In this resource
If SHRM26 proved anything to the 25,000+ HR professionals who came to Orlando, it's this: people are exhausted by complex tech.
They're done with AI that just speeds up busywork. They want agents that can actually do the work. We heard that frustration loud and clear, and we showed up ready to prove that the era of the AI agent for HR is here.
ClearCo brought an 18-person powerhouse team to SHRM26 in Orlando to handle everything from main-stage thought leadership to live booth deep-dives. Booth #2621 was packed from the moment the doors opened, serving as an interactive space for live demos, strategic huddles, and a lot of diamond hunting. Yes, you read that right.
Our Diamond Activation was a massive hit — we gave out 8 real, lab-grown diamonds to lucky attendees who mined our sandboxes — but the real gems were the conversations we had with the more than 1,000 HR pros who stopped by our booth.
1000+
badge scans
8
diamonds discovered
18
ClearCo reps onsite
Key Takeaways from SHRM 2026 #
Here is the reality of what HR leaders are facing right now, straight from the expo floor:
1. The Legacy Suite Slump #
The frustration with traditional, payroll-first HCM giants was loud and clear. We heard concerns about rigid ATS modules, clunky UIs, and inflexible reporting. Teams feel trapped by rigid, old-school software that slows them down. They’re ready for modern talent tools that actually move at their speed.
2. Death by 1,000 APIs #
HR departments are drowning in fragmented tech stacks. They’ve patched together mismatched point solutions using fragile APIs, and they've had enough. The consensus? It's time to consolidate into a single, unified talent platform with one data foundation.
3. Move Over, GenAI — Bring on the Agents #
Attendees are done with generic AI tools that just write emails a little faster. They want tactical execution. The highest demand on the floor was for practical, automated workflows: text-to-apply features for deskless workers, automated interview scheduling, and true AI agents.
4. The Entry-Level Bottleneck #
For the deskless workforce, traditional resume-based screening is dead. HR leaders are desperate for automated tools to screen high-volume, entry-level candidates quickly before they drop off to a competitor.
5. Lacking a Learning Anchor #
Training is a massive vulnerability. Too many companies completely lack a centralized LMS, leaving them with inconsistent compliance tracking and a heavy, unfair burden on local managers to train teams manually.
ClearCo’s Expo Theatre Session #
The room was absolutely overflowing for ClearCo’s Chief Product Officer, Arnaud Grunwald, and Principal Product Manager, Matt Yang. With every seat taken, people sat on the floor and packed the aisles just to hear the uncomfortable truth: every unreviewed req is a candidate lost, and every memory-based performance review fails the employee.
Arnaud and Matt broke down the Five HR Agents Every Leading Company Will Have by 2027 — purpose-built agents operating on a single data foundation to fix the fragmented talent lifecycle.
Missed the Packed House? Secure Your Front-Row Seat #
Hundreds of talent leaders packed our speaking session at SHRM, but we want everyone to experience this game-changing framework.
On July 7th at 2 p.m. EDT, we are continuing the momentum with a fast-paced, 30-minute webinar: Five HR Agents Every Leading Company Will Have by 2027, hosted by Matt Yang.
Matt will move past the abstract theory to show you exactly how these agents work in the real world. He’ll walk through a single, continuous narrative — showing how a company handles a sudden resignation while simultaneously scaling up operations using ClearCo’s agent framework.
Whether you're looking to fix a fragmented tech stack, accelerate your current hiring workflows, or see how to migrate your team to a connected, intelligent platform foundation, this is the session you can't afford to miss.