Teri Zipper - The State of HR Technology: Lessons from 2026 and Predictions for 2027

From HR Data Labs · 24:38

Show by WRKdefined Podcast Network

The host catches up with Teri, an old friend, at HR Technology in Las Vegas. They look back at 2026 and ahead to 2027 for HR technology and AI. Teri says nearly everyone is using AI now, but companies still aren't seeing the bottom-line results. They also discuss rising AI costs, how hard it is to measure return on investment, and whether AI will give us more free time or just more work. Key topics and takeaways Teri's new podcast, The Pivot Effect. It's aimed at individuals (employees and candidates), not HR professionals. Guests share their career pivots and the skills they picked up along the way. Growing the research. Teri is working to grow Sapien Insights' research on the HR technology market. People are keen to contribute data because they want the findings back. 2026 vs. 2025. Teri says it felt like "a lot of the same," with layoffs announcements and AI hype. The difference is that everyone now uses AI in some way, where companies once banned tools like ChatGPT. Results are lagging. Organizations are building processes to automate more, but Teri says they aren't yet seeing the bottom-line impact. The host adds that prompting skill, choosing the right models and applications, and the AI learning how you work all make a difference. AI is expensive. Both speakers say tokens add up. The host describes monthly bills approaching $10,000, with one prompt costing about $13 once usage went over the plan. The host's team bought two NVIDIA DGX Spark machines (about $5,000 each) to build its own retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system on internal data. Teri's team is exploring internal models and has multiple AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Perplexity) compete on the same task. Both note that memory and computing hardware prices have jumped, including Mac Minis and Mac Studios. Predictions for 2027. Teri expects efficiency gains to become real, and new jobs to appear that look and feel different. She doesn't believe jobs will "go and never come back." She compares this to farming, where 75–90% of people worked in agriculture in the 1850s and only one or two percent do today. She thinks 2027 may not bring a dramatic change, but "the wheels are turning." Measuring ROI. Teri says nobody has figured out how to measure the return on AI in knowledge work. It's easier in industries with measurable output. Robotics. Teri expects robotics to come back, especially for dangerous jobs, though it will be more expensive. The host notes manufacturing has used robots for decades. Will AI give us time back? Both hoped AI would help them work smarter and improve wellness, but see it making people do more instead. They talk about the pressure of remote work and the benefit of breaks, such as a midday bike ride. AI becoming everyday. Teri hopes we'll eventually stop calling it "AI" and it will just be part of life, like the phone. The host compares it to the arrival of the personal computer and notes that Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant have been around for about twelve years. He says consumer tools have raised expectations, so Apple, Google and Amazon are improving theirs. Looking back next year. The host plans to revisit this year's predictions in 2027. Resources and names mentioned The Pivot Effect podcast (Teri's new show). Sapien Insights Work Carousel: workcarousel.com/join (sponsor message) Tools mentioned: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, NVIDIA DGX Spark, Mac Mini, Mac Studio Companies mentioned: Apple, Google, Amazon, Tesla Event: HR Technology, Las Vegas Fun fact Early in her career, Teri worked at a cemetery. She drew plot maps for the gravediggers from the deed book, which was kept in pencil at the time. She calls it one of her early pivots.

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