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Deepak Gupta markTechnology Rewired
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Run cluster · HR, recruiting, IT

Technology Rewired: People and HR

HR software moved from paper files and on-prem HR systems to cloud HRIS, applicant tracking, and payroll. AI added resume parsing and chat assistants. Agents now screen applicants, schedule interviews, answer policy questions, and run onboarding tasks across HR and IT. Hiring decisions, performance, and pay must stay with accountable people.

The shift: Recruiting screens and employee onboarding run end to end.

Verified
2.0

Copilot today
3.0 in five years

How has the people and hr team changed across five eras?

  1. Era 1 · On-prem

    Before 2005

    0.2

    HR was personnel files, paper resumes, and an on-prem HR system for payroll and benefits. Recruiters sorted applications by hand, and onboarding was a checklist an HR coordinator walked through with IT and facilities.

  2. Era 2 · SaaS and cloud

    2005 to 2020

    0.9

    Cloud HRIS, applicant tracking, and payroll put employee data in one system and opened career sites to far more applicants. Teams added recruiting coordinators, HR business partners, and people ops analysts. Onboarding still crossed three teams by ticket and email.

  3. Era 3 · AI-assisted

    2020 to 2024

    1.5

    Resume parsing, job description drafting, and employee chat assistants arrived. Screening models drew legal and fairness scrutiny, and humans stayed on every hiring decision.

  4. Era 4 · Agentic

    2024 onward

    2.0

    Agents now screen applicants against criteria, schedule interviews across calendars, answer benefits and policy questions, and trigger onboarding: accounts, devices, and training. Candidates use agents too, so application volume rises on both sides. I look at the labor side in the future of work with AI agents.

    HR also inherits a new population: agents that act like employees and need owners, which is the risk in the shadow agent crisis.

  5. Era 5 · Next 5 years

    2026 to 2031

    3.0

    My bet: recruiting coordination and onboarding logistics run almost entirely through agents, and HR teams spend their time on judgment work: hiring decisions, performance, pay equity, and workforce planning for teams that include agents. Regulation of automated hiring decisions will keep a human on the final call.

Which people and hr software is being rewired?

No deep dives yet. The first ones are in the queue below.

Coming next

  • Applicant tracking and recruitingwave 3
  • Employee onboarding and HRISwave 3
  • Sourcing
  • Interview scheduling
  • Performance management
  • Learning management
  • Compensation
  • Benefits administration
  • Employee engagement

Also wired into this category: Identity and Access Management (IAM and CIAM).

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