When I Come Around: HR Tech 2024

I had a short but action-packed couple of days at HR Tech (which we can now call it because they officially changed the name ). I cut my trip a little short for a small concert with a few friends in rainy Portland but like the words from the obscure punk band from the Bay, this time of year, "(Y)ou know where I'll be found, when I come around."

I've made the journey to HR Tech more than a dozen times and while the sessions, technologies, and parties sort of run together, that's kind of what I get for going nearly every year. HR technology and the strategies behind deploying them don't change quickly enough to warrant yearly attendance. Unless HR technology is your job or you work for a large enterprise that needs to constantly refresh the tools across your org, it's easy to feel like the event is iterative.

But if you look at a time horizon of a few years, the HR Tech scene has changed pretty significantly. Big ERP players with HR offerings are no longer front and center. The companies with big budgets and, well, rizz as the kids say, are doing things that were on the margins of HR a few years ago. Seeing Visier Inc. front and center in the expo hall instead of SAP SuccessFactors might not be a big deal if you came last year (because that's where they were then, too) but if you saw what SAP did a few years ago where they had literal circus performers, well, yeah. Things have changed.

The other big change that has happened gradually is that HR Tech is a choose-your-own-adventure at this point. There are so many concurrent sessions and so many things happening (Demos! Startups! Pitchfests! Theaters! Ask the Experts!) that a whole team of people couldn't adequately cover everything happening. I'm a snacker so I like seeing a bit of everything but I am also pursuing my own agenda like everyone else should.

The uniformity of experience just isn't there. That's good but it makes the "same shit, different day" attitudes a little too cynical for my tastes. You can find new and interesting things, they just aren't served up on a silver platter.

So what did I find on my own little quest. Two big trends I want to pick at.

Much love for the mid-market tech buyer

The mid-market has been the middle child of the HR tech world for far too long. Too big for innovative or simplified small-business-focused tools, too small for multi-million dollar SaaS and implementations of enterprise software, they've just sort of rolled the dice and hoped to adapt.

As I wrote last week, I really wanted to connect with folks who knew their buyers and where they fit in the world.

I got the opportunity to sit down with Opal Wagnac , SVP of Market and Product Strategy at isolved at the event. It was refreshing to see a leader so unapologetically focused on mid-market needs. isolved is one of those companies that have slowly transformed into a powerhouse beyond their payroll services legacy. They're adding new functionality aggressively, including some recruiting functionality this year. They're also investing heavily in their in-house service offering, bucking the trend we've seen for the past decade of tech companies trying to keep those costs off their balance sheet.

I also got the opportunity to meet with Arnaud Grunwald , the new-ish ClearCompany Chief Product Officer. Clear Company has been extremely successful in the mid-market by focusing on what its customers want and finding the right balance of maturity and ease. That's not easy! Their acquisition of learning provider Brainier Solutions, Inc. continued this trend of staying in the Goldilocks zone.

Larger companies, particularly in the smaller enterprise, could use these solutions as well (and they do). But too often, product and marketing folks think of firmographics too hard and fast. There's only a one employee difference between a 999-person company and a 1,000-person company but, in some organizations, you'll be treated completely differently and be presented radically different solutions without any discovery.

Differences in size can be a helpful signal for complexity or maturity but the devil is in the details. There is more of a gradient of differences. A 100-person organization can have a complex, international footprint. A 2,000-person organization can have relatively straight-forward needs, domestic-only needs. As we think about what is and isn't mid-market, we have to think less about just size and more about maturity and complexity.

Tech is challenging a profession in transition

What used to be whispered about in after-hours events is now openly bantered about with large, expensive displays and keynote sessions: HR tech is reducing the load of organizations so much that they don't need as many people.

I hate even writing that sentence. My career started in HR and my heart immediately connects with HR and talent leaders who make tough decisions every day.

At the same time, it seems like companies have rushed to make the headcount adjustments before they actually put together the pieces on how they'll execute their talent strategy with fewer people. While vendors have talked a strong game here, this isn't something you can wave a magical AI wand over and call it good.

One attendee told me they cut almost all of their recruiting support staff and a percentage of their full-cycle recruiters. They hope that they'll be able to make it up with technology but there are open questions about that. Where the pieces fall when the dust settles is anyone's guess and I don't have a good one.

In the tech provider world that I know best, they would be happy to take a portion of your headcount budget and some will be bold enough to promise you significantly better results (fewer will be able to reliably deliver that today).

This isn't just large language model/ChatGPT hand-wringing about taking jobs in theory. It's automation and simplicity (with a dash of AI) trying to trim the soft middle of bloated admin.

Tech has largely spent the past decade losing the argument that they could replace people. Now they are winning it.

But providers should be careful what they ask for and what they promise. Jumping in after a dramatic shift like this is going to be tough for anyone. Tech providers who have gotten away with a poor customer experience and lack of any support will find themselves on the wrong side of a renewal.

One last thing

The Starr Conspiracy is now TSC | Previously The Starr Conspiracy . Our rebrand reflects a sea change in marketing tactics and strategies (just like some of the changes coming to HR). Marketing needs a reboot and we needed one as well.

We're excited about that and our new CEO, Ashley Bernard , who has kept our ship upright for a long time. And if you're curious, Bret Starr stays on as our now formerly eponymous founder and Chief AI Officer. You can check out the new website-ish if you'd like to chat.