Why we Decided to Acquire Digital HR Tech

Written by Erik van Vulpen
5 minutes read

As a founder of AIHR, today marks an important day for me. Today, for the first time, we are growing our business with an acquisition instead of through hard work and a ton of content.

To be honest with you, I could never have imagined that less than 3 years after founding AIHR in June 2016, we would be acquiring other companies. But here we are, announcing that AIHR has acquired DigitalHRTech, the world’s largest online platform in the digital HR and HR Tech space.

I’m sure you must be curious as to why we are doing this. The full press release of the acquisition offers some information. But let me share with you the full story about why we decided to make this move.

AIHR-DigitalHRTech-Acquisition-Signing

What is DigitalHRTech?

DigitalHRTech is the leading online platform on digital HR and HR technology. The platform essentially covers topics related to everything new in HR. When it comes to innovation in HR, DigitalHRTech has published about it.

The platform has a very good reputation in the HR tech space. It is known for being a knowledge hub and for its in-depth and engaging articles and other content.

The founder of DigitalHRTech, Neelie Verlinden, is one of the leading female voices in HR tech. I already knew Neelie by reputation as one of the best content writers in the HR tech space before she founded the company. A few months later, I had the pleasure of joining her as a guest writer on the platform.

DigitalHRTech serves a worldwide audience. The majority of visitors are from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle-East, and South-East Asia.

Next to its amazing content, the growth of the platform has been remarkable. It grew from 980 monthly visitors in its first month to well over 50,000 unique monthly visitors in April 2019. This means that Neelie and her team have been able to grow DigitalHRTech at an astonishing rate of 25% month-over-month since its founding.

To me, this not only shows her success in writing fantastic and engaging content, but it also shows the astronomical appetite for this kind of quality content and the enormous potential of this platform.

Why are we doing this?

Our name, AIHR, is short for the Academy to Innovate HR. It is our mission to make HR future-proof by offering world-class, online education programs available anywhere, anytime.

The AIHR Academy is the global market leader in the People Analytics e-learning space. However, to really future-proof HR it is only natural for us to move into the broader Digital HR space. We are doing this in two ways.

  • First, we have recently expanded our product offering with the launch of our first Digital HR Certification Program. This program includes the courses Future of Work, Building a Digital HR Strategy, and Design Thinking & Employee Experiences.
  • Second, we also want to reach a much broader audience with our content. This is where Neelie and her team at DigitalHRTech come in. The Digital HR Certification Program was also launched on the DigitalHRTech platform and proved a tremendous success.

With this acquisition, we are able to combine our expertise in making great e-learning with DigitalHRTech’s expertise in creating great content on Digital HR and reaching a large audience of HR practitioners.

Our next program launch will be the HR Analytics for Business Partners course in June. Follow-up courses and certifications will have a broader HR focus in order to tailor more towards the DigitalHRTech audience. This doesn’t mean we will let go of our roots: AIHR Academy will still be the go-to place for People Analytics education. In addition, the principles of data-driven, or evidence-based working will be included in every follow-up program.

This is also part of a natural evolution. In Deloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends Report, People Analytics was identified as the biggest trend in HR. In the 2019 report, however, People Analytics wasn’t explicitly mentioned anymore but was instead integrated into the different technology solutions mentioned in the report. This is where we see the market going – and also what we will strive for in our future courses.

Integration of AIHR and DigitalHRTech opens up a whole range of exciting new content opportunities and courses for our customers that combines expertise in Digital HR with the principles of evidence-based (or data-driven) HR.

What will happen to DigitalHRTech?

The focus of DigitalHRTech will remain the same: continuing to keep HR professionals up-to-date with everything digital and innovative in HR.

It’s DigitalHRTech’s mission to create free, high-quality content on innovation in the HR space. AIHR will actively support DigitalHRTech through sharing its own content-creation and distribution resources, including design, video, and web development.

The most visible change will be that DigitalHRTech will be rebranded to AIHR Digital. This means that in the near future, AIHR will consist out of three key building blocks: AIHR Academy, AIHR Analytics (formerly analyticsinhr.com) and AIHR Digital.

Neelie will join the rapidly growing AIHR team as editor-in-chief of AIHR Digital. Neelie, who is based in Paris (France), will head our new office there.

AIHR-Team

The AIHR and DigitalHRTech team combined

Half of the working population need upskilling

The need for education has never been as urgent as it is now. According to a recent report, half of the working population will have to be upskilled in digital skills. HR will be no exception. We at AIHR are committed to making that happen.

Through our work at AIHR, we have gotten to know some of the brightest minds in the industry. We are working with different thought leaders, ranging from experienced HR professionals who know the ropes and digital natives who see the opportunities that digital is bringing to our industry. I very much look forward to continuing these collaborations and to building even more relationships.

We’re working very hard to make the AIHR Academy your one-stop-shop to keep up-to-date and develop the skills you need to future-proof your career in HR. In the meantime, you can see what this acquisition can bring you by checking out some of DigitalHRTech’s excellent content.

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Erik van Vulpen

Erik van Vulpen is the founder and Dean of AIHR. He is an expert in shaping modern HR practices by bringing technological innovations into the HR context. He receives global recognition as an HR thought leader and regularly speaks on topics like People Analytics, Digital HR, and the Future of Work.

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