
HR Leaders How Much Can You Really Save with AI in HR?
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Feb 24, 2026 Carlo Steenvoorden, EVP leading HR, analytics and AI at KPN, drives a shift from legacy HR systems to a conversational AI employee experience. He discusses choosing in-house AI, slashing query costs from euros to cents, rebuilding HR skills and renewing large parts of the team. He also covers embedding the assistant in Teams, hyper-personalized learning and when humans must stay in the loop.
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Conversational Interface Slashed HR Query Costs
- Moving HR interactions to a single conversational interface cuts human-led query cost from €15–20 to about €0.15 per prompt.
- Carlo Steenvoorden called this a bold all‑in move that pushes legacy systems to the back end and centers one intelligent UI.
Build Tech Skills Inside HR Teams
- Build technical skills inside HR instead of outsourcing everything to IT to enable rapid experimentation and ownership.
- Carlo says HR teams must regain tech savviness and a learning mindset, not rely on one or two IT experts.
Renew Talent Rapidly To Move Fast
- Refresh your HR department quickly if you need speed; KPN renewed ~25–35% of the department in a year to accelerate change.
- Carlo frames this as necessary to hit a 24–30 month transformation timeline rather than drifting slowly.
