.
Everyone knows that it’s time for a fundamental shake up of how HR is conducted, but “AI copilots” isn’t it. Something is missing for AI in HR to work at scale. It starts with the data.
HR’s core system, the HCM, was built to move paper forms into a digital filing cabinet. It’s the hardest HR system to rip out. It’s why you see key HR Tech players, like Lattice and Charthop, getting into the HCM business. Everyone believes the HCM is the base level of the HR Tech stack. It is not. Somewhere along the way, that HCM “cabinet” became a gold mine for employers (and SaaS providers). The employer mined the gold; the employee got nothing but a company badge and a pat on the head.
As HR went digital, something changed. Employee data became a valuable and sought after piece of information for talent differentiation, competitive intelligence, and even share price gains. In short, the employee’s information value skyrocketed, but the payoff flowed to employers, not the employees who created it.
But I’ve got an idea of how to change that. If you are a VC firm and want to chat about how to make this idea a reality, you know where to find me.