The HR Technology Conference was busy this year. The expo floor was packed, the sessions were full (many standing room only), and the hallways were about as active as I have seen them. Two weeks later, I am still working through my notes.
Agentic AI defined this event. Every booth, every briefing, and every keynote seemed to have an agent story. Some of those stories are further along than others, but the direction is clear. HR technology is moving from tools that help people work to agents that work alongside them.
What stood out to me most was the energy. Startups always bring it. This year, even the largest vendors had a startup vibe. Teams were moving fast, launching new products, and talking openly about what they are still building. That is good news for buyers.
A few other themes stood out:
Pricing: Pricing is still being figured out. Vendors are trying to support both build and buy. Companies want to build their own agents and workflows on top of vendor platforms, and they also want solutions that work out of the box.
That shift changes how technology gets priced. For years, HR technology was sold by employee or by seat. That model works when companies buy finished applications. It is harder to apply when a customer wants to build its own agents, use a vendor’s data and models, or connect its own AI tools. Most providers I met with are landing on a mix. Applications are still sold by seat or employee count. Platforms, agents, and data access are moving toward usage. A few are starting to talk about pricing tied to outcomes, such as hires made or hours saved.
Buyers want flexibility, but they also want predictability. Finance teams want to know what they will pay next year, not just this quarter. The providers that keep pricing simple and transparent while giving customers room to build will earn trust and win deals.
Anthropic Partnerships: Anthropic closed the event with a keynote that showed how quickly the AI landscape is connecting to HR technology. It announced partnerships with HR providers including Workday, Greenhouse, and UKG that bring Claude into the systems HR teams already use. The message was clear. The large AI companies are not replacing HR technology providers. They are partnering with them.
Candidate Fraud: Candidate fraud is now a real business risk. Fake identities, deepfake interviews, and AI-generated applications are showing up in hiring processes across every industry. As AI makes it easier to apply, companies need more confidence that the person they are hiring is real. Providers are responding by building verification into the hiring process itself. Greenhouse partnered with CLEAR to bring identity verification into its platform. Phenom launched a fraud detection agent that flags suspicious candidates before they reach a recruiter. Brilliant is bringing that same focus to frontline hiring, where speed and volume can make fraud harder to catch. Trust will be one of the most important measures of HR technology in the year ahead.
Connected Transformation: Companies are moving from disparate processes to connected transformation. HR leaders have spent years managing point solutions that do not talk to each other. The conversation has shifted to how data, workflows, and agents connect across the employee lifecycle. Buyers are looking for partners that can support a broader transformation, not another tool to manage. Walmart addressed its transformation journey in our panel discussion on Wednesday afternoon.
Strategic Workforce Planning: Strategic workforce planning is back (again!). SWP was everywhere this year. As AI changes how work gets done, companies need a better view of the skills they have, the skills they need, and how roles will evolve. Several providers have made SWP a priority.
Pitchfest showed where startups see opportunity. Most of the companies pitching this year focused on talent acquisition, frontline workers, and performance. Talent acquisition remains the most active space for new entrants. Frontline continues to attract innovation as companies look for better ways to hire and support hourly workers. Performance is getting fresh attention as companies rethink how they measure contribution when AI is part of the work.
I was fortunate to meet with many providers. Here are a few that stood out.
Agentic AI
Providers across HR are moving beyond assistants and putting agents to work, from sourcing and screening to workforce planning and talent decisions. The providers below are giving customers practical ways to put agents to work, and in some cases, to build their own.
iCIMS: iCIMS won an HR Executive Top HR Products of the Year award for its AI Sourcing Agent. The agent searches a company’s existing candidate records and handles outreach to prospects, helping employers fill roles with talent already in their CRM. It is a practical use of agents that creates value from data companies already own.
Greenhouse: Greenhouse had a lot to share this year. Its recent announcements include an MCP gateway that lets customers connect AI tools like Claude, Gemini, and Copilot to Greenhouse with governance in place, an interview Notetaker that links notes to scorecard questions, and new agents for job kickoff, candidate insights, and analytics. Greenhouse continues to pair innovation with its long commitment to structured and fair hiring.
PageUp: PageUp introduced Paige, its AI recruiter assistant. Paige supports recruiters across everyday tasks and gives PageUp customers a clear path into agentic AI inside the platform they already use. PageUp has always been strong in customer partnership, and that shows in how it is rolling out AI.
Findem: Findem showcased Findem Studio. Findem built its reputation on talent data, and Studio gives talent teams new ways to put that data to work. It is a strong example of a provider letting customers build on top of its platform.
Phenom: Phenom has been talking about applied AI in HR for years. Its agent strategy now spans candidates, recruiters, employees, and managers.
Eightfold: Eightfold has evolved its offering. It won a Top Product Award for AI Interviewer which has expanded to include more agents. TalentForge lets enterprises build their own HR applications on top of Eightfold’s platform and talent intelligence. It was one of the clearest examples of the build and buy trend at this year’s event.
TwinCafe: One of the more interesting new ideas came from Ashutosh Garg, co-founder of Eightfold. TwinCafe, developed by his company Viven, is a digital twin platform. It captures a person’s knowledge, experience, and perspective so others can access it through a conversation. In the workplace, that could mean getting answers from a colleague who is on vacation, in a meeting, or no longer with the company. It is an early look at how agents may help organizations hold on to institutional knowledge.
Frontline Hiring
Frontline workers make up the majority of the workforce, yet most HR technology was not designed for them. Our recent research on the frontline workforce shows that speed, simplicity, and a mobile experience matter more than anything else. The providers that understand this are winning.
Brilliant: Brilliant is focused on hiring for frontline roles. It is built for the speed that frontline hiring demands, helping employers move candidates from interest to hire faster. It was one of the more interesting conversations I had all week.
Workday: Workday has been leading the way in Frontline Workforce with everything from talent acquisition (through Paradox) to pay to engagement to shift scheduling – all through AI.
Strategic Workforce Planning
SWP has been on the HR wish list for years. What changed this year is urgency. AI is reshaping roles faster than most companies can plan for them. Companies need to connect workforce data, skills, and business plans in one place, and they need it to be usable by HR and finance leaders alike.
Visier: Visier has long been a leader in people analytics (and another Top Product winner), and SWP is a natural extension. Its depth in workforce data gives companies a strong foundation to model scenarios and plan for the workforce they will need. Its focus on managers helps pull SWP from just a disparate solution to something impacting the entire organization.
Cornerstone: Cornerstone is making SWP a priority. Its strength in learning and skills gives it a unique position to connect planning to development. Companies can identify skill gaps and then take action to close them.
HR, Payroll, and Verification
Payroll has become a competitive priority for HCM providers. Companies want HR and payroll in one connected system, and providers are investing to deliver it. The data that flows from these systems is also becoming more valuable to the broader ecosystem.
BambooHR: BambooHR launched Bamboo AI this year, a set of agents built into the platform that support reporting, scheduling, payroll readiness, benefits questions, and recognition. Customers can build their own agents and connect AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude through MCP. BambooHR also added on-demand pay through Clair at no cost to employers.
HiBob: HiBob is investing in payroll as part of its connected HR platform. Its native US payroll and benefits administration became available this year, bringing pay and people data into one system. HiBob also partnered with The Josh Bersin Company to launch agents powered by Galileo, starting with job architecture, compensation, and performance.
Darwinbox: Darwinbox continues to build momentum as a global HCM provider. It offers a modern, mobile experience across the employee lifecycle and is expanding its presence with large enterprises around the world.
Experian: Experian made a big Workday announcement. Experian Verify now integrates with Workday, allowing Workday customers to manage income and employment verification requests through Experian as part of Workday’s Total Benefits solution. Experian says the expanded network could cover more than 80 million records, more than half of U.S. payroll workers. The result is less manual work for HR teams and faster approvals for employees.
The providers that succeed this year will be the ones that connect the pieces, price in a way buyers understand, and show real outcomes from their agents. There was plenty of reason for optimism in Las Vegas.
It is a great time to be in HR Tech.
