Innovation is now almost entirely AI-driven

Published in early June 2025, the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Talent Acquisition looks at the market for Suites and Specialist platforms in the talent acquisition space. Fosway analysts know the power of AI-driven innovation – and how many platforms are playing catch up.

In prior years, specialist providers had been making land grabs across all areas of the market. But outside of AI, the only area seeing consistent product development now is career site infrastructure, with more vendors upgrading content management capabilities, adding personalisation, and improving design flexibility. Even here though, AI is increasingly driving content creation, localisation, and personalisation.

Beyond that, most non-AI innovation is just catch-up: backfilling gaps and rolling out features buyers already expect. The only real acceleration is coming from AI, including in how jobs are created and distributed, or in how teams evaluate and decide who to hire. AI isn’t just part of the story now – it is the whole innovation agenda.

The ecosystem is split, even as consolidation grows

Across EMEA, most TA teams are under pressure to consolidate systems and simplify their tech ecosystem. But operational reality doesn’t wait for clean architecture, and buyers are prioritising what delivers impact now, even if the core ATS is not good enough to handle certain operational issues well.

Four solution strategies are driving this shift: AI-enhanced specialists that plug into legacy systems to augment gaps; AI-native point solutions that solve discrete problems, e.g. in sourcing, engagement or scheduling; early agentic platforms testing wider workflow orchestration; and talent intelligence systems focused on planning, mobility, and internal data. Rarely do these solutions come from the same vendor, so integration is still patchy. But the pressure to improve time-to-hire, pipeline quality and recruiter productivity still outweighs the need for architectural consistency.

This is an excerpt from the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Talent Acquisition. Get the full insight and discover all the latest market and solution trends by reading the whole report here.

What should you do next?

• Where can AI take TA innovation next? Take part in Fosway’s strategic project for 2025: ‘AI in TA’.

Other recommended reading

• Do you think your current talent acquisition platforms are fit for the modern workforce? Fosway analysts ask TA leaders a few honest questions about their platform requirements.
• Other Fosway research related to talent acquisition or the talent lifecycle.

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