Workforce data may be both too overwhelming and too spread out across platforms to be truly useful for organizations right now, according to an April 21 report from consulting firm Korn Ferry.
Ironically, 71% of the 1,600 C-suite and senior HR leaders surveyed by Korn Ferry said that the deluge of data prompted them to rely on gut instincts instead.
Accessing the data often requires relying on multiple platforms, the report said; 84% surveyed said they operate between 3 to 10 different talent platforms, but only 5% said those platforms were fully connected. As such, more than 1 in 4 leaders surveyed said it can take weeks to access connected insights.
This lack of readily available talent intelligence may be cutting into profits, Korn Ferry said, since a company that doesn’t have talent data may not be using its talent stack to its advantage.
“In today’s age of AI, organizations have built more systems and collected more data, yet ended up with less confidence in their talent decisions,” Mathias Herzog, president of the global technology practice at Korn Ferry, said in a statement. “It’s a paradox that’s costing companies money: they still can’t answer the key talent question — what talent they have versus what talent they need.”
HR’s credibility may also be at stake, Korn Ferry said, if talent data can’t be trusted for any reason. More than half of leaders surveyed said they rely less on HR for decision-making when they don’t trust HR’s data.
CHROs, in particular, remain in the spotlight as companies attempt major transformations prompted by technology like artificial intelligence, other surveys have shown. HR leaders tend to have high visibility during such efforts, which exposes them to risk if change management fails.
At the same time, CHROs have struggled to gain resources and recognition of their role in managing business success, a Josh Bersin report from the end of 2025 showed — one of the many paradoxes the role faces.
