Remove unnecessary complexity.
Technology should reduce administration, make information easier to understand and create more time for the decisions that require human judgement.
Why I built markohr
A different approach to HR technology.
After more than 20 years leading HR teams and implementing HR systems, I kept encountering the same frustration. Too many platforms are shaped around processes, functionality and what the technology can do, rather than the questions HR leaders actually need to answer.
I created markohr to explore a different approach. It starts with employee data and real HR decisions, then uses analytics and AI to make complex information clearer, planning simpler and action more practical.
About me
I’m Mark Cowie.
I’m an HR leader with more than 20 years of experience helping organisations manage growth, transformation and change.
My career has included international HR transformation and integration at J.P. Morgan, board-level People and Operations leadership at Ingenious, and most recently leading HR and Learning and Development at HaysMac across the UK and South Africa.
Throughout that time, I have led HR teams, implemented major HR platforms, redesigned people processes and worked with leadership teams to turn workforce information into practical business decisions.
I have seen what good HR technology can make possible. I have also seen how easily it can become overcomplicated, administratively demanding and disconnected from the decisions that HR and business leaders are trying to make. That experience is what led me to build markohr.
A different starting point
Begin with the decision, then build the technology.
Traditional HR technology often begins with a system, a process or a list of features. markohr begins with a question.
What will our future workforce need to look like? Where are we losing talent? What patterns are emerging from employee relations cases? Can we afford the workforce plan we are proposing?
Once the question is clear, markohr uses employee data, analytics and AI to help find the answer. The aim is not to replace HR judgement. It is to give HR professionals clearer information, stronger analysis and more practical support, so they can apply that judgement with greater confidence.
What I believe
Technology should make HR simpler.
Employee data should lead to action.
Dashboards are only useful if they help someone understand what changed, why it matters and what they should consider doing next.
AI should support judgement, not replace it.
AI can identify patterns and provide a valuable starting point. Context, challenge and accountability must remain with the people responsible for the organisation.
What I’m building
Practical tools for real HR decisions.
markohr is an HR innovation project bringing together my experience as an HR leader with the possibilities created by analytics and AI.
Foresight connects employee data with the business plan to help organisations understand their current workforce, model future requirements and build a plan that is operationally achievable and commercially sustainable.
Insight is being developed to turn historical employee data into decision-ready intelligence across workforce shape, careers, retention, performance, reward and succession.
Resolve is also in development. It will support more consistent employee relations case management while helping HR teams identify patterns, manage risk and act earlier.
Each solution is built around the same principle: start with the HR decision and make the technology work around it.
Let’s connect
Continue the conversation.
I’m always interested in speaking with HR leaders, organisations and others exploring how employee data, analytics and AI can support better workforce decisions.
Connect with me on LinkedIn