As artificial intelligence moves from experimentation into everyday business processes, HR leaders are facing a harder question than whether to adopt AI: how should work, skills and organisational structures change when AI becomes part of the workforce itself? Zellis plans to put that question at the centre of its Zellis Connect 2026 event, with future-of-work strategist Ravin Jesuthasan scheduled to deliver the headline session in London on September 23.

The next phase of workplace AI is unlikely to be defined simply by the rollout of another chatbot or productivity copilot. For HR teams, the bigger challenge is redesigning jobs, skills, operating models and governance around increasingly capable AI systems.

That is the backdrop for Zellis Connect 2026, where Ravin Jesuthasan, global leader of Mercer’s Transformation Services business and a prominent author and commentator on the future of work, will headline the event with a session focused on AI, changing skills and workforce transformation.

The event is scheduled for September 23 at Kings Place in London and will bring together HR, payroll and workforce professionals from across the UK and Ireland.

Jesuthasan’s presentation is expected to focus on a practical question facing chief people officers and business leaders: what happens when AI and digital agents become embedded in how organisations structure and execute work?

That distinction matters. The enterprise AI conversation has increasingly moved beyond experimentation with generative AI tools toward workflow redesign, automation and agentic systems. McKinsey’s 2025 research found that 88% of respondents said their organisations were using AI in at least one business function, yet only 7% said AI had been fully scaled across their organisations.

For HR departments, that gap between adoption and scale creates a new set of responsibilities.

From AI adoption to workforce redesign

The traditional approach to enterprise software has generally been to automate existing processes. AI introduces a more disruptive possibility: changing the process itself.

That could mean splitting jobs into tasks that should remain human-led, tasks that can be augmented by AI and activities that can eventually be delegated to autonomous software agents. It also raises questions around accountability, employee trust, skills development and how performance should be measured.

Jesuthasan’s Zellis Connect session will address these themes, including the emergence of new skills, the decline or transformation of others, alternative operating models and the governance required when AI agents begin taking action on behalf of employees and organisations.

The focus is particularly relevant to HR technology vendors because workforce platforms are increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure through which AI is deployed.

Zellis already positions its technology around connected HR, workforce management and payroll. Its current platform portfolio includes AI capabilities such as the Zellis Intelligent Assistant, while ZellisONE brings HR, Workforce Management, Pay, Talent and Benefits together on a single platform.

That puts Zellis in a competitive market alongside major enterprise HCM platforms from companies such as Workday, SAP, Oracle and UKG, as well as broader enterprise software providers including Microsoft and Salesforce, which are embedding AI assistants and agents into business workflows.

The differentiator is increasingly less about whether a platform has AI and more about where AI is embedded, what data it can access, what actions it can take and how those actions are governed.

Payroll and workforce data become part of the AI equation

The HR technology market has another advantage in this transition: workforce systems contain highly structured operational data.

Payroll, employee records, scheduling, absence, skills and workforce-management information can provide the context required for AI-driven recommendations. But that same sensitivity creates a higher bar for security, privacy, compliance and explainability.

Zellis says its platform processes more than 29 million payslips annually and pays one in seven employees across the UK and Ireland.

Its payroll technology is also moving toward continuous processing rather than traditional batch-based payroll, while AI is used for anomaly detection and data validation.

For enterprise HR teams, the implication is significant. AI adoption cannot be treated as a standalone technology project. It increasingly intersects with payroll accuracy, employee experience, workforce planning and regulatory risk.

Zellis’s own 2026 research reinforces that challenge. A survey of 558 HR and payroll leaders in the UK and Ireland found that 93% saw potential in AI, while fewer than 20% were actually using it.

The enterprise challenge is organisational, not just technical

The message emerging from the wider market is consistent: AI deployment is accelerating, but organisational transformation is lagging.

McKinsey has reported that companies are beginning to redesign workflows, establish AI governance and retrain employees as part of their AI strategies.

That makes workforce readiness an increasingly important component of enterprise AI strategy.

For HR leaders evaluating AI-enabled HR software, the buying decision therefore extends beyond feature lists. They need to assess how platforms integrate with existing HCM systems, whether AI recommendations can be audited, how employee data is protected, what human oversight exists and whether the organisation has the skills to manage AI-enabled workflows.

Zellis Connect 2026 is positioned around that broader transition. Zellis CEO Abigail Vaughan is expected to open the event with the company’s “Worklife Reinvention” vision, before Jesuthasan addresses the practical workforce implications of AI.

The combination reflects where HR technology is heading: away from isolated automation tools and toward connected systems that influence how organisations allocate work, manage people and make workforce decisions.

The central issue for HR leaders is no longer simply whether AI will change jobs. It is whether their organisations are prepared to redesign work deliberately — before technology, rather than leadership, determines what the workforce looks like next.

Market Landscape

The HRTech market is moving from digitising HR processes to redesigning work itself.

Platforms from Workday, SAP, Oracle, UKG and Zellis increasingly combine HR, payroll, workforce management, analytics and AI. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Salesforce are pushing AI assistants and agents across broader enterprise workflows.

The competitive battleground is consequently shifting. AI functionality is becoming easier to replicate; trusted workforce data, workflow integration, governance and actionable intelligence are harder to build.

McKinsey’s latest research illustrates the scaling problem. While 88% of surveyed organisations reported AI use in at least one business function in 2025, only 7% said AI had been fully scaled across their organisations.

For HR technology buyers, this suggests that the next generation of HCM platforms will be judged less by whether they offer generative AI and more by their ability to safely integrate AI into real workforce processes.

Top Insights

• Zellis Connect 2026 will examine how HR leaders can redesign skills, jobs and operating models as AI and digital agents enter mainstream workforce processes.
• Ravin Jesuthasan will focus on practical workforce transformation, shifting the AI conversation from technology experimentation toward organisational readiness, governance and measurable business outcomes.
• Zellis is positioning connected HR, payroll and workforce management as infrastructure for AI-enabled work, reflecting broader convergence across the HRTech ecosystem.
• Enterprise HR teams must increasingly evaluate AI governance, workforce data, human oversight and workflow integration, rather than treating AI functionality as an isolated software feature.

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