Name: 2026 Tech Leaders Forecast - Insights and Expectations
Uploaded: 2026-02-24T14:16:10.609Z
Duration: 1 h 8 s
Description: 2026 Tech Leaders Forecast - Insights and Expectations

Transcript for "2026 Tech Leaders Forecast - Insights and Expectations": Hello, everyone, and welcome to twenty twenty six Tech Leaders' Forecast Insights and Expectations. Thank you so much for joining us today. Before we jump in, I do wanna give you a quick rundown of the webinar tools on your screen. So if you do have any questions, don't be shy, pop those into the Q and A box. We'll be actively monitoring the box and we'll do our best to address as many as possible towards the end of the session. If you're looking for extra resources, you can always go to that resource list box and you'll find helpful links related to the session today. Now, a quick tech tip, if you do experience any hiccups like a frozen screen or audio issues, your first step should be to refresh your browser. But hey, if that doesn't do the trick, let us know in the q and a box and our team will be ready to assist. The session will be recorded, so don't fret if you do miss anything, you will get an email with a link to the recording after the session. All right, so let's get started and I'd like to go ahead and pass it over to our speakers. All right, thank you, Kayla. Appreciate the introduction. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Paycor's Partner Webinar Series for January. My name is Dan Nigro, I'm the Senior National Partner Director for Paycor, and I'm looking forward to our conversation today. So, Jordan, I will pass it over to you for an introduction as well. Thanks, Dan. Jordan Monshine, the Senior Vice President of Technology Solutions here at Marsh and McLennan. I've been in the industry for several years, I'll put it that way. I was in the HR field before this and then kind of got sucked into the broker world about fifteen plus years ago. And so, here I am now. I kind of manage our technology solutions team. All right. Well, now that the formal introductions are over, Jordan, hey, how are you? It's good to see you again. We know each other well. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dan. So, again, looking forward to, our conversation, today around, you know, your perspective and kind of your forecast, into 2026. So, if you're ready to roll, I'll go ahead and kick us off with our first question. Let's do it. Alright. So thinking about, you know, technology trends, let's see what major technology trends do you foresee shaping this landscape here in 2026? Yeah. So, much as I don't want to talk about AI, because I feel like we've all been beaten over the head with it, I think we have to. So, I do see a lot of clients kind of wanting to dip their toes into AI, but without some of that compliance headache. Think that people are a little bit more wary over the past year. I think people kind of gung ho with AI and now kind of taking a step back to see what does that actually mean? And especially from an HR and compliance perspective, are they willing to take that risk early on? So, definitely something that is on the table, but again, think I see people a little bit more apprehensive than they were maybe two years ago with it. And definitely kind of more of a workforce coming into that's not afraid of technology, but again, like I said, still kind of apprehensive to use AI. So, a lot of clients that have HR teams that are wanting something that's more tech forward, but again, still cautious with how tech forward they are. They're going to make some of those sacrifices in their personal life when it comes to tech, but still may be apprehensive when it comes to work. Also seeing a lot of clients go to more standalone, especially in the Benadmin world. Standalone bin admins and kind of best in breed, having Paycor for payroll, time and attendance compliance, but maybe looking at more of a standalone bin admin vendor because they're not as afraid of what that integration looks like, I'll say. Yeah, that's some good information for sure. You did mention in the beginning there AI, right? So I think that is our perfect segue to kind of my next question and my next thoughts is, when you look at AI, how is it impacting the insurance industry specifically? And in your opinion and from your lens, what are some of the biggest opportunities and what are some of those big challenges that you have seen and that you do foresee as we head into the new year? Yeah, so I think brokers are definitely cautiously optimistic with how we can use AI to kind of streamline things on the backend. From a benefit administration perspective, I think that there's gonna be a lot of room there for make things be able to build a little bit quicker and trust that renewal process too, so that maybe the testing process is a little bit cleaner, not as many errors being found throughout the open enrollment process, but things being identified hopefully sooner before jumping into open enrollment. Less eyes being on the renewal process, I think, is one of the bigger things. But I think for more of the carriers are always slower to adopt technology as we see from carrier file feeds, obviously, and APIs are kind of something that they're still working on and still trying to make work on their side. So, I would be surprised if we see on the front end AI change anything from a carrier's perspective, from an HR lens or even from a Benadmin lens. Hopefully they're doing things on the back end, I think. But, I think it's going be several years before we see huge improvements from a carrier side. But definitely more of just to streamline from a Benadmin and a broker side, I think, and definitely from an HR perspective. Just more streamlined processes and hopefully less touch points. Again, I just think the challenge with AI is still kind of that trust with it and finding an audit trail. In HR, we love to be able to find that audit trail and know why something happened. And I think with AI, we're still struggling to figure out what that looks like, which I think is a lot of reason why HR and the insurance industry in general is a little apprehensive, mainly because we like to be able to see that audit trail and some of that with AI is hard to find. Yeah, no, that's fair. I mean, of the things I think about when I think of AI too, especially within this industry, is it really AI? And I think everyone is using the term very loosely. Is that something that you kind of see and maybe is that a watch out for companies as they're evaluating certain things or taking on new vendors, whatever? Is that something that you're seeing as well? Because that's just my thought process on it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so, you'll see a lot of vendors are now adding the word agentic to it to make it seem like it's something different. At the end of the day, it's similar to what So, again, I would just, don't be afraid to dive into it, you know, and especially for your HR teams out there, ask detailed questions about what exactly that AI means. And again, really pinned back to that audit trail and who owns that AI at the end the day, right? Is it just something, are they outsourcing to ChatGPT and is your information just going to be sitting in ChatGPT kind of thing? Or is it truly an in house AI platform that is built natively, that they have security over? Because again, I think compliance and security are gonna be huge red flags for AI, especially in our HR world. So, just kind of asking that basic question of like, was this AI kind of built from the ground up or are you outsourcing this to somebody else? And basically, where's our data living? Right? If I ask something to this AI, where is this information going? Because I think that's the most important question is, right? Is my information going to be somewhere out there in ether or can you guarantee me in writing, right? That my information is going to sit in where I can trust and it's only going to sit with that vendor. Yeah, no, that's a great point. I assume the answer is yes here, obviously, but that's something you as well, like do on a day to day as a technology leader, right, within a practice. You're helping those clients kind of answer some of those questions and really leading them in the right direction. Is that fair to say? Exactly. Yeah, definitely. Okay. Perfect. Awesome. Cool. Just pivoting away from, I guess, you know, with AI, and really looking, at the clients. How do you see some of your clients' needs evolving as we head further into 2026? What are some of the things that you're seeing there from a needs perspective? Yeah. So, the big trend, and nothing new really, but a lot of it is compliance right now. A lot of it are trying to figure out and navigate the HR world, they want a partner that can help them with compliance, kind of a one stop shop. And I think there's definitely some concerns about just kind of depending on your industry, obviously, but a lot of our clients are just kind of concerned with where the workforce is going in the next couple of years, right? And kind of what they can trust and what they can. And they're looking for vendors and technology that they know aren't going to go anywhere. And again, that they can help with that compliance. That's a big one. Also service, I think, and I know we'll touch base on service in a second here, but that's a huge hot topic for our clients. Yeah, it's just really looking for vendors that can provide that higher touch and that can help them with some of those questions that we haven't seen before. Some of that just that general random I need tax. I have issues with this state with tax questions. I have issues with this employee wanting X plan that we're not able to offer to them for some reason until we get an individual plan. There's definitely some unique situations coming up. And I would just say to those HR teams out there, don't be afraid to ask your brokers and your technology because I think the entire industry is definitely learning not learning, we know this already but we know that we're going to have to change rapidly, right? That there's a lot of our clients are being asked to do a lot with a lot little, a lot less, sorry. And we're supposed to be filling those gaps, right? That's our job. So, I know that we're all, you know, in the broker world and you know, in the HR tech world kind of clamoring to be that one stop go to. And I think compliance is definitely going to be a big one coming up in the next year or two. Yeah, I feel like already there's a lot of things out there that are popping up and folks are having questions around. And I think you make a great point that a lot of the folks within HR or finance, whatever it is, are expected to do a lot more with less resources. I think that's just the reality of the situation. So totally agree there. What insights are you hearing directly from your clients? I know that you've probably spent a lot of time towards the end of 2025 meeting with a lot of clients and kind of seeing how the year went and what their thoughts are heading into the new year, but what are you hearing from them and what are some of your takeaways regarding their priorities for 2026? Yeah, I hate to kind of beat it over the head, but service is a big one. We're seeing a lot of clients that are staying with vendors that from maybe a technology perspective, they're not impressed with, so they're having to do some more kind of manual backend things, but they're staying with them simply because they feel like they have service. So, they have a dedicated account manager that's able to kind of help them walk through things. And then on the flip side, we're seeing clients leave technologies that they like, that there really aren't any gaps in, simply because they're not getting that service. So, I think really, you know, having, and I know it's easier said than done sometimes, but having that dedicated service contact is huge. Or having, you know, a dedicated service team even, you know, that can make or break a vendor. And that's a hot topic right now. It used to be a couple of years ago, they're looking for vendors that can fill in this technology gap. I'm with X vendor and they can't do whatever X, Y, and Z, and I'm looking for a vendor. And there's a lot less of that nowadays. And more of just, know that this platform can handle what I'm doing. I'm just looking for a platform where I can get some service. And that's a big talking point. Also HR outsourcing, again, kind of going back to HR teams being asked to do more with less. We've gotten a lot of requests for HR outsourcing, vendors and people that can be hands on in a platform as well. That's another hot topic as well. To have somebody that can kind of a second set of eyes, maybe even somebody that can go and not necessarily manage payroll, beyond that, just making sure that they're auditing their system on a regular basis. And again, just kind of a second set of eyes that they can throw some of that more heavy admin work too. It's definitely a bigger request. And then I'd say lastly, just confusion in the market. There's a lot of not to pick on Paycor, but there's a lot of pays out there, right? And so, we get a lot of questions that just kind of help me figure out the market. There's always different pays out there, who does what, and kind of help them figure out. Because I think definitely over the past couple of years, the market has been flooded with a lot of marketing, and it's just a matter of helping clients figure out who does what the best, and especially if they're industry specific, have somebody that can speak their acronyms, so to speak. Right. And then do what's best for the client, right? It's always going to be the thing and it could be a different provider. So, I don't think you're picking on Paycor at all. I totally agree with you as well. And I agree too, kind of with that outsourcing model. Again, we've said it a few times now doing more with less. And I think that is a potential solution and there's a lot of good solutions out there in the market that can really help elevate a client. And it is interesting also to hear the service. There's so much good technology, so many things, so many brand new things, things that work really well, but ultimately, you're not doing right by the client and servicing it to the best of your ability. Like folks are not gonna feel the love and they might be looking elsewhere. Right? So I think that's fair and it's kind of good to see that that's still out there because I think that's just super important. Right? And we shouldn't be getting away from just servicing the clients as best we can. Right? So all very good points there. Are you observing a significant shift towards more tech forward vendors? And how well are, in your opinion, are your clients or clients out there utilizing these vendors and the different technologies that are out there? Are they, you know, would love to know your perspective on that. Yeah, that's a good question. We have a lot of clients that think that they want tech forward. And then when they really dive into it, they realize that it's not all that it's cracked up to be. Again, kind of going back to service to some of the more tech forward vendors, they're great for the right client that's willing to be part of some of that beta and go through some of the pains with a vendor. But a lot of them kind of again, going back to service, they have chatbots for service that aren't necessarily as helpful as a lot of our HR teams would expect. Or they're just not as high touch because they think that the technology should be able to speak for itself. So, it's definitely, I put a lot of tech forward vendors in front of our clients because they're good to look at. And then if you have the time, then it's good to at least see what might be on the horizon in the next couple of years. So, I definitely wouldn't discount it, but at the same time, just be cautious with them. And if you do decide to go with a kind of tech forward vendor, make sure that you are providing them all the details of your your company setup before you make that decision, because that we see a lot of gaps there as well with some of those tech forward vendors where they're a little too distracted by some of the the AIs to speak or what they can do that they are some of the basics that I feel like they're not paying attention to. So, just definitely worth looking at, just be cautious with it and definitely ask about what the service model is because again, lot of those tech board vendors, you know, that have kind of the AI chatbots to speak for for their, has their their service model. Yeah. No. That's all very good advice and, you know, good thinking there as well. Kind of shifting gears a little bit, premium increases, right, have kind of been the norm the last few years. It seems like there's always something going on with that each year. And it's, I think something that within the insurance industry is something that you folks are always battling, right? And just trying to remain competitive and do what's right for the client and making sure that they have what they need. But are there any interesting creative solutions from clients or prospective clients that are helping them adapt to some of these premium increases that they're seeing year over year? Yeah, so that's really that's why our producers get paid the big bucks, but they're the ones that come up with a lot of the creative solutions for a lot of what's happening. But there's a lot of level funding out there. We've seen a lot of level funding plans coming up. Narrow networks is another one too, that I know some clients are a fit for. Lifestyle spending accounts is another one too, where it sometimes looks like it's adding cost to it a little bit, but it's really more of a creating a lifestyle spending account so your employees have more of that control over what they do at the end the day, you're not having to pay a premium for plans that employees might not even be utilizing. And then really just, I think something that goes, and that a lot of clients should be doing more, and I know it's again easier said than done, but really just taking a pulse on employees to see what they truly appreciate and utilize in their plan. And kind of giving them that education of, here if we have a plan that your deductible might go up slightly, however, your premium will be able to stay the same. And I know it's easier said than done from an HR perspective to be able to involve employees in some of those conversations, but just having a pulse on what is truly important to them. Cause I think, you know, a lot of times an employee's employees might be willing to have a little bit higher deductible if their premiums are willing to stay the same. Whereas an HR team is wants to dig their heels and say, you know, we'll rather eat that premium versus have a higher deductible, something like that. So again, just kind of having a pulse on what employees, what truly matter to your employees at the end of the day, I think is key. But really keeping in mind too that what a cost savings is, you know, to change carriers might not be what you think it is, right? Because you're taking in, you have to have new file feeds, there may be some manual processes on the backend that as an HR team that you're now having to take on, depending on if you have narrow networks and if your platform is able to accommodate that. So, just kind of dive into the details because I've seen clients that think that they're saving more than they actually are just because a move can cost your employees. You might have to have some fees on the back end for new file feeds or so it's not always the savings that they think it's gonna be at the end of the day too. Right. Sounds like it's more important ever than to have trusted advisors that are helping you kind of work through these and get creative and also just providing that kind of maybe second or third level thought within some of these proposals and different things that are out there. So yeah, totally, totally agree. And I love the idea of taking the pulse and really surveying the employees because I think you make a great point there that, hey, we could save a few bucks maybe on the premium, but you might be losing X. What is important to you and kind of getting that view holistically with the workforce to make some of those decisions, I think. Again, easier said than done, like you said, but I think that is something that is a really good strategy. So, awesome. All right, let's look in looking at, you know, my world HCM and the technology. You know, when we think of HCM, we have, obviously a lot of the single bundled HCM systems and vendors. And we have some out there that are maybe put together with multiple integrations and different things with a certain client. What are some of the benefits and maybe even some of the negatives of the single HCM system versus one that could utilize multiple integrations to kind of connect everything and make everything in sync with each other? Yeah. So, I think it was definitely a benefit to having a single HCM, where in theory it should be more of a seamless process, right? For not only employees, but HR admin teams. There's no need for single sign on, a lot of times which most vendors can do now, but you don't have to worry about a vendor in your future that may not have a single sign on capability coming in. Obviously there's a single multiple contracts that you're having to worry about to renew. Single HCM is usually less expensive as well from a cost perspective rather than having kind of a best in breed for everything. Then really it's just fewer vendors to manage at the end of the day. I think that's why too, why we do have clients that kind of want to pick and choose and have a Paycor and a standalone, Benadmin maybe even on the side. But again, it's just sometimes when they realize, oh, I have to now I have three different calls I need to be on and I have there's different throats to choke, so to speak. So then from there, it's kind of just fewer vendors to manage. However, I think integration is definitely less of a bad word than it used to be. So, with the right vendors, if you are a company that wants to have, has a robust benefits offering as well, And you want more of that standalone Benadmin experience, then there's absolutely no reason why you can't have Paycor and then a standalone Benadmin and then just integrate them. Again, I know sometimes people get concerned about that integration piece, but you you can have single sign on set up. You can have a very easy workflow for your employees and for you. And then at the end of the day, you're not having to worry about, you know servicing. Basically you're able to provide what you want to provide to your employees without having to feel like you're being strong armed, so to speak into choosing something just because you have Paycor for payrolls, you know. So, there's definitely pros and cons to both. If the client has time, I always recommend that we look at both. We look at a couple of HCMs and some standalone, but at the end of the day, it's really up to kind of the HR team and what their preference is. There are pros and cons to both, and it's kind of just up the company needs and what you're looking for, but I would recommend that anybody that has kind of a robust benefit package that they definitely at least look at a standalone Binadmin platform versus just what's coming with the HCM. Yeah, great advice. Sounds like there's probably like a good happy medium there, right? Where you can have that single HCM provider, but then compliment that with the right other vendors that play nice with each other, if you will. Right? So, very cool. Yeah. Great. Let's talk about mergers and acquisitions. A lot transactions out there. You and I both know ourselves. We see it, it seems like on the regular these days that, you know, things are consolidating or acquiring and and things like that. But, how do these, you know, different, transactions affect platform choices during this consolidation? What kind of goes into that and what are you seeing when that does come down the road? Yeah. So usually the larger population wins whatever platform they're on, just because it's less to transfer. However, we definitely have, I felt clients of ours make cases as to why they should stay on whatever vendor they have, for certain amount of time. Because it's really, if it affects your process and you can kind of prove hopefully to whoever is acquiring you that it's an essential part of your business and it's something that if it's disrupted, then there's certain things that will fall off the cracks, whatever it is, we can usually make our case to at least keep them on for a certain period of time. Right? Whether that be a year or two, sometimes it's even just coming up to the fact that there's a contract that you don't want to break that's, you know, you have two, you know, year or two left on the contract, but, you know, again, it's really kind of up to the HR team. I get anxious when there's acquisitions and they force the new client to move on to their platform right away. You know, there are reasons behind that sometimes, but usually we can peel that back. You know, again, there are business reasons why they might want to push, you know, the newly acquired business onto their new platforms as soon as possible, But for the most part, we're able to kind of unwind it. Sometimes it's just one person making the decision that it needs to happen now. And there's no real juice binder for lack of a better word. And it's really just kind of stating your case as to why you think you should, you know, the newly acquired company should be able to stay on their platform for X amount of time. And then slowly rolling things out if possible, rather than ripping the band aid off. So, again, if you have an admin with your current platform, then it's how do we roll benefits into the new platform? Or if it's switching payroll but keeping that admin, right? So, of doing things as and I know, again, I'm giving best case scenario here, but that's our goal is to really try and make it a well thought out process versus just, hey, you're a newly acquired company, we're rolling you into our new platform, whatever that may be. And just because that's what we do. So, that's something I definitely had conversations and I've won some and lost some, but it's definitely worth the conversation and some pushback. If any of your HR team out there that might be going through an acquisition soon and you wanna dig your heels into the current platform that you have, definitely it's a fight worth fighting because it's usually worth it to at least come up with a slower timeline versus just Alright. Looks like maybe Jordan has some technical difficulties. Give him a moment to refresh. It almost seemed like it sounded like he was done with his thought, but I could be wrong. I'm back, sorry. Oh, we go. Oh, there he is. Here I am. Sorry, I froze. Everybody froze. Sorry. I think I was done with my thought. I'm not sure where it is, but I think yeah. Yeah, and I would say, just kind of, I think maybe putting a bow on that just from your perspective, like, do you think the M and A landscape and the M and A world, do you think it's going to slow down as we head into 2026 or are going to continue to see these deals and this consolidation? Definitely not. I think if if anything, it's gonna become more and more standard to see. For sure. Great. Alright. Well, a couple more questions here. Then we can do q and a at the end, but this one, I'm excited to hear from you about just because I don't know as much about it. But with clients opting for network specific plans, what issues are emerging and how are these issues addressed? Yeah, so again, I think a lot of clients see there's a cost savings for having some kind of narrower network plans out there. However, I would just be cautious in how it's going to be implemented with your Benadrymins Because we have clients that break out their plans, they have certain zip codes that can only be eligible for certain plans. But again, it's kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier, it's kind of making sure that if you're going forward with that plan, that there's a way to administer it, because we've seen some plans move forward with that and then realizing that their BNM wasn't able to accommodate that. And then there's some more manual work that they're having to do on the back end with making sure employees are in the right benefit classes and manually moving people from one benefit class to another versus just the system knowing eligibility automatically. So, do think that admin systems will in the next couple of years come up with their own solutions for it. But again, just now as you all are getting creative with your benefits, just kind of have that in the back of your mind as, is it really something that my current phenomenon is able to accommodate? Does that make sense? Yeah, that's good stuff. Great. Thank you for that perspective there. And then this last question, I guess, is really putting a bow just on some of the things that we already touched on. And we knew we were going come back to service again. But if we could just recap, where do you see, again, the vendors excelling, where are folks falling short? And just reiterate a little bit about, again, your perspective on service and how important that is in determining a vendor's success with client. I would love to hear that again. Yeah, I mean, again, not to beat a dead horse, but service is everything. And especially at the implementation, I should stress that to you. It's not just that ongoing service, but that implementation is key and it's the first look at a vendor, right? So, a good implementation and feeling like their HR teams are being taken care of during that implementation, that ongoing service is everything. Then that compliance too, I don't want to forget about compliance because I do think that servicing compliance again, are those two things that if an HR company feels like they're being supported in those two areas, whether or not the tech, whether or not there's some workarounds they're having to do on the backend might be, they might have to be doing some workarounds on the backend, but if they have that compliance in the service, they're more than willing to do that as long as they feel supported. Yeah, no, some great points there. Yeah, I love it. Well, that concludes kind of the Q and A session between us. I enjoyed the conversation. It's clear you are an expert in your field and have a lot of knowledge that you pass along to your clients and always constantly looking for ways to improve the day to day with those folks. So Jordan, thank you so much for joining us today and giving your perspective on some of the insights and trends that you foresee occurring here in 2026. And on that note, it doesn't look like we have any questions in the chat. So just want to thank everyone for joining us today. We'll follow-up with an email from the Paycor team and we'll see you here on the next one. Thanks everyone. Thank you everybody.