Phenom, a global leader in applied AI for human resources, announced it has acquired Included AI, a Silicon Valley–area startup that specializes in agentic people analytics — AI that not only analyzes talent data but generates actionable insights HR teams and business leaders can use to drive workforce decisions. The acquisition expands Phenom’s Workforce Intelligence capabilities by embedding proactive people analytics into its AI platform, enabling HR professionals, managers and executives to see deeper insights and take action more confidently and quickly to support workforce planning, retention and growth.
Included’s technology integrates disparate HR data sources — such as HR information systems (HRIS), talent acquisition, performance management and employee engagement platforms — into a unified analytics framework. By applying proprietary agentic AI models and intuitive natural language interaction, the combined platform can highlight hiring bottlenecks, workforce trends, attrition risks, productivity insights and performance gaps, and deliver easily understandable recommendations via conversation‑style queries and dashboards.
According to IDC senior research manager Zachary Chertok, many organizations struggle to get timely workforce insights to the right leaders. Phenom’s acquisition of Included promises to change that by making people analytics accessible to every role from line managers to executives, helping organizations better link people decisions to strategic operations.
Why This Matters: The HR Industry Enters a New Analytics Era
Traditionally, people analytics has been siloed and technically demanding — accessible mainly to specialists using BI tools and data analysts. This acquisition shows a move toward agentic analytics. Here, AI models actively provide insights and suggest outcomes instead of just reporting raw numbers. In a time of talent scarcity, workforce changes, and digital transformation, this marks a new phase in HR technology evolution.
Actionable Insights at Scale: Phenom’s platform now provides standardized, integrated people data and predictive intelligence. This helps decision-making with contextual recommendations instead of static charts. As a result, it reduces the need for data analysts and allows HR teams to shift from descriptive reporting to prescriptive talent actions.
Improved Workforce Planning: By merging data from recruitment, performance, engagement, and HR systems, the enhanced platform simplifies spotting issues like skills gaps, performance weaknesses, or attrition risks. This enables proactive planning instead of just reacting to problems.
Conversational Analytics: Users can ask natural questions to an AI agent. They get narrative responses and action plans. This makes analytics accessible for everyone, so non-technical leaders can benefit from workforce data.
Analysts of the industry believe that this marks a growing demand for AI-enabled HR platforms. The platforms combine insight with the automation of processes. Analytics have evolved from predictive analytics to prescriptive analytics for outcomes such as employee retention, talent movement, and skills optimization.
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Impact on Businesses and Organizational Growth
The integration of Included’s agentic AI with Phenom’s platform could have broad business effects:
1. More Strategic HR Decisions
Organizations now have tools that look beyond historical data to identify patterns and suggest actions that influence workforce performance, hiring success and retention strategies. This accelerates workforce planning cycles and improves business alignment.
2. Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency
By surfacing insights without manual data wrangling, HR teams can focus on strategic initiatives instead of spending hours preparing reports — reducing time‑to‑insight and increasing operational agility.
3. Unified Talent Technology Stack
The deeper integration simplifies HR tech ecosystems by reducing the need for separate analytics tools or external consultants, lowering costs and improving data reliability.
4. Competitive Talent Advantage
In an unpredictable talent market, faster insight generation and clearer workforce intelligence can improve recruitment outcomes, reduce turnover and give organizations an edge in retention and talent development.
As organizations continue scaling AI within HR, Phenom’s acquisition of Included AI underscores an industry‑wide shift toward smarter, agentic analytics that not only explain what happened but recommend what to do next. This capability will likely become a cornerstone of strategic HR — empowering companies to build more resilient, productive and future‑ready workforces.
