The future of workforce planning technology in the age of generative AI

I’ve been thinking a lot about the generative AI shift we’re living through.

For years, SaaS has been sold as the solution to every operational challenge. But the reality? Most of it just digitized outdated processes. Workday didn’t solve workforce planning. Anaplan didn’t solve forecasting. And spreadsheets? Don’t get me started.

As Deep Nishar and Nitin Nohria explained in their recent Harvard Business Review article, these tools were built on rigid, predefined workflows. To effectively utilize legacy systems like Workday, Anaplan, and others, you need a deep understanding of the software UI, the process it was built for, and where the data is pulling from. And then you need the systems to talk to each other, which, let’s face it, a lot of the time they don’t.

What this translates to is a workforce planning process that’s still highly manual, error-prone, and slow. In a high-stakes environment where every headcount decision can swing millions in burn and runway, companies simply can’t afford to be cobbling together data from an ATS, HRIS, FP&A and other software into spreadsheets, forced to adhere to inflexible workflows, and running hiring approvals through email chains.

We built TeamOhana to fix this problem and end what we call the “headcount headache”. Our goal from the beginning was to bridge the gap between FP&A, HRIS, and ATS software, so Finance, HR, and Talent could work together more effectively. 

But now, with the emergence of generative AI, we’re focused on a new opportunity. We’re rethinking the entire system and redefining the future of workforce planning technology.

The old way was a “system of workflow”

The old workforce planning “system of workflow” looks something like this:

• You tell each software in your tech stack what to do, whether you need to run a forecast in your FP&A given certain parameters, set up a new hire in your HRIS, or create a new job in your ATS. You have to meticulously manage each step.
• You pull data from disparate software into a spreadsheet, in a futile effort to effectively collaborate with other teams and stakeholders.
• You spend hours reconciling data every week.
• You chase people for approvals and updates in emails or Slack messages.
• And you start the tedious process over again.

Beyond the obvious pain of working in spreadsheets, manually reconciling data, and wasting hours on administrative tasks, the old system makes it very easy to mismanage your workforce. Under-hiring kills growth, but over-hiring burns cash way too fast. You have to find the perfect balance and it’s nearly impossible to achieve this goal when you’re operating on the old system.

Companies need to be as close to 100% confident in their hiring and workforce planning decisions as possible. But at TeamOhana, we routinely hear from teams that are closer to 50% confident in their future planning decisions (before they start using TeamOhana, but more on that in a moment).

The future is a “system of work”

The future of workforce planning will be a fundamental shift to a “system of work” rather than a “system of workflow”.

As Deep Nishar and Nitin Nohria explained, unlike rigid systems that require users to follow predefined workflows, an AI-powered system of work starts with the outcome, or what needs to get done, in mind. It intelligently maps the path forward by interpreting signals across structured and unstructured data, dynamically assembling the right tasks and approvals. 

There’s no need for users to memorize processes or chase down next steps. The system adapts in real time, learns from exceptions, and handles cross-functional coordination. It turns messy inputs into precise execution so teams can stay focused on results, not red tape.

When it comes to workforce planning, a “system of work” looks something like this:

• You tell TeamOhana your goal. 
• AI gives you recommended actions to choose from.
• You select the one that fits best.
• AI executes your plan.

Want to freeze hiring in G&A but preserve go-to-market roles? Done.
Need to reforecast headcount based on new revenue targets? Done.
Backfill a departed engineer and update Finance, Talent, and HR? Done.

What used to take a week of spreadsheets and meetings will happen in minutes—automatically, accurately, and while maintaining alignment across teams.

The future is already here

According to McKinsey research, leading S&P 500 companies are already driving 3X more revenue per employee by managing talent with the same discipline they apply to managing financial capital. The lever? Strategic workforce planning—treating headcount the same as high-yield financial investments, not just a cost line.

Unicorn companies including Vercel, Postman, SeatGeek, Scale AI, and Docker are already using TeamOhana to transform the way they grow and manage their most valuable asset. At TeamOhana, I’m proud to share that we have already helped customers:

• 3X hiring velocity
• Automate 80% of headcount planning & forecasting workflows
• Save more than 90 hours per month by eliminating manual tasks
• Gain millions in capital efficiency 

What TeamOhana looks like today

Here’s the hard truth: Legacy systems like Workday or Anaplan were never built for fast, collaborative decision-making. They were built to store data, not move with the business. But Finance still needs FP&A. HR still needs HRIS. Talent still needs ATS. We aren’t replacing these systems of record (at least for now).

TeamOhana gives Finance, HR, Talent and Hiring Managers the ability to work dynamically and collaboratively, with the support of AI, so your company can grow faster, smarter, and more strategically. If you want to grow, you need to be dynamic.

Companies using TeamOhana today can generate up-to-date, accurate forecasts in under 2 hours, keep compensation variance between budgeted compensation and actual compensation under 3%, and reduce the time spent on headcount planning by as much as 80%.

The future is collaborative workforce intelligence

At TeamOhana, I’m proud to say that our engineering team, led by my Co-Founder and our CTO,  Baishampayan “BG” Ghose, are already building the future of workforce planning. And we will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.

Our TeamOhana AI Copilot has been available for years, but as generative AI has taken quantum leaps forward, we have been busy building and integrating agentic AI into TeamOhana in new ways. Our customers can already chat with an AI agent and get answers to questions such as, “What is the average tenure of employees under each manager?” or “What is the distribution of pay rates across different locations at the company?” and get answers in ~10 seconds or less.

Looking forward, we’re building a system that reacts, reasons, recommends, and routes—all without you having to chase down a spreadsheet.

That’s the power of AI. Not as a feature. As the operating system.

TeamOhana is becoming the AI-powered brain behind every headcount decision. Not a dashboard. Not a tracker. A decision-making system built to serve the CFO, the CHRO, and every cross-functional team in between.

This is the future of work. Not more tools, less work. Not more dashboards, more accomplished. Not better spreadsheets, no spreadsheets.

Let’s leave rigid SaaS behind, together. Request a demo of TeamOhana. We’d love to introduce you to the first Collaborative Workforce Intelligence Platform.