There is no denying that the current trend in business is implementing automation across the different sectors. It is beginning to impact all aspects of the business from eCommerce to the Human Resource (HR) department. A big part of automation is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) with the technology already showing up in many functions of HR. So how is artificial intelligence changing HR? The key thing to understand about the transformative power of artificial intelligence is its ability to analyze large data sets. This can help in decision-making in a wide variety of ways.

The HR function sits on a data goldmine. We explore how NLP can help HR teams turn this data into valuable insights to drive business performance. Data is the bedrock of 21st century HR and organizations have been obsessing over data analytics over the past couple of years – and with good reason. Data analytics has helped HR become more objective and strategic. As a business function that historically been a key consumer and producer of vast amounts of data, HR has been slow to embrace the promise of analytics.

In an interview with HR Technologist, I explain how employers can better the employee experience and help employees complete their jobs more efficiently using artificial intelligence (AI). Embedding AI into a company's unique Employee Value Proposition is necessary to deliver on the talent brand and to drive engagement. Employers can leverage AI to create differentiated employee experiences in a variety of ways, which will only continue to evolve. We already see employers using AI to develop personalized compensation packages based on employee's role, preferences and productivity; uncover insights on workplace trends and challenges, create stronger rewards programs and eliminate menial tasks. Millennials and Gen Z are digital natives, accustomed to convenience and desire by meaningful experiences.

An organization's success is dependent on the high performance of its employees who behave as catalysts for business disruption and transformation. Today's workforce is increasingly globally dispersed, multi-generational, and multicultural. Effective management of any dynamic workforce requires an integrated and consistent approach to help drive innovation, collaboration, continuous learning, efficiency, retention, quality and cost savings. Managing a multi-gen workforce is a global phenomenon across industries. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ubiquitously present and promises to transform both the HR function and the future of work.

As everywhere else, Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform HR. We look at key trends for 2019 and assess key impact areas for AI in HR. There's a great deal of talk and hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and all it can achieve. From talking cars to machines that can almost read our minds, the possibilities are endless, and the excitement, palpable. Regardless of how soon all of this becomes a reality, the facts seem to point towards a future that's brimming with potential.

Two former product wizards from Facebook and Google are combining Silicon Valley's buzziest buzz words -- search, artificial intelligence, and big data -- into a new technology service aimed at solving nothing less than the problem of how to provide professional meaning in the modern world. Founded by chief executive Ashutosh Garg, a former search and personalization expert at Google and IBM research, and chief technology officer Varun Kacholia, who led the ranking team at Google and YouTube search and the News Feed team at Facebook, Eightfold.ai The two men have come together (in perhaps the most Silicon Valley fashion) to bring the analytical rigor for which their former employers are famous to the question of how best to help employees find fulfillment in the workforce. "Employment is the backbone of society and it is a hard problem," to match the right person with the right role, says Garg. "People pitch recruiting as a transaction… [but] to build a holistic platform is to build a company that fundamentally solves this problem," of making work the most meaningful to the most people, he says. It's a big goal, and it's backed by $24 million in funding provided by some big-time investors -- Lightspeed Ventures and Foundation Capital .

A critical arm of AI, machine learning makes technology truly intelligent, and capable of understanding human needs. We discuss it's role in HR and people-centric transformation. This isn't a new trend, but what's changed are the essentials. Human Resources have been using analytics for years; however, what's changed is the approach - the collection, processing, analysis of data was in the past, entirely manual, thereby constraining intelligence and interpretation. Therefore, in a way, it's surprising that HR teams are finally accepting the importance of machine learning and its transformative potential.

Chatbot proponents are the technology world's equivalent of the boy who cried wolf. For years now, these proponents have been proclaiming that chatbots will revolutionize things like contact centers, customer service, online sales, and human resources -- to name just a few target areas. And, as in Aesop's fable, this revolution has never materialized. While organizations have made significant investments in chatbot technologies over the years, early incarnations were simplistic, limited in scope, and just as likely to damage the customer experience as they were to help it. Then, the rise of voice-based assistant technology (think Alexa and Siri) seemed to steel the promise of chatbots with their ability to interact in a human-like, voice-based manner.

No matter the field, it's the people that make or break companies. Yet historically, HR has been treated as an administrative cost center rather than a strategic department that drives productivity and value. Today's technology-driven world is constantly changing, and there is a continuous scarcity of high-value talent in ever-changing fields. This, together with millennials' different expectations about their jobs, puts pressure on companies to adjust how they handle their human capital. And while employers have realized that retention is key for their success, they are still struggling to increase it.