Spilling the Tea on HR Tech - The long view of balancing AR/VR technological advancements with a human-centric approach in HR.

[00:00:00] Welcome to the HR Huddle podcast presented by Sapient Insights Group, the ultimate resource

[00:00:09] for all things HR. It's time to get in the huddle.

[00:00:21] Welcome to Spilling the Tea on HR Tech where we focus on the hottest HR tech news everyone

[00:00:25] needs to know to be in the know. We break down the news the week and help you make sense

[00:00:30] of what it means for our industry and how it can impact your organization.

[00:00:34] We're recording today on March 25, 2024 bringing you all the news you can use this week. And

[00:00:41] I'm your host, Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer and Managing Partner for Sapient Insights

[00:00:45] Group. We are a research advisory firm and joining me today is my co-host Cliff Stevenson,

[00:00:50] Director of Research and Principal Analyst for Sapient Insights Group. Cliff, welcome

[00:00:53] to the show today. We're just getting into spring. There's a lot going on, but I've been

[00:00:58] on the road a little bit. You're getting ready to go on the road in April. Both of us are.

[00:01:02] So it's an upcoming season where we're probably gonna have a lot more to share over the

[00:01:05] next couple of months, right?

[00:01:06] That's right. And there's a lot of news in the industry. A lot of new products,

[00:01:12] some acquisitions, some new AI, of course, right? Gotta have that. And it's just

[00:01:20] a busy time.

[00:01:22] Yeah, the word stealth came up in a couple of these conversations today. So this is the

[00:01:27] secret stealth stuff coming out guys, right? Every time I see that in press releases,

[00:01:31] I'm like, really, stealth?

[00:01:33] In a press release.

[00:01:35] Yeah.

[00:01:37] Exactly. Yeah, let's talk about some of that stuff. We'll talk about that stealth. But

[00:01:42] we'll first mention Workday and Inspirity. That was one of the big news items they

[00:01:48] announced a partnership, non-stealth right out there in the open. And that is going to

[00:01:54] allow them to reach small and mid-sized businesses, which is pretty interesting.

[00:01:59] Yeah.

[00:01:59] This was interesting. I do think it's probably not the right word, but I don't

[00:02:03] know that they were making as big an announcement about this as they have in

[00:02:06] other events. I think, you know, Workday is still trying to figure out,

[00:02:09] I think it's strategy long term for the relationships it has with various

[00:02:13] partners and how that's gonna work. And I still, I think some of this is

[00:02:17] kind of like, how do we put this out in a way that makes sense and doesn't

[00:02:20] actually kind of freak out the whole market, right? Because they have such a

[00:02:24] big footprint because a lot of organizations see them as major

[00:02:27] competition, right? Even in the mid-market and small. Small for us is below

[00:02:31] 500. We should say, generally, Workday doesn't play in that space. I mean,

[00:02:34] there are companies who buy them who are that small, but it's really only

[00:02:37] in certain industries, companies that are rapidly growing. This

[00:02:40] relationship that they sort of announced and shared with their partners

[00:02:44] with Insperity is going to be something that's gonna be rolled out over time.

[00:02:48] And so I do think that organizations, particularly in the below 500,

[00:02:52] probably should keep an eye on this. It is definitely a relationship to work

[00:02:55] with Insperity on and for those of you who might not know,

[00:02:59] Insperity is sort of a CEO, managed services plus sort of a light version

[00:03:04] of their own technology inside of it. They've got a lot of different

[00:03:07] things that they offer and they have been an organization that's been

[00:03:09] trying to sort of build their brand and recognition up. And what this

[00:03:13] really was, was a deal to acquire Workday as their PEO primary. And so PEO

[00:03:20] is for the small businesses, basically when someone takes over as sort of

[00:03:24] the primary hiring organization for an employee that then is kind of

[00:03:30] outsourced, but not exactly. So it's a co-employment model here in the

[00:03:34] United States. Not everyone can do it in other organizations. And so

[00:03:38] Insperity has that co-employment model that they run for

[00:03:41] organizations, generally organizations under like 300 employees to maybe

[00:03:44] like 100 to 250 that kind of range. And they've run a PEO for a long,

[00:03:51] long time and they basically said we're now going to for all of our PEO

[00:03:54] customers, which is a pretty big number, use Workday as our primary

[00:03:57] platform for that. And then we're going to eventually go to market

[00:04:00] kind of as a, you know, Insperity powered by Workday kind of concept

[00:04:04] under PEO. I think this is going to be a couple of years in the

[00:04:08] making. They've got a lot of times they've got to do their own

[00:04:10] implementations, then they've got to sort of roll out and figure out

[00:04:13] marketing and conversations and that. I think this is just what this

[00:04:17] really harkens back to is that we're going to see Workday do a lot more

[00:04:19] partnerships, I think. And that's you're going to see kind of the start

[00:04:22] of that because that is definitely a direction they're heading because

[00:04:26] they're realizing particularly in certain industries and in certain

[00:04:29] levels of organizations and in certain regions, the partnership they

[00:04:32] have with the implementer or the firm that maybe is directly reaching

[00:04:37] out to those customers is really, really powerful. I'm excited about

[00:04:41] this. I think for the SMB market, it will shake things up a little

[00:04:44] bit, but I also think that this isn't anything that's going to

[00:04:47] happen tomorrow. It's my sense of it. So

[00:04:50] It makes sense. You know, and this really has been part of

[00:04:55] something we've been tracking for years now, which is the need for

[00:04:59] small businesses to have some of the capabilities that used to be

[00:05:02] reserved only for larger companies. Right? This is sort of a

[00:05:08] culmination of a trend that's been happening for a while with HR

[00:05:12] technology of just increased needs for those small businesses.

[00:05:16] Yeah, and I think the one thing that we know is that many of the

[00:05:21] enterprise HR system platforms at the HRMS payroll side, they

[00:05:26] don't come with services, right? Like they assume that you're

[00:05:28] getting your services from some other entity. And I think what

[00:05:31] this is showing is that where there's a lot of other vendors

[00:05:34] like an ADP or others, right? Who have services just kind of as

[00:05:37] part of the package that they're offering, right? And

[00:05:39] Spared he did well, right? I think what we're finding here

[00:05:42] is that services make a big difference at all levels, but it

[00:05:46] particularly makes a big difference in the SMB market. And

[00:05:49] even in the mid market, right? Like organizations, you know,

[00:05:52] who's going to sort of calculate the payroll and manage

[00:05:55] your Cobra and manage your tax deductions. That's a lot of

[00:05:59] work that an SMB just doesn't have the manpower for, nor

[00:06:03] oftentimes do they have the resources to hire another agency

[00:06:06] to do that outside of their payroll system, right?

[00:06:09] That's exactly it. You know, and speaking of sort of

[00:06:12] increasing capabilities for different types of companies,

[00:06:17] there was a new company mentioned came out over the

[00:06:21] press releases now was Helios, and they're going to be

[00:06:25] focused on global payroll, right? So really looking at

[00:06:29] those organizations that need to have compliance across

[00:06:33] employees who are living or at least registered in lots of

[00:06:38] different countries. So, you know, workforce management

[00:06:41] and payroll, but for those with sort of complex geographical

[00:06:46] reach through all the where their employees are at. So a

[00:06:50] lot in the compliance and the just the ability to have

[00:06:55] this in a quick and easy way to get everyone paid and to

[00:06:59] keep track of all of your employees across an area. And

[00:07:02] that was from this is the person Rick Hamill that used to be

[00:07:07] at Atlas, right? Well, yeah, and he still is. So Rick

[00:07:10] Hamill is the founder of Atlas, which is a employer of

[00:07:13] record solution that that grew pretty rapidly in the last

[00:07:16] couple of years. And I believe he still is the

[00:07:18] founder and owns the primary there, but he's kind of

[00:07:21] abrogated sort of overall sort of his primary leadership

[00:07:24] role and they're right in the sense of he's put a lot of

[00:07:27] other people in that organization to sort of keep it

[00:07:29] running. And I my sense would be I've had a few

[00:07:32] conversations with Rick, we don't know all the details

[00:07:35] and we'll probably have more later this year is that, you

[00:07:38] know, Rick saw a gap in this payroll space, which we

[00:07:40] know has been happening on the market, right? Pete

[00:07:43] Ticholos who's a good friend of all of ours, and I

[00:07:45] have talked a lot about this that, you know, payroll

[00:07:48] is in the middle of a real shift right now as part of

[00:07:52] that conversation, the different type of workforces

[00:07:55] like contingent workers and employers of record as

[00:07:58] well as full-time employees, right? That is playing

[00:08:00] into the payroll conversation. And so I think, you

[00:08:03] know, Rick said, look, I think I can do a better

[00:08:05] job at this and building something that's a

[00:08:08] payroll system plus some of the HR, you know,

[00:08:10] elements that go along with it, right? I would

[00:08:13] say it's something to watch if I were if I were

[00:08:14] sort of in that global payroll space, I would

[00:08:17] also say that, you know, I think this is just

[00:08:21] a we're going to see a lot more of these kind of

[00:08:23] things, right? I think happening and organizations

[00:08:26] trying to figure out how do I address this?

[00:08:29] Whenever someone tells you you can't do something

[00:08:31] like global payroll is not possible, right?

[00:08:34] Somebody's going to come out of the woodwork and

[00:08:35] say, well, let me show you I can make this

[00:08:37] possible. Right? And we've been saying for

[00:08:40] a while, a global payroll is just not

[00:08:41] possible to get under one company. And maybe

[00:08:43] that will be the case, right, for as long

[00:08:45] as it stands. But there's a lot of people

[00:08:46] who are trying to crack this one. I'm actually

[00:08:49] interested in seeing, you know, our data

[00:08:52] this year is showing definitely that there's a

[00:08:53] plan to flip more payroll than over the last

[00:08:56] two years or then there was in the previous

[00:08:58] sort of five years. And we're also seeing and

[00:09:01] I think this is a little shift from where the

[00:09:02] market has been at in the past that people

[00:09:05] are a little more likely to shift their

[00:09:07] payroll than their core HR mess these days,

[00:09:10] which was not the case if you would have

[00:09:11] looked back maybe five or six years ago.

[00:09:13] Usually people really hated mess of a

[00:09:15] payroll that they don't still hate it. But I

[00:09:17] do think that people are saying, look, where

[00:09:20] might my employee data sets is harder to

[00:09:23] extricate now than the payroll processing

[00:09:27] work, right? And the payroll rules and

[00:09:29] the payroll engines. It'll be yet to see

[00:09:32] if that's the case. But I think we've gone

[00:09:33] through so many consolidations of payroll

[00:09:35] systems and people have they're now

[00:09:37] moving them into like, yes, I want to

[00:09:39] move it into the cloud. I want to move

[00:09:40] into an environment. COVID was a big

[00:09:42] driver in this because you know, if my

[00:09:44] payroll person had to come in and run

[00:09:45] payroll, that was an issue, right?

[00:09:48] So yeah, I'm excited about this. I think

[00:09:50] we're going to see more of these. I think

[00:09:52] Rick Hamill is really engaging. I mean,

[00:09:54] when he talks about his passion for

[00:09:56] this industry, you see it in his

[00:09:58] expression. I think he will come out

[00:10:01] with something that will make the market

[00:10:03] think a little bit. And that's what

[00:10:04] I'm always looking for, right?

[00:10:06] Absolutely. And speaking of just new

[00:10:09] entrances into the market, new things

[00:10:11] going on. This is probably the story

[00:10:14] that caught my eye the most.

[00:10:17] It's a cornerstone acquiring

[00:10:20] tailspin, which is

[00:10:23] they refer to as a spatial learning

[00:10:24] company. I think of it as AR and VR

[00:10:27] augmented reality, virtual reality

[00:10:29] or extended reality XR,

[00:10:32] which is another term that gets

[00:10:34] bandied about, I suppose.

[00:10:35] Yeah, I think Josh Burson put out

[00:10:37] immersive learning.

[00:10:38] I there's a lot of terms people are

[00:10:40] using for this, right?

[00:10:41] Yeah. But you know, the idea being

[00:10:43] that you can learn in an

[00:10:46] environment where you're able to sort

[00:10:48] of move around, be immersed

[00:10:50] in that you can sort of physically

[00:10:54] occupy the space of what you're

[00:10:55] trying to learn about.

[00:10:57] This has huge implications for

[00:10:59] health care and a lot of high tech.

[00:11:02] I've seen a few use cases of this

[00:11:04] type of technology for learning

[00:11:06] on very expensive equipment where

[00:11:08] you can't afford to have it broken

[00:11:10] or not being used, you know, as

[00:11:12] it's being pulled off for trading

[00:11:13] purposes. So to be able to sort of

[00:11:15] do that and learn on these complex

[00:11:17] machines or things that could be

[00:11:19] dangerous in a safe environment,

[00:11:22] there's a lot of opportunity here.

[00:11:24] I'm not always the biggest believer

[00:11:26] in and I mean, it's in our data

[00:11:29] as well, that there's just not a

[00:11:30] lot of adoption of AR and VR

[00:11:33] tech. But I've always said it's

[00:11:34] because aren't that many use cases,

[00:11:35] but now we are seeing some.

[00:11:37] And as I mentioned, they really

[00:11:39] talk about how health care has

[00:11:41] been a big adopter of this type

[00:11:44] of technology. And I find that

[00:11:45] fascinating and I think this is

[00:11:47] really cool stuff.

[00:11:48] Yeah, I don't know if you're a

[00:11:49] big one. This is like metaverse

[00:11:50] really, are we going to be teaching

[00:11:51] metaverse? I get it. It's a bit

[00:11:53] of a stretch sometimes.

[00:11:54] I will say this is an area so

[00:11:57] Cliff has gotten to know my son

[00:11:58] is doing some internship work for

[00:11:59] us. But when my son was sort of

[00:12:01] coming up through high school

[00:12:02] and college university, he was a

[00:12:04] big proponent of VR

[00:12:06] and gaming as an education tool.

[00:12:08] So he used to send me constantly

[00:12:10] articles that pointed out how

[00:12:13] the connection between people who

[00:12:15] have really good gaming skills

[00:12:17] and really good skills in these

[00:12:18] virtual environments, then go on

[00:12:21] to become some of the best

[00:12:22] doctors and the best, you know,

[00:12:23] engineers and the best roles

[00:12:24] inside of organizations because

[00:12:26] they've got really good spatial.

[00:12:27] They've got really good sort of

[00:12:29] working in a team and

[00:12:30] collaborative all that stuff that

[00:12:31] can be built out in that

[00:12:32] environment that's gaming, right?

[00:12:34] And you add sort of the VR

[00:12:35] component to it, just

[00:12:36] heightens that ability.

[00:12:38] I also have sort of a personal

[00:12:40] experience with so many people,

[00:12:41] I think know that my background

[00:12:42] started out in learning and

[00:12:43] development. So I have a bit of a

[00:12:45] soft spot in the space for me.

[00:12:46] But one of my very first really

[00:12:49] big, you know, my own project

[00:12:51] for learning and development was

[00:12:53] helping an organization that I

[00:12:55] used to work for a big retail

[00:12:56] organization, open up a brand

[00:12:58] new warehouse after we had not

[00:12:59] had many but a brand new

[00:13:00] warehouse in Vizalia,

[00:13:01] California, I had an amazing

[00:13:03] HR team at that point in time.

[00:13:05] All my team out there, you all

[00:13:07] know who you are, Susan and Tina

[00:13:08] and Claire and everybody who was

[00:13:09] in and them who were working with

[00:13:11] me at the time. I mean, this was

[00:13:12] massive. We were sort of pulling

[00:13:14] this warehouse up from nothing

[00:13:16] and we had to teach all these

[00:13:17] people who were in the at that

[00:13:19] point in time on the lines how

[00:13:21] to do what we call pick list,

[00:13:22] right? And now Amazon has very

[00:13:24] automated but 10, 15 years ago

[00:13:26] when we were doing it right,

[00:13:26] like they had they would get a

[00:13:28] headset would say pick box two

[00:13:29] box three box four box five

[00:13:30] right and the picker had to go

[00:13:31] down the line and pick it

[00:13:32] and put them things what they

[00:13:33] were going to package up and

[00:13:34] ship out right. And so to do

[00:13:37] this we literally created a

[00:13:39] an environment that was a

[00:13:41] simulation of what the

[00:13:42] environment would be when the

[00:13:43] when the warehouse was done so

[00:13:46] they could go and train in it

[00:13:47] because there was no way to do

[00:13:49] this in books or online or in

[00:13:52] a classroom in any way you

[00:13:53] needed to experience it right

[00:13:56] and it was a lot of money and

[00:13:57] it was actually kind of weird

[00:13:58] kind of trying to create like

[00:13:59] these, you know, setups

[00:14:02] that had, you know, fixed up

[00:14:03] all in them. And to me this is

[00:14:05] where we are VR can really

[00:14:07] change how we think about

[00:14:09] development and education both

[00:14:11] in the sense of hands on

[00:14:13] working environments but also

[00:14:15] in dangerous environments or

[00:14:16] areas where we've been using

[00:14:18] admin and virtual reality for

[00:14:20] flight training for years.

[00:14:22] This is nothing new on that

[00:14:23] sense right. I think we just

[00:14:25] haven't been able to figure

[00:14:26] out how to make it cost

[00:14:27] effective in other places.

[00:14:28] And I think this is where

[00:14:30] I'm excited to see Cornerstone

[00:14:32] take a leadership role here

[00:14:34] to acquire this company.

[00:14:35] I'm a little frustrated with the

[00:14:37] learning space to be honest

[00:14:38] right now that it feels like

[00:14:40] there's so much conversation

[00:14:42] about how we're tying learning

[00:14:44] to business goals and how

[00:14:46] we're focused on the management

[00:14:48] of learning and we've lost

[00:14:50] in some senses what I think

[00:14:52] was so exciting about learning

[00:14:53] so many years ago which was

[00:14:54] just rethinking the idea

[00:14:56] of how you help people learn.

[00:14:58] So for me this is I think

[00:15:00] Cornerstone stepping back into

[00:15:01] the space that we saw 10 years

[00:15:02] ago where learning was

[00:15:03] exciting and it was doing things

[00:15:05] that was moving the whole

[00:15:06] market forward.

[00:15:07] Yes you want to tie to business

[00:15:08] goals. Yes you want to have

[00:15:09] the numbers crunched right but

[00:15:10] learning in and of itself

[00:15:12] I think is a powerful tool

[00:15:13] and we need to we need to be

[00:15:14] investing in it right.

[00:15:15] Absolutely just on a

[00:15:18] weird sort of just timing

[00:15:20] and coincidence I just done

[00:15:22] a webinar.

[00:15:23] I don't know if it'll end up

[00:15:24] being available for on demand

[00:15:26] viewing but it was on learning

[00:15:28] content and how to be

[00:15:29] strategic with your learning

[00:15:30] content with Cornerstone

[00:15:32] and that announcement

[00:15:34] was the day before we

[00:15:36] record we had the webinar

[00:15:38] is really amazing and they

[00:15:39] were able to talk about

[00:15:40] you know the application of

[00:15:42] how learning content can be

[00:15:43] applied using you know

[00:15:45] RVR XR IR in that space.

[00:15:49] So it's really cool

[00:15:50] really cool thing to see

[00:15:51] happen and speaking of these

[00:15:53] innovations I true ZEIC

[00:15:56] was named on fast companies

[00:15:57] list of

[00:15:59] world's most innovative

[00:16:00] companies and the reason this

[00:16:01] is interesting is because

[00:16:03] here they are fast companies

[00:16:04] got all these companies

[00:16:05] that you'd see like

[00:16:06] your Microsofts and your

[00:16:08] valves and all these super

[00:16:10] high tech and innovative

[00:16:11] companies and what true ZEIC

[00:16:13] does is they have a

[00:16:15] number of different

[00:16:17] workplace equity platforms

[00:16:19] softwares pay parity

[00:16:21] opportunity parity global

[00:16:23] pay date data reporting

[00:16:25] that are basically looking

[00:16:26] at how your pay is laid out

[00:16:29] and making sure there aren't

[00:16:30] any biases

[00:16:32] there's no pay disparities

[00:16:34] based on gender or race

[00:16:36] or disability or age

[00:16:39] all of these things you know

[00:16:40] and it can help you make

[00:16:41] sure that you're not being

[00:16:43] you're not having

[00:16:44] these sort of disparities

[00:16:45] and you're not having

[00:16:46] this sort of unequivalness

[00:16:48] in your organization

[00:16:49] and it's just fun to think

[00:16:51] about the fact that

[00:16:51] that's now reached a point

[00:16:52] where we see this as like

[00:16:53] a cool and innovative thing

[00:16:55] rather than just like

[00:16:57] oh it's some new car or something

[00:16:59] you know what I mean

[00:16:59] that the sort of broader

[00:17:01] press is going

[00:17:02] wow this is really neat

[00:17:03] and cool stuff

[00:17:03] and I love to see that

[00:17:05] Yeah and I think if you

[00:17:06] dive into Tuesday

[00:17:07] and I'll be honest

[00:17:08] we have not demoed with them

[00:17:09] or done a briefing with them

[00:17:10] but if you look at

[00:17:11] what they're offering

[00:17:12] right like not only

[00:17:13] I think sort of

[00:17:14] I think what is

[00:17:14] the hot topic of pay equity

[00:17:15] which is important

[00:17:16] we all need to be

[00:17:17] talked about

[00:17:18] but they also do like

[00:17:19] ACA compliance

[00:17:20] and tax credits

[00:17:20] which is the other side

[00:17:22] of that conversation

[00:17:23] which is there's value

[00:17:24] for the small businesses

[00:17:26] beyond just sort of

[00:17:27] doing good in the world

[00:17:28] right of sort of

[00:17:29] getting this right

[00:17:30] and it was just

[00:17:31] an offsite for a customer

[00:17:32] advisory board

[00:17:33] actually for a benefits

[00:17:34] based company

[00:17:35] plan source

[00:17:36] and we will talk a little

[00:17:36] bit about that

[00:17:37] as we wrap up today

[00:17:38] but you know

[00:17:39] one of the conversations

[00:17:40] that we kind of

[00:17:40] asked all the people

[00:17:41] like in that room

[00:17:43] like what were some

[00:17:43] of the things

[00:17:44] that caused you

[00:17:44] some of the most headache

[00:17:45] and there was no doubt

[00:17:46] that ACA reporting

[00:17:48] right was a big issue

[00:17:49] for all of them

[00:17:50] right so

[00:17:50] and helping employees

[00:17:52] see the benefit

[00:17:53] and the value

[00:17:54] of some of the

[00:17:54] non sort of

[00:17:55] tangential benefits

[00:17:56] was as a big challenge

[00:17:57] as well

[00:17:57] and so I do think that

[00:17:59] organizations like this

[00:18:00] are taking what seem

[00:18:01] to be a very

[00:18:02] compliance heavy

[00:18:03] conversation

[00:18:04] adding to it

[00:18:05] just good social

[00:18:07] conversation

[00:18:07] about where the

[00:18:08] market's heading

[00:18:09] and making stuff

[00:18:10] and creating

[00:18:11] basically more excitement

[00:18:12] about it

[00:18:12] which I love

[00:18:13] I love it when we see

[00:18:14] common sense pragmatic

[00:18:16] tied with the cool stuff

[00:18:17] because it's meeting

[00:18:18] a business need

[00:18:19] it's achieving outcomes

[00:18:21] it's doing things

[00:18:21] in a way that is not

[00:18:22] looking for a problem

[00:18:23] with a cool piece of technology

[00:18:25] right

[00:18:25] that's right

[00:18:26] and there's been a lot

[00:18:27] of innovation

[00:18:28] you know

[00:18:28] and as we mentioned

[00:18:29] at the top of this

[00:18:30] we're going to be

[00:18:31] mentioning same AI

[00:18:32] so buckle up

[00:18:33] and here's this

[00:18:34] this stealth

[00:18:35] who's they

[00:18:35] would this was

[00:18:35] a fun headline

[00:18:36] right

[00:18:37] that the full headline

[00:18:38] was borderless

[00:18:39] AI launches from stealth

[00:18:40] of 27 million

[00:18:42] for HR assistant

[00:18:43] this is

[00:18:44] I knew

[00:18:45] software coming out

[00:18:46] a Bernie

[00:18:47] which will

[00:18:48] was coming out

[00:18:49] from the company

[00:18:50] called borderless

[00:18:51] AI

[00:18:52] out of Toronto

[00:18:53] and what this will be

[00:18:54] is a AI

[00:18:56] virtual assistant

[00:18:57] you can ask questions

[00:18:59] there's I think 170 languages

[00:19:02] and the idea here

[00:19:04] is that this HR assistant

[00:19:06] this AI

[00:19:07] developed HR system

[00:19:08] we're going to answer

[00:19:09] your sort of complex questions

[00:19:10] regarding legal issues

[00:19:12] finance

[00:19:13] tax queries

[00:19:14] and so obviously

[00:19:16] this is another area

[00:19:17] where just seeing

[00:19:18] so many new companies

[00:19:20] coming in

[00:19:20] but this is really neat

[00:19:22] story

[00:19:22] I want to also credit

[00:19:24] Jean Achille

[00:19:25] for sending this to us

[00:19:26] so thank you

[00:19:27] yeah

[00:19:27] this one

[00:19:28] Jean

[00:19:28] I picked up from Jean

[00:19:30] and as we know

[00:19:31] you know

[00:19:31] she's

[00:19:33] Jean does

[00:19:34] marketing

[00:19:34] and PR

[00:19:35] for firms

[00:19:36] all across the HR space

[00:19:37] and

[00:19:37] I think she does

[00:19:38] have a good sense

[00:19:39] of where the market

[00:19:40] is

[00:19:41] I shouldn't say

[00:19:41] I think

[00:19:41] I know

[00:19:42] she's got a good sense

[00:19:43] of where the market

[00:19:43] is heading

[00:19:45] because she sees a lot

[00:19:46] both HR

[00:19:46] and non HR

[00:19:47] and when Jean

[00:19:49] really does sort of

[00:19:49] outside of just

[00:19:50] sort of promoting

[00:19:51] some of the things

[00:19:51] that her customers are doing

[00:19:52] when she kind of says

[00:19:52] hey this is something

[00:19:53] that's interesting

[00:19:54] I tend to pay attention

[00:19:55] and I do think

[00:19:56] that this idea of

[00:19:58] an assistant

[00:19:59] you know

[00:20:00] basically powered

[00:20:01] by all the generative

[00:20:02] learning that we're seeing

[00:20:03] in the space right now

[00:20:04] is important

[00:20:05] whether one company

[00:20:06] will be better than another

[00:20:08] I think everybody's

[00:20:08] trying to do this

[00:20:10] and this is another case

[00:20:11] of what goes into it

[00:20:13] and what comes out of it

[00:20:14] is a big difference

[00:20:14] I think the languages

[00:20:15] is a really hard part

[00:20:17] the fact that they've

[00:20:17] tackled languages up front

[00:20:19] in this is

[00:20:19] I think is really intriguing

[00:20:21] because generally

[00:20:22] most of them have been

[00:20:23] trained off of

[00:20:24] sort of US centric

[00:20:26] and English speaking

[00:20:27] sort of data sets

[00:20:28] in a lot of cases

[00:20:29] particularly in HR

[00:20:30] and so I do think

[00:20:31] this is going to be interesting

[00:20:32] to see where this market heads

[00:20:34] we're going to see

[00:20:35] a lot of these come out

[00:20:37] the fact that these

[00:20:38] organizations have received

[00:20:39] the money

[00:20:39] we look at the spigot

[00:20:40] for investments

[00:20:41] have definitely been cut off

[00:20:42] this the kind of

[00:20:43] organizations

[00:20:43] that are getting money still

[00:20:44] so interesting to have to watch

[00:20:45] right

[00:20:46] absolutely

[00:20:48] and speaking of not being

[00:20:49] US centric

[00:20:50] we're going to talk about

[00:20:52] just an interesting story

[00:20:53] that came across in India

[00:20:55] they saw a study that had come out

[00:20:57] that just saw a huge gap

[00:20:59] in skills needed for AI

[00:21:02] I

[00:21:03] this is going to be related

[00:21:04] the next story as well

[00:21:05] but what they found

[00:21:07] in this study

[00:21:08] which has this great

[00:21:09] sort of academic name

[00:21:10] accelerating AI skills

[00:21:11] pairing the Asia Pacific

[00:21:12] workforce for the jobs

[00:21:13] of the future

[00:21:15] that AWS

[00:21:15] it was on web services put out

[00:21:17] and they found that

[00:21:19] 96% of employers in India

[00:21:21] find having AI skills

[00:21:24] having talent with AI skills

[00:21:25] is extremely important

[00:21:27] but only 79

[00:21:28] or actually I should say 79%

[00:21:30] of them can't find

[00:21:31] that AI talent

[00:21:32] right

[00:21:32] so there's a huge need

[00:21:34] and they're not finding those people

[00:21:36] and those

[00:21:36] those are really big numbers

[00:21:38] so the fact that

[00:21:40] nearly 100%

[00:21:41] in India

[00:21:42] envision their companies

[00:21:43] being a AI driven

[00:21:45] by 2028

[00:21:46] so here we have this market need

[00:21:49] for all these AI skills

[00:21:50] but especially in India

[00:21:52] they're finding that

[00:21:52] the talent's falling short

[00:21:54] so there we go back to

[00:21:55] what's needed for

[00:21:57] AI assistance

[00:21:58] ease of use

[00:21:59] more technology

[00:22:00] more learning

[00:22:01] right

[00:22:02] more of that sort of tech

[00:22:03] and helping these companies

[00:22:04] meet those skills gaps

[00:22:06] and then

[00:22:06] I'm laughing because

[00:22:08] another story that came across

[00:22:09] was just a sort of meta

[00:22:11] study that was on how often

[00:22:13] companies mentioned AI

[00:22:16] in any of their public meetings

[00:22:18] right

[00:22:18] so anytime they're doing

[00:22:20] earnings calls

[00:22:21] or announcements

[00:22:23] they found that

[00:22:24] in the Fortune 500

[00:22:26] the number of S&P 500

[00:22:28] companies citing AI

[00:22:30] on earnings calls

[00:22:31] it's up to 180

[00:22:34] of the S&P 500

[00:22:36] as compared to

[00:22:38] 2014 when it was won

[00:22:40] so

[00:22:41] just kind of a fun

[00:22:43] you know we joke a lot here

[00:22:44] about how often AI gets brought up

[00:22:45] so it's fun to see that

[00:22:47] people are taking note of

[00:22:48] wow people really talk about AI a lot so

[00:22:51] yeah and I think

[00:22:52] this whole thing goes to show

[00:22:54] one is

[00:22:55] are we looking for the right skills

[00:22:56] one

[00:22:57] what are those skills

[00:22:58] two is

[00:23:00] when we're talking about

[00:23:01] artificial intelligence

[00:23:03] are we really having

[00:23:04] the kind of conversations

[00:23:05] we didn't have

[00:23:05] we talked a little bit about

[00:23:07] Athena Karp last week

[00:23:08] and how she was talking about

[00:23:10] where do we need to infuse

[00:23:11] the human component to it

[00:23:12] I'd really like to see us

[00:23:14] expand the idea of

[00:23:14] what are the skillsets that are really

[00:23:16] needed inside of AI

[00:23:17] so I think both of these stories

[00:23:19] lend themselves to that conversation

[00:23:20] right

[00:23:21] that's really it

[00:23:22] because I think for too long

[00:23:23] when people think

[00:23:24] oh we need programmers

[00:23:26] but there's other ways

[00:23:27] to work with AI

[00:23:29] right maybe you're just the person

[00:23:30] who is better able to put in

[00:23:32] sort of the right queries

[00:23:34] or you're the person who understands

[00:23:36] what the landscape looks like

[00:23:38] of AI

[00:23:39] so that you're able to sort of

[00:23:40] fit okay we need this

[00:23:42] then I know where to go look

[00:23:43] I know the types of possibilities

[00:23:45] that are out there

[00:23:45] there's so many different ways

[00:23:47] when you think about

[00:23:48] as you said

[00:23:49] all the different skills around AI

[00:23:50] well and speaking of that

[00:23:52] I know we're wrapping up for the day

[00:23:53] both you and I are on tight schedules this week

[00:23:55] but we wanted to make sure

[00:23:56] we got the recording done this week

[00:23:57] but I just came back

[00:23:58] from the plan source event

[00:23:59] where they were doing

[00:24:01] customer advisory board

[00:24:02] just a small group

[00:24:03] I think about 20-25 customers at most

[00:24:05] really really powerful though

[00:24:06] to hear the CHROs

[00:24:08] and the heads of total rewards

[00:24:10] and talking about what was important to them

[00:24:12] and what they needed

[00:24:13] we were giving a session on

[00:24:15] sort of the benefits

[00:24:16] and the workforce of tomorrow

[00:24:17] where all that was heading

[00:24:18] and how that was being tied

[00:24:20] to sort of the changes

[00:24:21] and benefits

[00:24:23] but the conversations that came back

[00:24:24] were that as big as AI is

[00:24:27] they want everyone

[00:24:28] every one of them raised their hand

[00:24:30] and said our company

[00:24:31] is being very careful

[00:24:33] about what they do

[00:24:34] and they've put in place

[00:24:35] some sort of tool

[00:24:36] or some sort of statement

[00:24:37] saying that our employees are not allowed

[00:24:39] to use it in certain situations

[00:24:40] right like that was the

[00:24:41] across the board of all the HR leaders

[00:24:44] in that room right

[00:24:45] and what they were really interested in right now is

[00:24:47] like there's bigger issues right now

[00:24:49] that we're dealing with

[00:24:50] we're still struggling

[00:24:50] with where people working

[00:24:52] with remote work conversation

[00:24:53] we're still struggling with

[00:24:54] managing to upkeep

[00:24:55] with compliance and regulations

[00:24:57] inside of our organizations

[00:24:58] and we're definitely still struggling with

[00:25:00] the fact that we have talent

[00:25:01] in some areas

[00:25:02] that's in abundance

[00:25:03] and talent in other areas

[00:25:03] that is that is

[00:25:04] that we're really

[00:25:05] struggling to keep

[00:25:07] and so I do think that

[00:25:08] you know if we're really going to see AI

[00:25:10] make a difference in our world and HR

[00:25:12] it has to start tackling

[00:25:14] the more practical needs

[00:25:16] Clanswers did a really good job

[00:25:17] of showing where they were going to be

[00:25:18] and putting AI

[00:25:19] and how it was going to be helping them

[00:25:20] reduce the amount of time

[00:25:22] they had in sort of building out

[00:25:24] communications for campaigns

[00:25:25] which is a big part

[00:25:26] of the benefits world

[00:25:27] that's coming down the road

[00:25:28] that they're still working on those tools

[00:25:30] but they were also I think

[00:25:32] really talking about

[00:25:33] how important it is

[00:25:34] that he got things right

[00:25:35] in business

[00:25:36] that you make

[00:25:37] because this is when people need you the most

[00:25:39] right

[00:25:40] and when they expect people

[00:25:41] to have the right information

[00:25:43] their fingertips

[00:25:44] when you're dealing with benefits

[00:25:45] and it was really powerful

[00:25:46] to see them really

[00:25:47] but having human conversation

[00:25:48] on all this

[00:25:49] so I'll continue to be

[00:25:51] the advocate for this

[00:25:52] that I like AI

[00:25:53] I think AI is going to change our world

[00:25:55] and get to make changes

[00:25:56] but we've got to figure out

[00:25:57] where the human component fits in it

[00:25:59] and how we continue

[00:25:59] to keep the human side of it

[00:26:01] so yeah

[00:26:01] it's been a good week

[00:26:02] you and I will both be traveling

[00:26:05] I think maybe not

[00:26:05] the next time we record

[00:26:06] but the week after

[00:26:07] we'll both be

[00:26:08] in different cities

[00:26:09] I'll be out on the west coast

[00:26:11] at the Oracle

[00:26:11] and the Workday Innovation Session

[00:26:13] and the application session

[00:26:14] and you will be at

[00:26:16] two events

[00:26:16] right coming up

[00:26:17] that's right

[00:26:18] I'll be in Austin

[00:26:19] in mid April

[00:26:21] April 15th to the 18th

[00:26:22] for work humans event

[00:26:24] beautiful Austin

[00:26:25] I've attended that before

[00:26:26] it's always wonderful

[00:26:28] and the week after that

[00:26:29] April 22nd to the 25th

[00:26:31] I'll be in Miami

[00:26:32] for workforce

[00:26:33] software's event

[00:26:34] Ignite

[00:26:35] is the name of that one

[00:26:36] and that's not too far

[00:26:37] I live in St. Petersburg, Florida

[00:26:39] so get to take the train

[00:26:40] which is a nice street

[00:26:42] yeah

[00:26:42] some nice opportunities

[00:26:43] to get out

[00:26:44] and sort of have some conversations

[00:26:45] also we are

[00:26:47] just getting ready to start

[00:26:47] we're doing our kickoff tomorrow

[00:26:49] so for all those

[00:26:49] who've signed up

[00:26:50] we had a full quorum now

[00:26:52] in our brand new

[00:26:53] six month immersive education series

[00:26:55] called Building an Adaptable HR System Strategy

[00:26:58] that works

[00:26:59] concept of business case

[00:27:00] and outcomes

[00:27:01] it's starting

[00:27:02] with our kickoff tomorrow

[00:27:03] the first session

[00:27:04] is the second week

[00:27:05] in April I think

[00:27:06] with a lot of cohort material

[00:27:08] and on the ground work

[00:27:10] as well as the plan

[00:27:11] that you will build out

[00:27:12] an HR System Strategy

[00:27:13] by the time you get through

[00:27:13] this six month program

[00:27:15] with two sessions a month

[00:27:17] and I'm really excited about this

[00:27:18] because we've got some really great companies

[00:27:20] who are participating in it

[00:27:21] we may do some announcements

[00:27:23] so we've got to get everybody's confirmation on that

[00:27:25] this is going to be

[00:27:26] I think an opportunity

[00:27:27] to really delve into some of the stuff

[00:27:28] that we see in the data

[00:27:30] and that we're seeing on the ground

[00:27:31] and helping people

[00:27:32] actually put it into action

[00:27:34] in a way that

[00:27:34] you know we haven't done previously

[00:27:36] but through this kind of group environment

[00:27:38] so I'm excited

[00:27:39] so we'll keep you posted

[00:27:39] on how that cohort program

[00:27:41] is going for everyone as well

[00:27:42] and I apologize

[00:27:43] but we got to wrap up guys

[00:27:44] it's been a busy week

[00:27:45] I know I'm running off to meetings

[00:27:46] you're running off to meetings Cliff

[00:27:48] but just as we wrap today

[00:27:50] just a couple of other things

[00:27:52] we are getting ready

[00:27:53] the full HR Systems Survey

[00:27:55] and White Paper is still available

[00:27:56] on the website

[00:27:57] but we are getting ready

[00:27:57] to launch the new survey

[00:27:59] so you will start to see announcements

[00:28:01] around that coming kind of mid April

[00:28:02] from some of the

[00:28:03] distributors

[00:28:04] and first of May

[00:28:05] from our

[00:28:07] organization

[00:28:08] and our public launch

[00:28:09] if you are a vendor association

[00:28:11] media outlet

[00:28:12] company who does consulting for HR

[00:28:14] any of those

[00:28:15] who are interested in distributing

[00:28:17] the survey to your audience

[00:28:18] this is the only way

[00:28:19] they're going to be able to get

[00:28:20] that $1500 paper

[00:28:22] is by completing the survey

[00:28:24] and giving the data

[00:28:26] if you want to make sure

[00:28:26] your audience has access to that

[00:28:28] please please reach out to us

[00:28:29] because we're definitely

[00:28:30] filling out our distributor list

[00:28:31] quickly we've got all last year's distributors

[00:28:33] signed up again

[00:28:34] and several new ones this year

[00:28:35] so I think we're going to be upwards

[00:28:36] of 70, 80 plus distributors

[00:28:37] on our list this year

[00:28:39] we cover over 200 HR vendors

[00:28:40] and we have input from over

[00:28:42] 5000 HR practitioners

[00:28:43] in our in our annual research

[00:28:45] we want you to be part of it

[00:28:46] so please definitely participate this year

[00:28:48] also go to our website

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[00:28:49] to get ongoing updates

[00:28:51] on our research launches

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[00:28:55] which again is opening May 1st

[00:28:57] be sure to listen to our sister

[00:28:58] HR Huddle podcast

[00:28:59] HR we have a problem

[00:29:00] hosted by our CEO Terry Zipper

[00:29:01] these HR Huddle episodes

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[00:29:14] it does make Cliff and I smile a little bit, doesn't it?

[00:29:16] Yeah

[00:29:17] We like it

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[00:29:29] for pulling together

[00:29:30] all of the content

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[00:29:45] and finally that's it

[00:29:46] for this episode of Spilling the Tea on HR Tech

[00:29:48] we hope it's been just the brew you needed

[00:29:50] to start the end of the running this week

[00:29:51] we'll be back in two weeks

[00:29:52] with another pot of boiling hot

[00:29:54] HR Tech updates and insights

[00:29:56] Bye everyone