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HR Tech Las Vegas 2025: Key Notes & Takeaways on AI, Agentic HR, and Culture

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Every profession has its turning points.

For HR, one of the most powerful came decades ago, when companies began replacing the term “personnel department” with “human resources.”

It seemed like a simple rebrand, but anyone who lived through it knows what it meant. That moment was a transformation. It was HR’s declaration that people are the core of the enterprise.

Today, HR stands at another historic threshold. At the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas, the theme “Be the Change: Drive HR Transformation” carried the same weight as that earlier shift. The difference? This time, the driver of change is technology – AI in particular.

The story unfolding in Las Vegas was one of courage, vision, and responsibility.

Just as HR once redefined its role by stepping out of the back office and into the boardroom, today’s leaders are being called to reinvent the employee experience, decision-making, and even the design of work itself.

Over four packed days, the conference spotlighted how AI, culture, and leadership are converging.

The agenda was a roadmap of HR’s future – from executive summits to AI playgrounds, from keynote insights to real-world case studies.

Here are the highlights, organized around the conference flow.

Monday, Sept. 15 – Summits, Strategy, and Awards

The conference opened with deep-dive summits for HR executives.

Josh Bersin and Kevin Oakes emphasized that CHROs must guide organizations through an AI-driven transformation while still anchoring decisions in culture and leadership.

The evening brought celebrations: IHRIM’s 45th anniversary and the inaugural HR Icons Awards. Two products stood out:

→ WTW’s AI assistant “Expert”

→ Degreed’s learning AI “Maestro”

Both were recognized as Top HR Products of 2025, underscoring how quickly AI is reshaping the HR tech market.

Tuesday, Sept. 16 – Women in Tech, Breakouts, and IBM’s Bold Story

Women in HR Tech Summit

The Women in HR Tech Summit opened with Sarah Hodges, CMO at UKG, who delivered a keynote on creating future-ready organizations.

Women in HR Tech Summit, Sarah Hodges, CMO at UKG

She highlighted the urgency of balancing AI adoption with people-first strategies, noting that 85% of frontline employees globally worry about being replaced by AI.

Her call to action was clear:

Future-ready organizations view diversity of thought as a strength, foster high-trust cultures, and invest in people-first AI that extends human capability rather than extracting it. Leaders who move work from menial to meaningful with agentic assistance will unlock higher engagement and real workforce transformation.

For more details, read the LinkedIn article ➡️ The Future Is Here — Is Your Organization Ready?

Breakout Sessions

Sessions throughout the day put AI into practical focus:

SmartRecruiters demoed its Winston AI platform, already doubling candidate conversion and cutting scheduling time by 95%. The next step? Connecting Winston with other AI agents to multiply recruiting impact.

Socure highlighted the rise of “imposter applicants” and showcased its Workforce Verification tool to stop AI-generated fake resumes and deepfake identities.

Deloitte, ITA Group, and others explored themes from HR reimagination to recognition powered by AI.

Opening Keynote by IBM (HR Agents: Myths, Mayhem and Monumental Moments)

The standout of the day was Nickle LaMoreaux, CHRO at IBM, who shared IBM’s AI journey. Her message was refreshingly candid:

“AI is not magic. It’s amazing, impressive technology that can totally transform your business. But it takes hard work, behavior change, culture change, business process change, and sometimes leadership change.”

Nickle LaMoreaux at HR Tech Las Vegas 2025

She shared IBM’s own journey: consolidating 30 scattered HR bots into AskHR, then mandating all inquiries flow through it. The move initially sank employee satisfaction (eNPS dropped from +19 to 35), but feedback loops and process fixes turned it around.

Today, AskHR supports 52 languages, handles 11.5M annual transactions, and resolves 94% of queries, cutting HR costs by 40% and lifting eNPS to +74.

LaMoreaux left the audience with five lessons:

✔️ Pick an AI that fits your culture

✔️ Start small

✔️ Simplify before automating

✔️ Design around employees

✔️ Make culture the backbone of adoption.

Read the full story ➡️ IBM CHRO: AI is giving HR its ‘time in the sun’

Wednesday, Sept. 17 – Disruption as Strategy

Middle Keynote: “Disrupt Everything and Win”

Author James Patterson and leadership researcher Dr. Patrick Leddin underlined:

Positive disruption doesn’t mean chasing every trend – it means making targeted, courageous choices. When disruption comes from outside (economic instability, AI, political forces), internal clarity – purpose, mission, and values – provides stability.

James Patterson & Patrick Leddin at HR Tech Las Vegas 2025

Drawing on their new book Disrupt Everything, they offered four fundamentals:

✔️ The comfort of the status quo is deceiving; constant change is the only certainty. HR can either lead that change or be overtaken by it.

✔️ Human creativity, vision, and past experiences equip people to imagine what comes next and drive toward it.

✔️ Relationships can impede or accelerate change. HR’s role often is to nurture the latter by providing clarity, trust, and alignment.

✔️ Time is finite. In the face of urgency, making choices that matter – grounded in purpose – is essential.

For more information, visit ➡️ Amid rapid change, why HR has to embrace ‘positive disruption’

Expo & Deep Dives

The Expo floor was alive with demos, case studies, and think tanks.

Deloitte showcased its “Boundaryless HR” vision, while Mercer’s “AI at Work” lounge gave attendees practical glimpses of AI in action.

Peer-to-peer “Ask the Expert” and “Think Tank” sessions added practical, implementation-level perspectives.

Thursday, Sept. 18 – Closing with Josh Bersin

Closing Keynote: HR Technology Disrupted

Global analyst Josh Bersin wrapped up the conference with a sweeping view of how AI has permanently changed HR technology. He positioned AI not just as a feature but as a new operating layer in HR systems, which powers everything from recruiting and skills intelligence to employee wellbeing.Josh Bersin at HR Tech Las Vegas 2025

Bersin emphasized that HR leaders must learn to separate hype from reality and focus on solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. His closing line resonated:

The future of HR isn’t about adding apps; it’s about redesigning HR around intelligence.

Major Takeaways from the Expo, Sessions & Keynotes

AI is Central

Every track underlined that AI (and especially “agentic AI”) is reshaping HR.

IBM’s keynote exemplified this: IBM’s AskHR assistant now autonomously handles nearly all frontline HR inquiries, cutting costs by 40%.

SmartRecruiters and others similarly showed AI yielding double-digit efficiency gains.

Human Factor

Speakers stressed that success with AI depends on people and process. IBM had to enforce adoption and learn from failures to reach 100% usage.

In other words, cultural change (behavior change, retraining, governance) is as important as technology.

HR as Change Agent

The disruption keynote argued HR itself must lead change. HR’s unique role in connecting talent and culture gives it a strategic advantage.

Rather than passively enduring disruption, HR leaders were urged to proactively apply their resources (skills, budget, networks) to drive positive transformation.

Product Innovation

The conference showcased many AI-enhanced tools – not just theoretical demos.

WTW’s “Expert” AI advisor and Degreed’s “Maestro” learning assistant earned top honors.

SmartRecruiters demonstrated live hiring AI features, and dozens of vendors in the expo demonstrated real, shipping products.

Strategic Focus

Many speakers (and industry analysts like Bersin) reminded HR to tie tech to business outcomes.

The emphasis was on measurable value from HR technology – for example, tracking employee sentiment (IBM’s eNPS improvements) or recruiting results.

HR Tech 2025 encouraged leaders to focus on solutions that drive engagement, productivity, and agility.

Azilen’s Take

For over 16 years, Azilen has partnered with HRTech companies to build enterprise-grade AI solutions, specializing in software development, integrations, and intelligent ecosystems.

Exhibiting at HR Tech Las Vegas for the fourth consecutive year, we showcased our Voice AI solution, designed to simplify the hire-to-retire experience and make workforce interactions seamless, intelligent, and engaging.

Experiencing the energy of the conference firsthand reinforced a key insight: technology alone does not drive transformation — people do.

Being the change means reshaping how work gets done, how decisions are made, and how employees experience their day-to-day. It requires curiosity to explore new possibilities, discipline to adopt them effectively, and empathy to ensure technology amplifies humanity rather than replaces it.

Just as HR once claimed its seat at the table by proving that people drive business, today it must step forward to lead the future of work.

From our perspective at Azilen, that era has already begun, and we are proud to help organizations be the change.

Glimpse of Azilen at HR Tech Las Vegas 2025

Azilen at HR Tech Las Vegas 2025

Vivek Nair
Vivek Nair

Vivek Nair is a martech and branding thought leader specializing in strategic positioning, brand identity, and data-driven growth for high impact tech-first organizations. As AVP - Branding and Communication at Azilen Technologies, he excels in crafting impactful campaigns, analyzing consumer behavior, and expanding market reach. Due to impact created as creative strategist and collaborative leader, he was awarded Communication Strategist of the Year at India Leaders Summit 2023.

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