letter from the editor
Shaping the
Future
“The best way to predict the future is to create it,”
according to expert words-of-wisdom creators
Abraham Lincoln and Peter Drucker. But how
does it apply to human resources?
If you recall, a few short months ago the March/April issue
of HR Professional focused on Big Data applications in
HR. Peter Smit, the author of that issue’s cover story, wrote
that organizations must recognize that Big Data is a tool to
provide new or better insight into their operations, which
will enable more strategic decision-making down the line. In
effect, gathering and examining HR data should be a major
indicator and influencer for the future.
But collecting and storing data on everything from employee
personal information, recruiting efforts, workforce
diversity and more requires the use of a fairly robust system.
So, as a follow-up to our Big Data issue, we decided that the
September issue of HR Professional should provide a more
in-depth look at systems capable of handling and sorting all
of this data. Human resources information systems (HRIS)
are powerful tools built to facilitate better handling of HR
data. Choosing the right system for you and implementing
it in your own organization is no easy feat – flip to our cover
story, written by Louise Chalupiak, starting on page 16.
With the arrival of September brings a brand new
Editorial Advisory Board for HR Professional magazine. I’d
like to thank the previous board for all of their help and guidance
over the last two years – it’s been a lot of fun learning from
you. I’m very excited to work with the new panel of experts,
who are now listed in our updated masthead to the right.
As always, I’m looking forward to your feedback – feel
free to call or email me any time, or tweet to @HRProMag.
You can now view and share the September digital edition
on hrpatoday.ca.
Happy reading,
Jill Harris
866-953-2182
jharris@lesterpublications.com ■
VOLUME 32 / NUMBER 6 SEPTEMBER 2015
Editor: Jill Harris | Publisher: Sean Davis
Managing Editor: Duff McCutcheon, HRPA
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THE MAGAZINE OF
HUMAN RESOURCES
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Jason Beeho, Rubin Thomlinson LLP
Dean Bulloch, MBA, CHRE,
School of Business & Hospitality,
Conestoga College Institute
Cheryl Fullerton, Maple Leaf Foods
Julie Giraldi, Ontario Hospital Association
John Hamovitch, Intelex Technologies
Paul Klein, Impakt
Claudette Knight, Meridian
Charles Marful, Ernst & Young
Nan Oldroyd, Loblaw
Anthony Papa, Federal-Mogul Motorparts
Laura L. Randell, B.A., CHRE, SEEC
Schulich School of Business
Jose Tolovi Neto, Great Place
to Work® Canada
6 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2015 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
