Here is what I mean: Something really big happened in the world’s wiring in the last decade, but it was obscured by the financial crisis and post-9/11. We went from a connected world to a hyperconnected world. I’m always struck that Facebook, Twitter, 4G, iPhones, iPads, high-speech broadband, ubiquitous wireless and Web-enabled cellphones, the cloud, Big Data, cellphone apps and Skype did not exist or were in their infancy a decade ago when I wrote a book called “The World Is Flat.” All of that came since then, and the combination of these tools of connectivity and creativity has created a global education, commercial, communication and innovation platform on which more people can start stuff, collaborate on stuff, learn stuff, make stuff (and destroy stuff) with more other people than ever before.

What’s exciting is that this platform empowers individuals to access learning, retrain, engage in commerce, seek or advertise a job, invent, invest and crowd source — all online. But this huge expansion in an individual’s ability to do all these things comes with one big difference: more now rests on you.

If you are self-motivated, wow, this world is tailored for you. The boundaries are all gone. But if you’re not self-motivated, this world will be a challenge because the walls, ceilings and floors that protected people are also disappearing. That is what I mean when I say “it is a 401(k) world.” Government will do less for you. Companies will do less for you. Unions can do less for you. There will be fewer limits, but also fewer guarantees. Your specific contribution will define your specific benefits much more. Just showing up will not cut it.

The policy implications? “Just as having a 401(k) defined contribution plan requires you to learn more about investing in your retirement, a 401(k) world requires you to learn much more about investing in yourself: how do I build my own competencies to be attractive to employers and flourish in this world,” said Byron Auguste, a director at McKinsey and one of the founders of Hope Street Group, which develops policies to help Americans navigate this changing economy. “As young people rise to that challenge, the value of mentors, social networks and role models will rise.”

Indeed, parenting, teaching or leadership that “inspires” individuals to act on their own will be the most valued of all.

When I say that “everyone has to pass the bar now,” I mean that, as the world got hyperconnected, all these things happened at once: Jobs started changing much faster, requiring more skill with each iteration. Schools could not keep up with the competencies needed for these jobs, so employers got frustrated because, in a hyperconnected world, they did not have the time or money to spend on extensive training. So more employers are demanding that students prove their competencies for a specific job by obtaining not only college degrees but by passing “certification” exams that measure specific skills — the way lawyers have to pass the bar. Last week, The Economist quoted one labor expert, Peter Cappelli of the Wharton business school, as saying that companies now regard filling a job as being “like buying a spare part: you expect it to fit.”

Finally, every major news Web site today has a “most e-mailed list” that tracks what’s popular. Journalists who tell you they don’t check to see if their stories make the list are lying. What makes those lists possible is the use of Big Data and the cloud, which can also measure almost any performance in any profession in real-time and tailor rewards accordingly. More schools can now instantly measure which teachers’ kids are on grade level in math every week, Jamba Juice can see which clerk sells the most between 8 and 10 a.m., and factories in China can find out which assembly lines have the fewest errors. On schoolloop.com, you can track your kid’s homework assignments and daily progress in every K-12 class. A most e-mailed list is coming to a job near you.

I find a lot of this scary. We’re entering a world that increasingly rewards individual aspiration and persistence and can measure precisely who is contributing and who is not. This is not going away, so we better think how we help every citizen benefit from it.

It has to start, argues Ryan Burke, the director of jobs and workforce for Hope Street, with changing our education-to-work system to one that “enables and credits a variety of viable pathways to needed skills.” But “for students and workers to take advantage of the opportunities open to them in a ‘defined contribution’ world, they will need much better information to inform their decisions. Right now it’s much easier to evaluate a choice about buying a car or picking a mutual fund” than to find the competencies employers are looking for and the best cost-effective way to obtain them.

See original article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/opinion/friedman-its-a-401k-world.html?_r=1&

This opinion is not founded on trends within the pre-hire assessment industry, but rather on the bigger picture of emerging trends in internet technology. I’m talking about major changes in the way humans use information and connectivity to support business and social interactions.

The following are key technology trends that are bigger than any individual industry but are already impacting products being offered in the pre-hire assessment market.  I know about many of these companies because I’ve worked with many of them over the past year. In many cases their products are still not fully completed (and some have even asked not to be mentioned due to this), but 2013 will be a year that sees a ton of new companies live and open for business.

Social Connectivity

While this is nothing new, the progress toward increasingly intelligent and deep levels of connectivity cannot be understated. The ability of data to drive useful connections with others who share the same interests and the ability to share information across relationships is rapidly gaining teeth. It is now possible to use personal preferences, connections, and interests to provide meaningful insights into almost everything (like Facebook social graph search). While far from perfect, the insights offered via social technology have a ton to offer when it comes to helping people efficiently and effectively find relevant jobs (and vice versa).

Immediate relevance to hiring and assessments: In terms of hiring, connectivity continues to make sourcing (and job searching) easier … no more needles in haystacks. We are about to see a number of new B-to-C focused companies in which assessments will be part of the matching intelligence powering the system.

These technologies are different in that they bring a B-to-C focus that is all about empowering the job seeker. The need to make more intelligent matches has led to a large number of new approaches (even eHarmony is getting into the job matching game). In each case the goal is to stock the pond with job seekers so that employers will pay to fish in the pond. While this is no different then the model job boards were founded on, matches are more precise because they are based on meaningful data (such as assessments) and artificial intelligence.

While there are many who will attempt to work out the matching equation via purely AI-based approaches, the winners will be the firms that add insight via reliable and valid measures of key traits/competencies critical for success at a job or organization. The market is about to be flooded with new companies who are taking this approach in order to offer something more than the lackluster matching currently available from the brand-name job boards. Many of these plug into existing venues such as LinkedIn in order to provide an additional layer of insight. Examples include: Company X (did not want to be mentioned yet); Clearfit; Hireology, Matchpoint Careers, Willbehired, and Findly.

Collective Intelligence

The emerging Internet has introduced many sites and businesses who offer the ability to collect input from multiple persons, aggregate the data, and report on it such that one overall opinion creates an accurate representation of the views of many. When combined with increases in connectivity, we gain the ability to collect insight about a person, product, or service that may not be exactly in line with what is outwardly represented. This provides entirely new levels of insight into the reality behind all kinds of things, and helps everyone to become a much more savvy consumer.

A facet of this is crowdsourcing, described by Wikipedia as “The practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.”

Crowdsourcing will be a real game-changer when it comes to generation of ideas, opinions, and information to help persons find job opportunities for which they are well suited (and vice versa).

Immediate relevance to hiring and assessments: There are a number of new (and soon-to-be-emerging) companies on the market that are using ratings from references (or current co-workers) to help further an understanding of an applicant’s abilities relative to a specific job opportunity. Determining the effectiveness of pre-hire assessments has been difficult, due to challenges with collecting post-hire performance data. Collective-intelligence-based systems are providing the ability to look at performance via aggregated ratings collected from sources who have worked (or are working with) an individual in order to gain a reality-based picture of what they bring to the table relative to a specific opportunity. Firms in this area include: RightHire, Chequed.com, Checkster, and Skillsurvey.

Collective intelligence also provides a way for pre-hire assessment systems to capture the performance data that is needed to determine their effectiveness. This is a big deal because the inability to collect useful performance data has held personnel selection science back for decades. Companies such as FurstPerson and Logi-Serve are leading the market when it comes to creating “closed loop validation systems.” These systems have software that captures performance data streams and use this information to better understand the financial impact of assessments and to optimize scoring algorithms to ensure the systems are delivering maximum ROI.

Crowdsourcing is also starting to generate new and interesting developments in talent acquisition. For instance, one new company is using collective intelligence/crowdsourcing to develop and maintain skills testing item pools. This allows the test developer to tap into the collective wisdom of experts in an area to create and monitor tests.

Another interesting facet of collective intelligence is the ability for distributed groups of individuals to provide collective opinions about aspects of a company that may be relevant in the job search.

Glassdoor is already providing a quantum leap in this area. In the near future, expect to see companies that provide insight into even more specific aspects of companies (such as culture or the fit with a specific boss) via collectively sourced ratings. This information will be used to drive job searches and will bypass official input from a company about their culture, in favor of the opinion of those who have experience working there. It’s truly revolutionary stuff. ManageUp is an example of a firm working on this kind of matching process.

Gamification

Attention spans are getting shorter as we interact with a growing number of devices via touching screens, swiping, and using easy-to-access apps.

Business are developing ways to make accomplishing things such as learning and research more fun and are having a good deal of success. Many of the major trends in gamification are relevant for the staffing industry. This trend cannot be ignored.  Those entering the workforce in the near future will expect to be entertained and engaged at a meaningful level. Failure to meet these expectations will not do your employment brand any favors.

Immediate relevance to hiring and assessments: Even an advocate for pre-hire testing such as myself can admit that most tests are no fun at all. Few people like slogging through hundreds of radio buttons and being asked questions that don’t necessarily make sense. Recruitment branding is one area where there has been some great examples of games that can engage applicants while helping them understand what a company is all about. While some companies are starting to get it, when it comes to recruitment branding and engagement, the typical experience is still pretty mundane. This is especially true as one moves from sourcing candidates to their actual evaluation as a job applicant.

Gamification (and increased levels of interactivity) has yet to really penetrate into the actual evaluation of candidate fit for a job. The reason for this, and the major challenge to be overcome, lies with the analytics and data interpretation related to game play. While games make it easy to collect a ton of data, using this data to gain insight into specific job-related competencies is much harder. This type of measurement takes a ton of data and requires major research efforts, and without it there is no way to ensure that games can reliably or accurately predict meaningful outcomes.

We are just now seeing the first companies who are attempting to breach the chasm. What I have seen is very encouraging, and perhaps in a few years’ time we will see games that can be used as predictive tools. This area will be huge in the decades to come. Companies currently making headway in this area include: Knack.it and Selleration Games.

Credentialing

The Internet is about learning, and it providing a ton of non-traditional pathways to gaining useable knowledge. We are just at the start of a movement to help those learning on their own to have a way to demonstrate their mastery of a subject area.  There are both open source credentialing movements such as the Mozilla open badges initiative as well as more proprietary credentialing systems. The resume is morphing to an online profile that provides the ability to add evidence of certifications gained via online learning venues. This is another trend that cannot be ignored.

Immediate relevance to hiring and assessments: One of the major challenges with credentials is ensuring that they will be seen as credible. Some controls will be needed to ensure sure that the badge provided has really been earned and represents a meaningful level of mastery. Skills testing companies (and other assessment companies) will have a big role in providing a reliable and accurate way to measure and certify subject area mastery.

At present this area is still wide open but success will require the ability to buy into the measurement process driving certifications. This creates a significant opportunity for companies who specialize in proper measurement to fill this need. This trend to take a bit longer to unfold to the point where it will be accessible, but the wheels are definitely in motion now. Companies currently working in this area include: Smarterer and Jobfig.

Entrepenurial Culture

These are exciting times when it comes to the ability for just about anyone to build a company around a vision or idea. Increased visibility, easier access to resources, the ability to build on existing platforms via APIs, and the ability to source funding via kickstarters and other incubators has led to a huge increase in new companies.  This is definitely true when it comes to recruiting and talent acquisition. Just take a stroll through the tradeshow at the HR Technology Expo or the ERE Recruiting Conference and Expo, or read Todd’s columns and you will be amazed at the number of new companies emerging in our area.

Immediate relevance to hiring and assessments: Pre-hire screening and assessments are just as hot when it comes to new companies. I have seen a ton of really interesting stuff lately. While existing pre-hire assessment firms are doing great things, true innovation in the pre-hire assessment space will not come from within, but rather from new businesses. The biggest issue I see is ensuring these new companies respect the basic truths of test development and validation enough that they do not cut corners on the science side. Managing the interplay between pure AI and scientifically based and proven measurement will be the key to building effective products that will truly provide meaningful prediction.

So get ready to be amazed in 2013. It will be a year that will definitely provide some excitement when it comes to technology-based hiring tools.

Read the article on ere.net.

“We pride ourselves on our service creativity. We strive to ensure that customers that interact with our team have a great customer experience. Logi-Serve offers a new dimension in assessment science that should enable better alignment with our mission to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. We believe Logi-Serve will be an important asset in driving results for our clients,” commented Kristin Baker.

“The guiding force behind Logi-Serve is to provide a decision support technology that solves key business issues and enhances service excellence and customer interactions for any size sales and service oriented business. Logi-Serve also offers large enterprise customers a truly innovative and strategic assessment and development solution. A host of analysts and industry experts have declared Logi-Serve to be without peer. We are pleased to add Percepta to our growing list of clients” Eric Krohner, President & CEO, Logi-Serve.

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“We pride ourselves in providing an unmatched, tailored luxury shopping experience to every customer. Logi-Serve is a best-in-class, nationally recognized assessment tool to scientifically predict a prospect’s service and sales excellence — it just fits,” commented Mark Tapper, President of Tapper’s. “I am excited to use Logi-Serve’s innovative technology continue to build on Tapper’s culture of world-class sales and service excellence.”

Study Details
Tapper’s sales associates provide high-touch service at all their stores throughout the Midwest. Sales and service performance data were provided to the Logi-Serve science team for a group of Sales Associate incumbents who also completed the Logi-Serve assessment. From these data, an average sales per year and sales per hour figure was calculated for each employee, standardizing within-stores to address differences in the selling potential associated with specific store locations.

To understand the potential value of Logi-Serve to predict candidate potential for demonstrating high levels of service performance, supervisors provided service performance ratings for all Sales Associates along multiple dimensions (using the standardized Logi-Serve performance evaluation wizard).

Study Findings

• Median annual sales were up by hundreds of thousands of dollars for Gold medalists versus Bronze and/or Silver medalists
• Median sales per hour were also significantly higher for Gold medalists versus Bronze and/or Silver medalists.
• Candidates with higher overall Logi-Serve scores were more likely to demonstrate a higher degree of service excellence along a variety of service performance rating dimensions, than those with lower overall Logi-Serve scores.
• Candidates with higher scores on Logi-Serve composite indicators of important complex characteristics such as engagement potential and trainability, etc. had high probabilities of being stronger service performers than candidates with lower scores on these custom composites.

These findings highlight the use of Logi-Serve when trying to identify Sales Associates who have the potential to be excellent sales and service providers. Candidates with higher Logi-Serve scores have higher probabilities of being top sales and service providers within the organization.

He had spent the bulk of his career on the finance side of the organization — where he had worked since its formation in 1997 — rising to president and advising the Chicago-based firm on its investments. Prior to joining Pritzker, Hoplamazian worked in mergers and acquisitions at First Boston Corp.

But the Pritzkers assured him that he would only be the interim CEO, and even put Hoplamazian in charge of the search committee to find his permanent replacement. Interim leadership tenures “are usually disasters,” Hoplamazian noted during a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture. “But I had been with the company so long and loved being there, so I got sucked into the vortex.” Hoplamazian did so well in the interim role that the Pritzkers insisted he remain in the job. Six years later, he is happy it worked out that way.

“I was completely smitten,” he said. “I got to experience working side by side with some great people at Pritzker. [CEO and chairman] Tom [Pritzker] came to me a few months in and said the candidates he had hoped for had not come through…. On paper, I was completely unqualified, but when Tom said he wanted me, I was ready to do it.”

In a way, it was a benefit “to walk in and be completely ignorant” of the management side of running the business, noted Hoplamazian, who graduated from Harvard in 1985 and received his MBA at the University of Chicago. “It was unavoidable, coming as I did with little experience in management, though a lot on the financial side. I got to ask a lot of stupid questions — but as you know, there really are no stupid questions.”

It also helped, Hoplamazian added, that he had been with Pritzker all those years and had become familiar with Hyatt’s operations, which encompass 492 properties in 45 countries. Its brands include the upscale Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Andaz hotels; Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place locations targeted at business and convention visitors and families, and Hyatt House, which offers residential-style accommodation for extended stay travelers.

Hoplamazian took on the leadership role in 2006 in the middle of an upsurge in the hospitality industry. “The year after I came in, 2007, it was like a fantasy world. Everything was going right,” he said. “Margins were expanding. Everyone was having a good time. But then [the financial crisis in] 2008 came, and things got funky really quickly. And 2009 was a disaster.”

According to Hoplamazian, 2007 was by far the best year ever for the industry — and 2009 was its all-time worst year. “We had to readjust our budgets six times [in the first six weeks]. It was that bad.” By then, however, Hoplamazian had already established a management style: Ask lots of questions, listen to the answers and make sure to treat employees with sincerity.

Quantifying Customer Satisfaction

Hyatt currently employs about 90,000 people, many of whom view the company as an extended family. Since the firm does not produce a physical product, employees’ enthusiasm for work has to come through in the quality of service that guests receive — which initially made it challenging for Hoplamazian to assess what the company was doing right and where it could improve.

Firms that make a product can judge performance based on sales and whether the devices work properly, he points out. But in the hospitality business, it is not immediately apparent how much the bottom line is impacted by the way individual employees clean guest rooms, provide directions to guests or carry bags up to a suite. It’s also not easy to tie those efforts back to the performance of top-level management.

Coming from finance, Hoplamazian wanted to find ways to quantify even a service business like Hyatt. He wasn’t met with resistance per se, but many of his co-workers were unsure whether there was a sound method of achieving that goal. “I asked about results of employee satisfaction surveys, and they showed me upward curves,” Hoplamazian recalled. “I asked how that correlated with customer satisfaction, and they said it didn’t. I asked if individual properties saw it correlating, and they only said, ‘No.’”

Hoplamazian decided to approach fellow CEOs in the service industry to see how other firms had tackled the problem, figuring that technology had greatly increased the availability and ease of analyzing customer data. The leadership team at Enterprise Rent-a-Car proved to be the most helpful. “They said the most important contact was the first person who engaged a customer,” he said, citing a well-known piece of advice: “There is only one chance to make a first impression.” Based on that guidance, Hyatt developed a survey with a one-through-five rating system that was given to customers to fill out during their stay.

“In my discussion with Enterprise, they said that people who give a ‘five’ are three times more likely to return than those who give a ‘four,’” Hoplamazian noted. “And the people who give a ‘four’ are twice as likely [to come back] than [those who give lower numbers]. Below a ‘four,’ and you might as well forget it. The only thing that matters is customer satisfaction.”

Authenticity, Listening and Loyalty

Hoplamazian also made a point of engaging employees — from his general managers down to the custodial staff — to get their ideas for improving customer satisfaction. “I was reminded of what may well be an apocryphal story about someone seeing a janitor at NASA and asking him what his job was,” said Hoplamazian. “[The janitor] said, ‘I am putting a man on the moon’, which was, I feel, the right answer.”

The average general manager at Hyatt has been with the company for 23 years, Hoplamazian noted, and housekeepers, janitors and other service professionals tend to have long tenures as well. “I believe they relate to Hyatt in a human, emotional way,” Hoplamazian stated. “They are not thinking about cost elasticity or all these things financial people think about, but [about], ‘How do I really do something that a customer would like?’”

That mindset, he added, is very different from the outlook of many product-driven firms, where staff is primarily focused on getting the next shipment out on time. When Hoplamazian was first starting out at the company, he tried out each hotel job just to see what it was like. He recalled meeting a particular front desk employee and being taken with his enthusiasm. Hoplamazian asked the front desk worker how he kept it up day after day.

“He said that the emotional experience he would get when he helped out a customer was nothing less than the reaction you see [from] a new puppy wagging its tail,” Hoplamazian noted. “It is my job to manage employees like that.”

Although the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 was a challenge, Hoplamazian said it was not the disaster for Hyatt that it was for companies in many other industries. In its most recent earnings report, the company — whose primary competitors include Marriott, Hilton and Starwood hotels — reported a 5.4% gain from a year earlier and an 8.3% increase in revenue to $1.01 billion. According to The Wall Street Journal, the firm is one of several U.S. hotel companies that are expanding significantly overseas in response to an increase in demand, particularly among business travelers.

Hoplamazian attributes some of Hyatt’s staying power to his decision during the downturn to continue paying out bonuses promised to employees at a time when many other companies were cutting out extras. “My own principles and what we had committed ourselves and our people to were tested,” he said. “But it had a gargantuan impact. You could see people knowing how serious you were about loyalty even in the face of challenge…. What you demonstrate to others when you are pushed is what makes the difference in leadership,” he added. “That one thing has [solidified] employee loyalty now that things have turned. It did not cost that much, and it showed that the leaders of the company were loyal when we needed to be.”

When former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge was the guest speaker at one of Hoplamazian’s hotel conferences, he asked Hoplamazian what he had learned from being a CEO. Hoplamazian stressed authenticity, being a good listener and loyalty. “Ridge latched onto that and said that when he was in the military, he found that rank gives you compliance,” Hoplamazian noted. “He said that because he had rank, he could tell people what to do, and they would do it whether they wanted to or not.

“But that doesn’t get you their hearts and souls, and [Ridge said] that you have to make sure you get that, too,” Hoplamazian added. “Compliance doesn’t get you there. It is how you show up and relate to people day-to-day that matters.”

Hoplamazian noted that he had to prove himself as a good leader to Hyatt employees when he first took the CEO position. He arranged to attend regional managers meetings as a way to introduce himself to the staff. At the very first of those gatherings, which included about 25 general managers, “I felt like I was getting grilled from the start. It was clearly not warm and fuzzy.”

On the morning of the second meeting, Hoplamazian took aside a manager he had known for a while and asked that person what was going on, and if he could expect the grilling to continue. The manager replied, “‘Oh, they just wanted to see if the rumors were right, if you were going to ask questions and really listen,’” Hoplamazian noted. “The rumor mill had already started, and I had now gotten the stamp of approval….

“The important thing is to engage employees. Don’t go in saying you know this and you know that, and this is the way it will be,” said Hoplamazian. “Listening is critical to leadership, and so is staying authentic. You do that and you will get loyalty, and then your role as a leader will be easy.”

Source: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3095

The HR in Hospitality Conference was developed and is sponsored by the Cornell University ILR School and the School of Hotel Administration, in cooperation with and support from Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research. The conference is attended by senior HR leaders and managers of hotels, restaurants and casinos, corporate managers and staff who deal with HR-related functions, VPs of labor relations at corporate or regional levels, hospitality law attorneys, and consultants and investors for the hospitality industry.

“We know that talent management and workforce software technologies are providing wonderful people solutions to organizations of all sizes. In today’s competitive environment every organization can benefit from learning how to deploy technologies to reduce turnover, increase engagement, improve quality of hire and develop people to their full potential,” comments Peter Wilde, a Managing Director of the Townsend Hotel, member of Preferred Hotel Group since 1999 and a member of Logi-Serve assessment Advisory Board.

“Logi-Serve is a most innovative and advanced service excellence and customer experience assessment and development tool that fits a hospitality niche by providing a scientifically advanced, easy to use system,” comments JoAnne Kruse, Conference Chair.

“Reducing turnover, improving customer experience and service excellence are fundamental to achieving financial success in the hospitality industry. We know the best hospitality businesses provide outstanding guest interactions that retain customers and build loyalty.” said Eric Krohner, President and CEO of Logi-Serve. “We are pleased to be part of this important educational forum where different technology solutions will be presented to industry leadership so companies can improve the way they hire, manage and develop talent to achieve better business results.”

Logi-Serve will also be part of the vendor gallery where it will showcase its interactive and leading edge sales and service excellence screening and development tool which strengthen the ability to select and develop employees based upon a scientifically validated assessment.

“Logi-Serve is very focused on scientifically predicting and developing service and sales excellence.” David Bruce, VW Credit, Inc., HR Director.

“We pride ourselves in providing an unmatched, service experience to every customer. Logi-Serve is a best-in-class, nationally recognized assessment tool that we believe will help us maintain a competitive edge and improve our culture of service excellence,” commented David Bruce. “Our team is excited by Logi-Serve’s truly innovative assessment and development technology.”

About VW Credit, Inc.

VW Credit, Inc. (VCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., was founded in 1981 as the financial service arm of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. VCI, a captive finance company, services Volkswagen and Audi retail customers and dealers as Volkswagen Credit, and Audi Financial Services.

The company provides competitive financial products and services to dealers and their customers throughout the United States including retail leasing, retail financing, and balloon financing, along with wholesale financing for new and used vehicles. We maintain a Remarketing Department for disposing of end-of-term lease/balloon contract vehicles, and all used company vehicles.

As a Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kevin Choksi is responsible for product strategy and setting the strategic direction for WorkForce Software. With more than 19 years’ experience in the workforce management field, Mr. Choksi has become known as a thought leader and visionary in the industry. He frequently speaks on trends and innovations in the workforce management space. Mr. Choksi holds an MBA and a BSE in computer engineering from the University of Michigan.