When teams work in silos, even the best tech can fall flat. But when HR, IT, and leadership collaborate from the start, organisations can select and implement tools that actually solve real problems and deliver real results.
Partnering with Eightfold, the industry’s first Talent Intelligence Platform, we were able to open up a conversation around one of the most forward thinking pieces of HR technology on the market.
We were delighted to bring together some of the brightest minds across HR to uncover some of the biggest challenges, smartest solutions, and boldest predictions on how HR technology can solve wider organisational challenges, if led by HR.
The conversation brought about the following takeaways:
Clear Use Cases Beat Shiny Tools
Implementation must always start with the problem, not the tech.
A recurring challenge across organisations is the tendency to implement technology based on features rather than business needs. HR leaders stressed the importance of defining a clear, relevant use case before choosing or deploying any tech.
The world of HR Tech has never been more abundant with tools offering similar functionalities, especially with AI. Alignment with specific organisational pain points and workflows is what drives adoption and long-term success.
“It’s never about the solution — always about the problem.”
Additionally, data literacy and trust in AI insights remain hurdles across organisations. HR must work closely with the business to understand real needs and ensure that AI enhances rather than overwhelms.
HR Tech Must Be Embedded in the Flow of Work to Drive Value
Sustainable HR tech requires agile implementation and strategic alignment. Despite the increasing sophistication of AI and automation tools, successful adoption hinges on integration into everyday workflows. Many HR tools are underutilised—like smartphones with endless features but only the basics used.
The group highlighted a need to simplify and scale tech, ensure it fits seamlessly within how people work, and avoid “HR making things ugly for people.”
Short-term excitement around new tools often leads to “big bang” deployments that falter over time. The group shared that an iterative, agile approach to implementation, such as phased rollouts with rapid feedback cycles, fosters better adoption and learning.
To ensure long-term impact, HR tech strategies must tie directly to core business goals—whether that’s unlocking workforce potential, improving gender equity, or enhancing performance management.
HR should be there to allow people to do their jobs easier
HR roles are undoubtedly changing and continuing to change as technology evolves and the function of technology in the workplace adapts. The shift in the way we interact with technology and AI has advanced dramatically in the past 6 months, from both an end-user point of view and also from the way that our tools and technologies can talk to each other.
The people who know the ‘needs’ of the organisatoin don’t necessarily know what the abilities of the AI are to match these up. If HR can be those people who understand the business and understand our people, we can be the instigators for change.
There is great value in HR tech and the HR employees who utilise it. If we upskilled our HR teams to the capabilities of AI, we could get it working in compensation and benefits, for example, where it would add alot of value looking at gender quality, for example.
Technology will improve, roles will change but people will always be needed. HR technology initiatives will continue to evolve but we must ensure that we are looking at the wider organisation at all time and focusing on the problem and not getting blindsighted by the technology.
“Every change lengthens the curve—so make each change count.”
