Eightfold's Cultivate Europe 2025: How to align people with technology

Talent professionals gathered in Holborn, London to attend Eightfold’s exclusive annual event, Cultivate Europe.

As the HR landscape is ever-evolving, senior leaders from Eightfold, HSBC, AstraZeneca and more took to the stage to discuss a crucial topic: How to align people with technology.

With industry thought leaders, analysts, and top brands present, the day was filled with the latest research and knowledge.

But if you weren’t able to make it, UNLEASH reported on two key standout sessions.

Building trust within your workforce

One of the greatest challenges talent leaders have today is needing to attend their immediate needs, while simultaneously building a strategic, AI driven future.

Eightfold’s Chief Customer Officer, Rimple Patel, was joined on stage by Noel Brown, Global Head of Enterprise Talent at HSBC, and Bianca Choudhary, VP Global Talent Acquisition at AstraZeneca, to explore practical approaches to fostering growth and connection within the workplace.

Brown began by explaining some of the most recent challenges present for HR. “From a talent perspective, we've got the right skills in the right place,” he began.

We've been here for 160 years. We know that business models are being disrupted everywhere, and we have to be ready to make that shift from a talent and skill development perspective – and we’ll need time to do that.We've been here for 160 years. We know that business models are being disrupted everywhere, and we have to be ready to make that shift from a talent and skill development perspective – and we’ll need time to do that.

“So, I think that's the biggest challenge for us all to solve for our businesses.”

Choudhary then highlights that ethics and governance is a fundamental aspect of AstraZeneca’s AI journey, stating that the business does what it can to make sure that “everything is fair and consistent.”

She added: “There's a number of principles that keep us honest, [to ensure] we are deploying the right technology in the right way.

“But there's also something from a candidate point of view, and of course, we are looking across candidates and internal employees – which is very important to us.

“We have about 1.3 million – maybe more – applications a year. I worry about those we don't get back to, but we simply can't get through that amount of volume.

“But how you build trust is how you make people feel through that process. So whether it is going to be a human or an agent, the first interaction all the way to the last, have to be elevated experiential moments.”

Building trust within your workforce

Moderated by Eightfold’s Phil Jones, Adam Rogers, Head of Strategic Workforce Planning & Talent Intelligence at Amdocs, and Kevin Blair, Global Head of TA at Ericsson, engaged in a conversation to discuss how talent intelligence can transform HR strategy.

To do so, the trio focus on the three E’s:

• Effectiveness: How leaders can drive measurable outcomes with the tools they have.
• Experience: Understanding that if employees don't use and adopt the technology, it will have a negative impact on business.
• Efficiency: Leveraging tools to provide speed and agility to allow humans to do more of the strategic and ‘value-add’ work.

They also touch upon the importance of having inclusive talent that doesn’t overlook minority groups.

We see that women and females in ethnic minorities will often qualify themselves out before they even apply for a role as they believe they don't have all the skills,” Jones highlights.We see that women and females in ethnic minorities will often qualify themselves out before they even apply for a role as they believe they don't have all the skills,” Jones highlights.

Blair builds upon this, by adding: “Automation lends itself well to neurodiverse candidates because you can set personalized paths where they can consume a process in a way that's structured for their reasonable accommodations.

"This is a gigantic untapped market.”

Stay tuned as UNLEASH will soon be sharing exclusive interviews from the event.