Feature
AI dominated the conversations at the HR Technology conference in Las Vegas this year, just as experience did a few years ago, and before that, data. But while advanced technology gets the attention, HR practitioners still struggle to accomplish basic tasks.
You'd think it would be hard for a vendor to stand out for unveiling a solution to a mundane issue given all the AI buzz. Think again.
Tight Budgets Force a Welcome Focus on the Basics
Attendees said this year’s conference paid some welcome attention to industry basics. One example comes from the 2023 Pitchfest winner, Chicago-based Manifest, which provides a solution that consolidates workers’ retirement accounts in a way that simplifies access, explains options and tracks savings. While not the sexiest challenges employers face, benefits and benefits administration make up a sizable chunk of HR’s day. No wonder such a tool captured practitioners' attention.
Manifest wasn’t alone on that score. Another Pitchfest finalist, VirgilHR in Washington, D.C., answers compliance questions via chatbot while a third, San Francisco's Aragorn.ai, synchronizes employee records across data sources to maintain the much sought-after "single source of truth."
"The past year has been a funky one — out of control inflation, widespread layoffs and highly reactive cost-cutting — and it’s forced solution providers in the HR tech and services ecosystem to take a step back and focus on solving more foundational problems that hold HR back,” wrote Kyle Lagunas, head of strategy and principal analyst at Aptitude Research.
Indeed, a number of vendors launched “high-utility” as opposed to “high-novelty” products this year, Lagunas wrote. They’re paying attention to the dynamics of the real world. “The vendors that are obsessed with their customers are going to be just fine,” he believes.
Don't believe me? Next conference you attend, pay attention to the reaction of practitioners to vendors’ roadmap presentations. Chances are generative AI won’t engender nearly as much enthusiasm as a self-service improvement or simpler file importing.
Related Article: Digital Transformation and Talent Shortages Roil the HR Tech Industry
The Ever-Evolving World of HR Tech
At the same time, the idea of what constitutes “utility” and “novelty” has evolved. “Diversity and inclusion tech was finally not new. Rather, [it was] expected,” observed RecruitingDaily chief marketing officer Ryan Leary. He called that “a testimony to the many smaller voices in our space sticking to their convictions and pushing the great word.”
Employee engagement also evolved. “For the first time in a long time, I had thoughtful conversation around improving employee engagement,” Leary said. “It’s become a real focus for the companies that pretended to care in years past. The lipstick previously applied didn’t work and they’ve lost real talent. Now they care.”
None of this is to say AI wasn’t a prominent topic of conversation. “Vendor booths, session topics and ad hoc conversations covered skills nearly as much as they did AI,” said RedThread Research Senior Analyst Heather Gilmartin Adams. Both topics “absolutely dominated hallway conversations, session content and provider messaging on the show floor, as expected.”
Gilmartin Adams was unsurprised by the large amount of AI technology "demo-ware" showcased in Las Vegas. “[So] much of the capability of AI is new, and most vendors are unlikely to invest heavily into integrating gen AI until they are certain it is something their customers want, have clear use cases for and know it will work.”
Conference
Sep
16
HR Tech Conference Las Vegas 2025
Register
Conference
Oct
27
Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
Vendors also highlighted products that responded to “the pressing need for tools that empower managers,” Adams said. For some solutions providers, that involved leveraging AI so managers can take advantage of automation and spend more time on strategic work. For others, it meant improving processes and increasing the workforce’s efficiency.
TechVentive president Brian Sommer wrote about the irony he saw at the conference related to many of the new generative AI tools: Of all of the companies pushing their revolutionary tools, the loudest voices were focused not on deep, strategic issues, but on generating job descriptions. “When it came to generative AI solutions, I saw lots of mimicry and incrementalism, but not a lot of oh-wow innovation,” he wrote.
Vendors of AI-based solutions like to tout the increased efficiency resulting from use of their products. The pitch typically goes along the lines of, “Your workers will spend less time on dull, routine task and more on strategic, high-value matters.” Put another way, employers will accomplish more with fewer resources.
Our changing views towards HR software color how we respond to new solutions. HR products used to focus primarily on the challenges of HR departments, yet now are increasingly thought of as workforce solutions. That doesn’t reduce expectations for enhanced usability, but it does suggest that utility plays a key role in a product’s success, simply by making it easier to get things done.
