How Talent Intelligence Is Redefining HR with Data

Talent intelligence tools used to analyze workforce data will be vital in redirecting the future of work away from rigid roles and toward dynamic, skills-focused talent management.

Traditional HR management systems, limited by data silos, are being enhanced by — and may someday be eclipsed by — solutions that analyze massive amounts of employee and external workforce data to provide key insights into workers and skills.

“Talent intelligence empowers businesses to make informed decisions regarding talent acquisition, retention, development, and engagement,” said Madeline Laurano, founder and chief analyst at Aptitude Research, a Boston-based human capital management research and advisory firm. “It provides the foresight and adaptability necessary to navigate uncertainties and capitalize on opportunities in a dynamic business environment, ultimately paving the way for sustained growth and success.”

Josh Bersin, an HR technology analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Co. in Oakland, Calif., said that talent intelligence technology is one of the most significant innovations to emerge from AI and will be one of the biggest disruptions to HR technology in decades.

Toolkit: Using Artificial Intelligence for Employment Purposes

He contrasted it with traditional HR technology, which was built around a job-centric structure and did not effectively consider skills and employee mobility, thus falling short on delivering the tools needed to manage today’s workforce.

The older systems “prevented the evolution of dynamic organizations where people are matched with the right opportunities based on their skills and capabilities, rather than solely on their job experience,” Bersin said. “Talent intelligence gives companies deep understanding of an employee’s skills, interests, career trajectory, geographic preferences, certifications, and technologies they know, as well as experience in leadership, industries, and types of companies.”

It’s also one of the fastest-growing categories of HR technology, Laurano said, with the potential to impact how organizations approach talent acquisition and management, as well as how workers take advantage of career opportunities.

“The interest in talent intelligence [technology] is clearly driven by HR leadership,” she said. 

A study published in 2024 by Aptitude Research found that 84% of CHROs saw talent intelligence as a top priority.

Defining Talent Intelligence

One of the fundamental challenges with talent intelligence technology has been the lack of agreement and awareness about what the term means. Only 28% of companies showed they had a clear understanding of what the technology is, according to the Aptitude Research survey.

“The simple way to think about it is the ability to use AI to analyze your people data,” said Sachit Kamat, chief product officer at Eightfold, a talent intelligence technology company in Santa Clara, Calif. “It involves collecting and unifying the people data that organizations have, including candidate and employee data, and effectively using the data to make effective business decisions. The ability for HR to see across the dozens of systems containing employee data is a complex undertaking.

Talent intelligence allows you to organize this data and provide access to employees’ skills and capabilities, and then to use that data to make decisions.”

AI has been the key to being able to make workforce decisions at scale, he said.

Toolkit: Designing and Managing a Human Resource Information System

Conventional HR management systems are important for maintaining HR operations, payroll, and compliance, but they typically do not deliver insights for strategic decision-making, Laurano said.

“A talent intelligence platform is a dynamic and sophisticated tool that extends far beyond the capabilities of a traditional HR system,” she said. That’s because the technology:

• Transforms data into actionable insights.
• Leverages predictive analytics to forecast future workforce trends.
• Uses AI and machine learning to deliver personalized insights.
• Often incorporates external data sources, such as market trends, competitor analysis, and economic indicators, to provide a holistic view of workforce opportunities and challenges.

The Use Cases for Talent Intelligence

Bersin explained that talent intelligence tech got its start in recruiting but is now being used for internal mobility, skills development, leadership assessment, and performance management.

“It can actually help determine an individual’s performance by comparing internal operational data against their peers,” he said. “It can also be used for pay equity analysis, organizational design, and job analysis, where an individual’s or a team’s skills can be compared to other jobs and other teams across the company.”

When you tap into external data, Bersin added, you can perform an assessment of your company’s skills and capabilities against competitors, pick up on trending technologies and skills in your industry, identify skills by geographic location, and discover demographic changes affecting your organization that you didn’t see before.

“Talent intelligence is not a point solution,” Laurano said, meaning it is not designed to address a sole issue. Instead, there are many use cases for it, but it is instrumental in recruiting and workforce planning.

“By analyzing data on potential candidates, such as their skills and career trajectories, organizations can identify the best-fit candidates for specific roles,” she said. “This enables recruiters to optimize their search efforts, improve candidate experience, and enhance the overall quality of their hires. Additionally, talent intelligence can aid in workforce planning by providing insights into future talent needs and potential skills gaps, allowing organizations to proactively address staffing challenges and align their workforce with long-term business objectives.”

The technology can also play a crucial role in talent management and retention by analyzing performance data, employee feedback, and career progression patterns to identify high-potential employees and create targeted development plans to nurture their growth, Laurano said.

Moving the Needle on Skills-Based HR

Talent intelligence technology would most benefit skills evaluation, said employers in the Aptitude Research study.

“The skills gap issue has been a topic for chief human resource officers for many years,” Kamat said. “It has generally been talked about at a high level, but with talent intelligence, that conversation is brought down from the 10,000-foot level to ground zero, where skills can be precisely identified.”

It can take years for an organization to build a skills taxonomy.

“Most skills and competency libraries were created manually by HR professionals,” Laurano said. “This required a significant time commitment and often would face roadblocks. Building or developing a skills taxonomy is often where companies get stuck. It can leave even the most sophisticated HR leaders feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.”

Without technology to support these efforts, employers face several challenges, including having to consistently update the taxonomies to reflect changes in the business or in the labor market; dealing with multiple taxonomies; and relying on manual updates, which are vulnerable to errors.

“Unlike the competency modeling of the past, skills are not static words associated with a job description,” Bersin said. “In today’s world, we need to know [the] trending skills of our competitors, emerging skills in existing roles, and various skills needed in management, sales, and other nontechnical roles.”

Talent intelligence solutions are becoming the global systems of record for skills — in the company, at competitors, and in the larger marketplace, Bersin said. “This data is the lifeline of the entire skills strategy.”