Episode 62: M&A Explosion in HR Tech

My guest on this episode, Reid Walsh (CHRO at NEOGOV), talks about the bespoke nature of HR creating business impact and shares a compelling perspective: HR can play a huge role in shaping organizations that embrace and celebrate AI adoption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you haven't noticed, there's been quite an uptick in M&A activity across the HR tech space over the past 12+ months. And it's not just flashy AI startups; HR service firms, payroll bureaus, and mid-sized legacy players are getting scooped up in the market. My guest, Steve Malley, discusses this growing trend and how it's impacting buyers and the larger platform vendors in the industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abhinav Agrawal, who's the CEO at Netchex with a strong background in product development, joins me to discuss the new trends in payroll and HCM and what buyers should be looking for when choosing their next provider. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intuitively most of us would agree that organizational trust is important to build and maintain, especially in the current work environment fraught with turbulence. But, it's a bit of a squishy concept without any correlative ties to business impact. My guest on this episode, Kim Bohr, President-COO, Speaker, Author , touches on this very topic and dives into fresh market research conducted by SparkEffect (formerly Waldron and Torchiana) that surfaces the business impacts of organizational trust and how companies can better navigate workplace disruptions and negative events like layoffs to maintain or even build employee trust. The research also touches on the short and long-term impacts around the cost-cutting trend of flattening organizations and removing the middle management layer. *Super cool bonus for HR Snacks listeners: Kim and the team at SparkEffect were gracious enough to offer complimentary access to the new Trust in Turbulence report along with a helpful field guide resource for trust building and a complimentary consulting session with SparkEffect's Leadership Advisory team! You can access all of these complimentary resources at: https://sparkeffect.com/hrsnacks/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kyle Lagunas spills some tea on the not-so-flashy secret of AI adoption and advancement based on the research his new gen analyst and research firm, Kyle & Co, conducted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a tough job trying to build and maintain a positive culture across a dispersed workforce that expands internationally. Now try layering in whole new companies that get introduced through acquisitions & mergers and you have a challenge that requires talent professionals like Lauren D. Williams, SVP of Culture and Change Management at SiriusXM, to step up and lead with intentional efforts. In this episode you get to hear about Lauren's own acquisition experience at SiriusXM, how she enables offices across the country and in Europe to have a stake in culture building, which very tall and hilarious comedian she gets to work with, and what her favorite holiday treat is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are a lot of "thought leaders" across the HR industry. I've met a lot of these folks over the years and count a good many as friends. Heck, you've probably seen a few dozen featured in hashtag#HRSnacks episodes. It's valuable getting perspectives and guidance from this group, but I think there's a deficit in this industry hearing from HR professionals that are in the trenches working within their organization to advance the field and make an impact. That's why I'm pumped about this latest episode with Ramprasad Reddy Mittana. Ram is a Sr. Manager of HRIS at NSF and has hit the speaking circuit recently to share his perspective and experience on implementing AI across the HR function. Dive into this episode to learn about Ram's 4-Tiered HR model, the technical and data infrastructure needed to achieve broad AI automation, why patience is necessary with AI implementation, and how he nearly lost an eye 👀 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The HR Tech conference is this week and my guest, Ransom Wydner who's the VP of Partnerships at SixFifty, joins me to discuss the unique skillsets needed for partnership roles and why HR tech is one of the most exciting and active industries for partnerships at the moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest, Matt Harvey, discusses how leading universities like Stanford are preparing students to work with AI in a rapidly changing workforce and how they're enabling business leaders to navigate AI implementation and adoption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Aaron Delgaty dives into the ethical implications of outsourcing and automating primary qualitative research with AI tools and agents. Come for the philosophical AI debate and stay for the Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park references. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices