There has been plenty happening in the HCM sphere this week, but the most telling stories have centered on what happens after a company decides to use AI. Buying tools is one thing. Working out what information those tools should use, how employees will be managed around them and where legal limits should sit is another.
That sequence runs through Salesforce’s investment in HiBob and Accenture’s research into executive AI spending. HiBob is making the case that AI needs a dependable map of an organization before it can be useful, while Accenture’s findings suggest leaders are starting to focus less on the technology alone and more on the roles and skills surrounding it.
The same questions are reaching regulators and the courts. California lawmakers are moving to restrict workplace tools that infer employees’ emotions. But with all this talk of AI, it is important not to forget the basics. A case involving retailer Next has examined when recruitment and retention needs can justify different rates of pay. Together, the stories show how workplace technology is becoming entangled with the basic rules of employment.
Salesforce Investment Backs HiBob’s Workforce Data Push
Salesforce has led an investment in HiBob, with Farallon also participating, as the HR platform provider expands its ambition beyond employee administration. HiBob wants to become an organizational intelligence layer, providing companies with a clearer view of their people, roles, skills, teams, managers, permissions and reporting structures.
The company’s argument is that AI agents and agentic workflows will be unreliable if they lack that context. An AI tool may be able to automate a task or surface an insight, but it cannot make a useful recommendation without understanding who has responsibility, which teams are involved and how the organization is structured. Ronni Zehavi, HiBob’s CEO and Co-founder, said the change AI will bring is not solely a technology story but an “organizational and managerial revolution.”
That premise also explains Salesforce’s interest. Joe Teplow, Slack’s Chief Strategy Officer and an SVP at Salesforce Labs, said HiBob has built a trusted foundation of workforce context and broadened its platform through the acquisitions of Mosaic, an FP&A provider, and UK payroll platform Pento. The strategy is to connect people, payroll and financial planning data, making workforce decisions easier to assess across HR and finance.
Accenture Finds AI Spending Is Shifting Toward Skills
The question of how businesses reorganize around AI is also becoming more prominent in investment decisions. Accenture found that 52% of business leaders would keep investing in AI even if an AI bubble burst, while only 10% believe there is a significant bubble.
The more immediate challenge is getting value from AI through the workforce rather than treating technology spending as an end in itself. Most leaders, 78%, expect workers’ roles to change over the next year. That means companies will need to rethink responsibilities and build skills alongside their technology deployments.
