Global Mobility should be one of the most data‑driven domains in HR. After all, every international assignment creates detailed information on costs, compliance, tax, immigration, performance and family impact. Yet in many organisations, these insights remain trapped in spreadsheets, emails and legacy tools, turning a strategic treasure trove into operational noise. The result: HR leaders take high‑stakes decisions on international moves with only a fraction of the available intelligence.

In the new guest article for HR Journal, Stefan Remhof argue that the core problem is not the absence of data, but the absence of a coherent data strategy for Global Mobility. As long as mobility data is fragmented across providers, systems and internal stakeholders, Global Mobility will remain a “black box”: hard to steer, hard to explain and hard to position as a strategic partner.

A data‑driven Global Mobility function looks very different. It connects assignment, cost and risk data into a single narrative that answers the questions the business actually cares about: Which assignments truly create value? Where do we systematically underestimate risk and cost? How can we design mobility policies that are fair, competitive and financially sustainable? This is where analytics, dashboards and AI do not replace HR expertise, but amplify it.

The article outlines a pragmatic roadmap: from taking a realistic inventory of your current data landscape, to breaking down silos, prioritising “few, critical” KPIs, and building simple but powerful reporting routines that leadership can trust. It also shows why starting small – with better questions and cleaner data – is often more effective than launching a big, expensive technology project.

If you want to explore how Global Mobility can move from reactive case management to a strategic, data‑driven copilot for international growth, you can read the full German article in HR Journal here: Data‑driven Global Mobility: Why data is the missing co‑pilot.