Every HR trend report I have read this year has a focus on analytics and data as one of the top 5 trends. Having helped this field emerge over the last 5 years this was rewarding to see. At the same time I was struck by the gap between the level of expectation about the returns from HR analytics and the current level of practice that we see. In short, to meet the expectations of business leaders in relation to HR analytics we are going to need to get very focused and very effective, quickly.