Recent Research:
Analyst Insight: UKG Analyst Day 2025
UKG’s Analyst Day 2025 in Fort Lauderdale marked a strategic refresh and a bold repositioning of the company as an AI-first workforce technology provider. Under CEO Jennifer Morgan’s leadership, UKG unveiled a reenergized executive team, a streamlined vision focused on accountability and frontline empowerment, and a pragmatic approach to AI through its FleX Platform and new assistant, UKG Bryte. The event highlighted UKG’s effort to deliver measurable business outcomes via personalized, AI-driven solutions designed for real-world workforce challenges—especially in sectors experiencing labor shortages. With cultural cohesion, a forthcoming brand refresh, and a focus on simplifying user experiences, UKG is positioning itself not just as a technology vendor, but as a true strategic partner for organizations navigating the future of work.
Solutions Spotlight: Appian’s Secret to Reliable and Scalable AI – The Appian Data Fabric
In this spotlight Kyle James reviews how Appian unveils how its Data Fabric is the foundational element behind delivering secure, scalable, and intelligent AI for the enterprise. Designed with stringent compliance and privacy in mind, Appian’s platform uniquely combines real-time, virtualized data access with contextual intelligence to empower automation across regulated industries. With the release of version 25.2, which doubles data capacity and enhances AI-powered co-pilots and agentic decision-making, Appian transforms from a process automation tool into a robust orchestration engine for trustworthy enterprise AI.
In this 2025 Research Preview, Kyle James explores how AI and automation are no longer just experimental tools but essential, transformative forces reshaping Product, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success teams. Our research reveals that AI is enhancing team efficiency, enabling strategic focus, and driving revenue growth—while also prompting cultural shifts, requiring new governance frameworks, and demanding cross-functional alignment. Through insights gathered from conversations, podcasts, and real-world examples, we highlight the growing need for leadership buy-in, enablement, and ethical clarity as organizations integrate AI into their go-to-market strategies.
Recent Articles:
Evaluating Solution Providers Through the Lens of Employee Turnover and Glassdoor Insights
This article explores how excessive employee turnover within solution providers can serve as an early warning sign for prospective buyers. It highlights the growing importance of evaluating organizational stability and employee sentiment—particularly through platforms like Glassdoor—when making purchasing decisions. By understanding the connection between turnover, leadership stability, and customer impact, buyers can mitigate risk and ensure long-term value in their vendor partnerships.
UKG’s 2025 Analyst Day unveiled its bold AI-first strategy, showcasing how the company is embedding artificial intelligence into every layer of its workforce platform. From frontline enablement to executive decision-making, UKG is using AI to personalize the employee experience, streamline operations, and democratize intelligent tools for organizations of all sizes. This blog recaps the key themes, innovations, and implications for the future of HR technology.
What Mark Kilens Wants Every GTM Leader to Know: Craft, Collaborate, Educate
In this article Kyle James share key insights from a recent conversation with Mark Kilens, VP of Marketing at EasyLlama and Founder of TACK, on what it really takes to build a successful go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Rather than chasing the latest trends, Kilens emphasizes the importance of foundational excellence—cross-functional alignment, craftsmanship, and a value-first mindset. With a focus on creating meaningful customer experiences and building systems that scale, the article outlines practical, actionable takeaways for GTM leaders navigating early-stage or high-growth environments.
Face It: ‘Efficiency’ and ‘Productivity’ Are Really About Downsizing
As AI adoption accelerates, companies are reframing efficiency and productivity gains as justifications for reducing headcount. While AI advocates paint a rosy picture of job evolution and economic wealth, business leaders like Amazon’s Andy Jassy and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei are more blunt—acknowledging significant white-collar job reductions ahead. With corporate America increasingly rewarding leaner workforces and automation-first hiring decisions, workers face rising workloads and fewer resources. Though full automation remains decades away, the current trend signals that for many organizations, workforce reduction is no longer a side effect—it’s the goal.
Council Guest Post: Why HR Transformations Fail in Organizations
This Council Guest Post explores why HR transformations often fail and how organizations can improve their chances of success. Drawing from personal experiences, the author highlights key pitfalls—including poor timing, lack of vision, resistance to change, weak communication, and insufficient resources—that frequently derail transformation efforts. The post emphasizes that true HR transformation requires alignment with business strategy, cultural awareness, leadership commitment, and a systems-thinking approach to drive lasting organizational change.
Council Guest Post: HR Transformation – Assessing the Current State
This Council Guest Post explores the foundational role of evaluating existing HR processes and systems as the first step in any successful transformation initiative. It outlines the importance of assessing the current state to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, while ensuring alignment with strategic goals and resource availability. By leveraging tools like process mining and user journey mapping, HR leaders can prioritize impactful improvements and set the stage for lasting, people-centered change.
reworked: Choosing HR Software Involves More Than HR
The Reworked article emphasizes that selecting the right HR technology is a cross-functional decision that extends beyond the HR department. Successful implementation requires collaboration among HR, IT, finance, and other business units to ensure the solution aligns with organizational goals, integrates well with existing systems, and meets the diverse needs of all users. The piece highlights the importance of considering usability, data security, and scalability, underscoring that HR software is ultimately a business-critical platform—not just an HR tool.
Recent Podcast:
GTM Innovators: Creating Demand Through Community – A GTM Chat with Mark Kilens
In this episode of GTM Innovators, we sit down with Mark Kilens for a conversation that brings us back to the GTM fundamentals. Mark is the VP of Marketing at EasyLlama and Founder of TACK. Mark shares how the most effective go-to-market strategies today are rooted in community, education, and trust. From building scalable programs to fostering authentic engagement, Mark’s insights may sound simple—but they’re powerfully foundational. Whether you’re refining your GTM motion or starting from scratch, this episode is packed with timeless advice on creating real demand through human connection.
Guest Podcast: What AI Can’t Replace – Pamela Stroko on Talent, Truth, and the Human Advantage
In this episode, recorded live at isolved Connect in Chicago, industry veteran Pamela Stroko joins William Tincup to talk truth in HR tech. With over two decades across Oracle, analyst firms, and practitioner trenches, Pamela cuts through the noise around AI, hiring mistakes, and vendor hype
Upcoming Webinars:
In today’s sales environment, cold calls aren’t just ineffective—they’re a liability. Buyers are flooded with impersonal outreach, and the “spray and pray” approach is more likely to burn a bridge than build a pipeline.
Join sales experts from VanillaSoft and 3Sixty Insights as they unpack how modern, data-driven calling strategies are helping top sales teams connect faster, convert more, and build real relationships.
isolved Webinar: AI in Action – How QSRs are Getting Smarter | July 23rd @ 12:00PM Easter
AI is no longer a futuristic concept for QSRs—it’s transforming how brands serve, staff and scale. In this exclusive session, you’ll hear from leading 3Sixty Insights analyst Dylan Teggart and isolved’s own Yutaka Takagi, who’ve studied how top restaurants are leveraging AI to solve labor challenges, optimize operations and enhance customer experiences.