Day 1 post-close on a major integration. Two HCM stacks. Two payroll systems. Two performance philosophies.
The CEO wanted one company by next merit cycle. The IT roadmap said 18 months. The integration partner said 24. The comp cycle was 11 weeks out regardless.
So we ran it in spreadsheets. Then we ran it again. We built workarounds for the workarounds with all the integrations.
Not because the team was weak. They were extraordinary. But because every system in the HR tech stack was configured around an operating model nobody ever intentionally designed.
The systems became the operating model by default. Nobody owned it.
Sound familiar?
The category waiting to be rebuilt
a16z published a thesis recently that HRIS/HCM is one of the few enterprise categories waiting to be rebuilt by AI. They're not wrong about the opportunity.
But the system isn't the problem. It's the symptom.
For years now, companies have outsourced their People operating model to whatever HCM/HRIS they bought (or inherited). The system became the org design.
- Comp cycles run the way the system runs them — not the way the business needs them to.
- Performance reviews, check-ins, and feedback loops follow the cadence the platform supports.
- Reorgs get shaped by what the system can model, not what the strategy requires.
Replacing or vibe-coding an HR system without rebuilding the operating model will just give you a faster version of the same problem in a prettier wrapper.
Three things to think about
If you're staring down an AI-readiness review or an HCM/HRIS decision in the next 12 months, three things worth thinking through:
1. The platform is downstream of the operating model
Decide — and investigate — what your People function needs to do for the business and the journey you want to take employees on. Then choose the system that fits. Not the other way around.
2. This work cannot be done side-of-desk
The team running payroll, comp, and hiring cannot also redesign the operating model on top of their day jobs. It needs an owner with a direct line to the exec team, air cover, and one job — that job.
3. The fastest path forward is rarely a new platform
It's making fewer, sharper decisions about how the function actually operates. The system follows. Do the work first, before signing the multi-year contract.
The expensive lesson
I recently helped a client unwind a multi-year Dayforce deal that was the wrong system for the operating model they needed. The two were like oil and water and didn't mix.
Painful. Expensive. Avoidable.
The platform decision is downstream. Get the operating model right first.
Got an AI-readiness review or an HRIS decision coming up? Let's talk.