‍Introduction

The HR function has long promised to deliver more with less, to be both efficient and strategic, to serve business needs while supporting employees. For decades, companies tried to realize this vision through the same model—HR Business Partners, Centers of Excellence, and Shared Services. But the results have fallen short. As Volker Jacobs, founder of TI People, puts it, “This promise was rarely fulfilled.”

In our conversation, Volker Jacobs—who once led one of Europe’s top HR transformation consultancies and later led digital HR research at CEB (now Gartner)—explained how AI, the rapid pace of change, and his disillusionment with transformation projects that benefitted consultants more than companies, led him to rethink the HR Operating Model. His latest work, co-created with 15 European enterprises and featured on the Digital HR Leaders podcast with David Green, outlines a fundamentally new direction: HR must stop acting like a service provider and start working like a product team.

And as we discussed the state of AI in HR, Volker referenced the Gartner Hype Cycle, warning that we are fast approaching a familiar cliff—the “trough of disillusionment.” The key question now is not whether AI will deliver, but whether we are preparing our organizations to navigate the coming dip and rise stronger.

1. The Quiet Collapse of the Old Model

Volker Jacobs didn’t walk away from the traditional three-pillar HR structure because of a single moment of failure. The decision came gradually, shaped by years of experience observing how transformation programs consistently fell short of expectations. Many initiatives promised efficiency gains and strategic alignment, but often resulted in surface-level improvements. The model, while widely adopted, struggled to deliver lasting value to the organizations and people it aimed to serve.

During his time advising companies and later leading research at CEB (now part of Gartner), Volker began to see a repeating pattern. Despite significant investment, HR programs were typically designed from the top down and had limited impact on everyday work. Key stakeholders—particularly employees affected by these changes—were frequently left out of the design process. The structure seemed more focused on internal alignment than on delivering user-centered experiences.

This growing disconnect led Volker to a different path. After leaving Gartner, he founded TI People, a research and innovation company focused on rethinking HR systems from the ground up. Instead of optimizing legacy frameworks, he chose to explore new models built on how work happens, placing the experience of the employee, not just institutional goals, at the center of design.

2. Why Product Thinking Changes Everything

When Volker says HR must become a product team, he is not using a metaphor. He means a complete operational redesign—moving away from fragmented functions and toward integrated, user-centered systems of delivery.

In this new model, HR teams no longer execute discrete services like recruitment, compensation, or performance management in isolation. Instead, they build holistic solutions for real user needs, and continuously improve them based on feedback, behavioral data, and emerging tools. 

It’s a fundamentally customer-centric shift: employees and managers are treated as users, and the quality of their experience defines the value HR delivers.

This requires dedicated roles that mirror those in software development: product managers who own the end-to-end experience; problem solvers who work across silos to resolve friction; and service managers who coordinate between humans, systems, and AI layers. At the base of this structure lies AI, not as a bolt-on tool, but as an intelligent foundation for insight, automation, and personalized service delivery.

By embracing this approach, HR becomes faster, more accountable, and dramatically more responsive to both business demands and employee expectations. It stops being a back-office function and starts acting like a builder of value-creating experiences.

For leaders wondering where to begin, Volker offers a clear starting point: “Start with the problem, not the process.”

Rather than mapping existing workflows or selecting new tools, he recommends focusing on one specific employee challenge, something tangible, often overlooked, and rooted in everyday experience. Solve that problem well, and you not only create value but also build the foundation for what a product-based HR model looks and feels like in practice.

This approach isn’t just theoretical. In companies like Moderna, where HR and IT are being intentionally brought together to lead AI transformation, we’re already seeing the lines blur. Volker sees this as a natural progression: “The Moderna case shows that a strong collaboration between HR and IT will be crucial for AI adoption. It also supports my view that more product-oriented methods—long embedded in IT—are now moving closer to HR.”

3. The Five Capabilities That Define the Future of HR

Of course, no new operating model works without the right capabilities. When I asked Volker what skills HR professionals must develop to make this shift, he didn’t hesitate. Through extensive research and co-creation with leading enterprises, he identified five domains that will increasingly define HR’s strategic value—not in the future, but starting now.

• First, AI and machine learning literacy are non-negotiable. HR doesn’t need to write algorithms, but it must understand how AI works, where it draws its power, and what ethical or operational boundaries must be respected. 
• Second, human-centered design becomes essential because adoption isn’t about pushing tools; it’s about designing services that slip naturally into the rhythms of daily work. If employees feel friction, if a solution interrupts rather than supports their flow, it won’t be used, no matter how well it’s engineered.
• Third, HR must learn the discipline of digital product management. This means treating HR services as living systems that are owned, improved, and measured continuously—not as static policies or processes. 
• Fourth, a working grasp of data science and analytics is critical, not only to evaluate outcomes but to interrogate inputs. If HR professionals don’t understand the data that feeds their AI tools, they cannot ensure fairness or precision.
• Finally, ethical AI governance emerges as both a legal and moral imperative. With policies like the EU AI Act on the horizon and increasing scrutiny around algorithmic bias, HR cannot afford to wait for compliance officers to lead. It must proactively shape the principles, policies, and behaviors that define how AI shows up in people’s working lives.

4. The Squeeze on HR: Top, Bottom, and Expectations

As we spoke about the rapid evolution of work, Volker pointed out that the HR function is now being reshaped not by internal ambition alone, but by powerful forces pressing from all sides. There is a deep and growing demand from both business leaders and employees, forming what he calls a dual-pressure system, where change is no longer episodic but continuous.

From the top, HR faces a surge of expectations from executives and organizational stakeholders who require more agile responses to disruption. These leaders are asking HR to:

• Equip the workforce with new skills at speed
• Support restructuring efforts with both clarity and compassion
• Manage ongoing cultural and operational transitions across teams

At the same time, from the bottom, employees are expecting HR to deliver services with the same ease, relevance, and personalization they experience in their daily consumer lives. This includes:

• On-demand support that understands their context
• Digital tools that are intuitive and responsive
• Solutions that work without additional effort or explanation

Volker described this moment as one of intensified exposure, where HR is no longer quietly operating behind the scenes. It is being pulled forward, asked to lead, and placed at the center of AI-enabled transformation. With that centrality comes visibility, and with visibility comes heightened expectations. In many organizations, HR is now seen as the bridge between human capability and machine augmentation.

It is in this context that Volker referenced the Gartner Hype Cycle, applying it not just to the technology itself, but to HR’s role in deploying it. He observed that we are currently at what the model describes as the peak of inflated expectations—a phase where enthusiasm, investment, and urgency converge. AI is being pitched as the solution to talent shortages, engagement gaps, and speed deficits, all at once. HR is being tasked with implementing these systems, aligning them with values, and ensuring they land well with employees.

But Volker’s message is clear: the excitement must be matched with design, infrastructure, and capability. Otherwise, what comes next is the inevitable dip—the trough of disillusionment—where early wins plateau and frustration begins to surface. He reminded me, as he has reminded others in his work:

“The real job is to make the trough of disillusionment as flat and short as possible.”

Doing so will require not just tools, but trust. Not just ambition, but architecture. And not just AI for HR, but HR for AI.

5. What Actually Blocks AI Adoption (And What HR Can Do About It)

Even as AI moves deeper into the HR ecosystem—through copilots, chatbots, learning platforms, and predictive systems—Volker emphasized that adoption remains slower than it appears. Behind the press releases and pilot programs, many organizations are discovering that the real barrier is not capability, but usability. Or more precisely, the lack of frictionless fit into the daily reality of work.

As he put it to me directly:

“People go to work to get things done, not to use HR tools. If AI doesn’t fit into their flow, they won’t adopt it.”

Volker’s research identifies five primary barriers that, though subtle at first glance, collectively explain why even well-designed systems often go underused:

• Skill gaps
• Limited confidence in results
• Uncertainty around permission
• Low presence at the moment of need - “Forgetting to use AI”
• Lack of sustained training

These are not signs of resistance—they are signs of friction. And friction is not a user problem. It is a design responsibility.

Volker also brought forward an insight that challenges a common assumption among managers. Many believe their teams are hesitant to embrace AI or digital transformation. However, his studies across Europe found something quite different: frontline workers and early-career employees are not only ready, they are eager to engage, provided the tools make sense and the trust is mutual.

The hesitation, it seems, often comes from the middle—managers who, out of concern or caution, may delay access, gate experimentation, or underestimate their team’s ability to adapt. Volker encouraged a different mindset:

“Trust your people more. Let them try. Let them surprise you.”

This, perhaps more than anything, captures the spirit of HR transformation in the AI era. It is not about more control—it is about better enablement. It is not about directing adoption—it is about clearing the path for it to happen.

The Bottom Line

Volker Jacobs is not offering AI as a miracle. He is not selling another transformation blueprint. What he is doing—through his research, his dialogue with practitioners, and his co-created models is holding up a mirror. HR, as it stands, is not broken—but it is misaligned. And in a world moving as fast as ours, misalignment becomes a structural risk.

The way forward is not about doing what we’ve always done, faster. It’s about thinking like product teams. Designing around the user. Embedding AI into the foundation, not as an add-on. And above all, recognizing that people, when trusted and equipped, can adapt faster than we expect.

📝 How to Put It Into Practice

Before jumping into strategy decks or system overhauls, sometimes the most powerful move is to slow down, step into your user’s shoes, and examine where the everyday experience breaks—because that is where trust is either built or lost.

To begin applying the product-thinking approach to your HR function, start with small, concrete steps that help you understand impact, redesign work, and test new ways of operating. Here’s how:

• Step 1: Assess AI’s Real Impact
  Evaluate how AI is already influencing the tasks, workflows, and outcomes of your HR roles. Volker’s team at TI People created a practical tool to support this: the AI Impact Assessment (AIIA), designed to map AI's current and potential influence across HR roles. It requires minimal setup and delivers results in under 48 hours, giving you a clear baseline for action.
  
  
• Step 2: Redesign One Role at a Time
  Don’t aim for a full transformation out of the gate. Instead, pick one HR role—such as recruiter, learning partner, or employee experience lead—and reimagine what their work looks like in an AI-enabled environment. Then, set up a model team to test this new configuration in short, structured iterations. Volker calls this method iterative transformation: it’s faster, lower-risk, and delivers both learning and ROI early in the process.

Each iteration builds momentum. You’re not overhauling everything—you’re testing what works. Over time, this approach shifts your operating model from static delivery to adaptive design, powered by data, AI, and the lived experience of your people.