AI has been a big subject in 2025. It fits into our everyday lives now, winning the race against the google search, answering all our everyday questions from interior colour choices to finding the best holiday spots. Importantly for us in the HR sector though, it’s reshaping how our teams work.
From talent acquisition to payroll automation, it can process vast amounts of data in seconds, benchmark system features and produce insights that once took weeks to compile. It is fast, powerful and increasingly indispensable. But the truth is AI alone can’t make great decisions for your people, and it certainly can’t replace the judgement of experienced HR professionals.
The future of HR lies where technology accelerates the work, and humans give it meaning.
The Limits of AI in HR System Selection
When it comes to selecting a new HR or payroll system, AI can do some of the heavy lifting. It can analyse vendors, map features against requirements and speed up early comparisons. HR professionals know people though, and only they can understand your organisation’s culture, the nuances in your operating model, and the subtle frustrations that shape how your people work. They can sense human emotions that come from changing systems and operations and feel the impact across the workforce. These gut feelings and emotional readings are essential across HR teams and are some of the many reasons why HR technology selection processes and upgrades must be human-led.
A Sweet-Spot Partnership
AI is at its most powerful when it supports experienced consultants, not replaces them. Think of it as an exceptionally capable assistant, pulling data together quickly, identifying patterns, summarising complexities so that consultants can move rapidly in fixing these issues.
AI HR tech tools mean that we can spot patterns in our workforce’s wellbeing, take further control of administrative tasks like payroll and rotas, and streamline onboarding so that the bigger picture and human elements of HR can be accelerated forward. And if we can gain company growth and workforce satisfaction by combing AI tech with an experienced human touch, then we might be on the road to finding our HR sweet spot.
Where AI Helps HR Teams Most
Over the past year, AI capability has rapidly expanded across HR systems. Here’s some of the trends we’re seeing to cover various tasks in HR:
- Recruitment platforms such as Harri, Workday and Employment Hero use AI to sift CVs, reduce manual screening and support consistent hiring decisions.
- To name a few, Oracle and Factorial are developing generative, conversational help tools that guide employees through tasks in natural language to improve workforce wellbeing.
- Staff management technology like Humanforce uses AI to predict staffing needs, reduce rostering errors and optimise shift patterns.
- Many platforms, Dayforce as an example, are also recommending personalised development for employees learning and development needs to improve upon gaps in skills across company workforces.
The Future of HR: People First, Powered by Technology
It’s easy to see how these HR technologies can help us in the everyday. But I founded Silver Cloud in 2009 because I believed HR technology decisions needed to be informed by both technical understanding and lived HR experience and I stand firmly in this belief. The technology has progressed, but that principle hasn’t changed. HR systems succeed not because they are clever, but because they are chosen, implemented and supported by people who understand humans.
What AI has done is amplify what consultants can deliver. The organisations that thrive will be those that find that perfect combination of using AI for its efficiency, insight and speed, and manage it with human experience, empathy, judgement and strategy….The list could go on for the human side of this mix, because the smartest HR technology decisions aren’t made by machines, they’re made by people who know how to use those machines wisely.
About the author:
Helen Armstrong is the Founder and CEO of Silver Cloud HR, a leading HR and payroll technology consultancy. With over 15 years of experience in HR and HRIS, she is a Chartered member of the CIPD and a recognised thought leader in HR digital transformation, automation and change management.
