Buyers won’t pay more for AI features

Published in October 2025, the Fosway 9-Grid™ for Talent & People Success looks at the talent management and people experience solutions market for EMEA’s HR leaders – here, Fosway analysts suggest buyers won’t pay more for AI features, so vendors must evidence the gains AI innovations will bring to HR.

With nearly 40% of HR professionals not expecting to pay extra for AI features in their HR systems , there are challenges ahead for providers on how they pay for their growing investment in AI. And some ‘great ideas’ from vendors become ‘roadmap roadkill’ once they hit customers as live features. How much this reflects Europe’s cultural readiness for AI, or it is about organisational maturity for AI or HR practitioner preferences is unclear.

But with so much at stake it is incumbent on providers not just to provide innovation – they also need to be able to evidence and quantify the gains AI innovations will bring to HR, if they are to make their continued extra investments in AI profitable.

Energising a high-performance culture is key to transitioning to the future of work

As we have consistently highlighted over the past few years, as organisations embrace AI and automation, how they also keep their HUMAN resources engaged and energised is critical too. Solutions that enable and power a high-performing culture are key.

The future of work isn’t just about AI agents and optimising workforces through skills. It’s also about AI-empowered ways of getting the most out of ourselves, our teams and our relationships with each other. It’s about empowering ‘agency’ as much as it’s about agents.

EX is about business success not just people success

Old school talent management practices continue to decline in employers. But the adoption for more dynamic approaches to talent that leverage skills and workforce intelligence is not simply about enhancing employee experience (EX). In an increasingly ‘business value-centred’ HR strategy, EX is now about delivering real business outcomes, not just better engagement.

That’s not to say that EX isn’t a priority; but as the war for talent becomes disrupted by the future of work itself, it is clear that HR must be about business success as well as people success. This shift can be seen in the reprioritisation of some other EX initiatives. Wellbeing has dropped from 8th in HR’s list of priorities to 17th in 2025. Flexible working and work life balance initiatives also languish near the bottom as more companies focus to return to old normalities.

This is an excerpt from the 2025 Fosway 9-Grid™ for Talent & People Success. Get the full insight and discover all the latest market and solution trends by reading the whole report here.

What should you do next?

• Phase Two of Fosway’s AI project is live; build your evidence-based AI strategy with Europe’s most experienced HR industry analysts. Sign up here

Other recommended reading

• Our latest cycle of research into EMEA’s HR leaders is here for you to benchmark you and your team’s experience: HR Realities 2025.
• The 2025 Fosway 9-Grid^TM for Cloud HR – full report. Released in September, it’s all the latest market and solution trends in Cloud HCM – get the full analysis today.

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