AI-Powered EX Transforms Organizations and Elevates Business Outcomes

Most companies are getting employee experience wrong. They treat it like a retention play, a nice-to-have HR initiative that keeps people from jumping ship. That thinking is costing them millions.

When I stepped into the role of CEO at Perceptyx just over 90 days ago, I expected to hear the usual stories from our customers about how we've helped them solve for low engagement and clunky listening tools.

What surprised me most was discovering just how directly Perceptyx has been driving revenue for its customers. Not indirectly through retention. Not theoretically through engagement scores. Directly and measurably, in dollars and cents.

Here are the five biggest discoveries from my first 90 days that are reshaping how I think about employee experience.

Discovery #1: Our Behavioral Scientists Are the Game-Changers

A big surprise for me at Perceptyx has been our behavioral scientists. We have Ph.D. behavioral change management experts who've been embedded in our company for over 15 years. Some have been part of our core identity for all 22 years of our existence. These aren't consultants we bring in for special projects. They're the beating heart of how we help organizations shape behavioral and cultural transformation at scale.

These behavioral scientists have influenced every aspect of our platform, from Intelligent Nudge design to action plan structure. They've shown me that employee experience isn't about collecting feedback. It's about systematically changing behavior across thousands of employees simultaneously. That scale moves business metrics.

Our AI coaching product includes over 2,500 nudges, and customers can develop their own through our nudge toolkit. Weekly, personalized nudges go to employees and managers, each designed to drive specific behavioral changes tied to business outcomes. I use it myself, and I’m regularly impressed by how accurate the recommendations are. The AI coaching draws directly from our employee experience platform, delivering guidance that’s highly relevant and actionable.

Discovery #2: EX Drives Direct and Measurable Revenue

Two client examples from my first 90 days completely changed my perspective on what employee experience delivers.

A ship manufacturing client builds vessels for federal and private contracts. These are complex, multi-million dollar projects where specialized mechanical engineers are mission-critical. Yes, they care about retention because replacing these experts is expensive. But what really matters to their executives is project delays.

When a key engineer leaves mid-project, the cost goes beyond replacement. The penalties for late delivery run into millions of dollars per week, sometimes hundreds of thousands per day. Using our platform to identify flight risks and address specific issues driving engineering turnover, we quantified the exact financial return. We're preventing multi-million dollar penalties through targeted behavioral interventions.

My second example involves a fast food company expanding into new East Coast markets. Their critical employee is the general manager supervising stores or regions. This expansion represents tens of millions in investment. Success depends entirely on engaged store managers who hire well, coach effectively, and create experiences that bring customers back.

When store managers feel supported and understand how their work connects to company success, customers buy more. They get their gas, coffee, and sandwich, then return tomorrow because the experience was positive. We've quantified the incremental revenue generated when manager engagement scores improve. It's measurable, predictable, and repeatable.

Discovery #3: AI Doesn't Replace Human Work, It Amplifies It

Everyone assumes AI replaces workers and drives cost savings. That's thinking too small. What I've learned in these 90 days is that AI in employee experience empowers employees to have exponentially greater impact. It provides better data, comprehensive insights, and faster decision-making capabilities.

I see this in how we serve our customers. Comprehensive discovery documents, value engineering proposals, and strategic recommendations that once took weeks now take hours. But we're not doing less human work. We're doing more meaningful human work. Our people arrive at client meetings better prepared, with deeper insights, ready for substantive conversations about business problems instead of gathering basic information.

Our own products do this for organizations at scale. It doesn't replace managers. It makes every manager more effective with personalized, contextual guidance exactly when needed. A  manager struggling with team communication receives different nudges than one dealing with change resistance. The AI understands context because it connects to our comprehensive listening platform.

Discovery #4: HR Leaders Are Drowning in Data and Starving for Action

The commoditization of the survey business is accelerating rapidly. Survey fatigue is real. Every platform can send questionnaires and generate reports. But in my first 90 days, every CHRO and CPO has told me the same thing: "We're drowning in insights. We need action."

When we lead with our action-oriented approach, customers are immediately engaged. They still want pulse surveys, exit interviews, and census capabilities, but they see those as building blocks. Surveys remain our foundation, but it’s the ability to drive action that sets us apart.

Our latest analyst recognition from IDC, Forrester, and Gartner isn't because we run good surveys. It's because we're the only pure-play employee experience platform consistently connecting insights to proven behavioral change at scale. While other vendors chase customer experience, market research, and general feedback platforms, we focus 100% on employee experience. That specialization matters when driving real business outcomes.

One of our newest retail clients was crystal clear about their priority: continuous listening. Not as an event. Not as a quarterly check-in. But as an always-on business process tracking employee sentiment in real-time and automatically triggering interventions when needed.

This goes beyond surveying people constantly. It means creating multiple feedback channels (pulse surveys,  crowdsourcing, team conversations, AI-powered check-ins) and using advanced analytics to synthesize input into clear, actionable insights. Our listening platform processes this continuous data stream and identifies patterns humans would miss, flagging risks and opportunities in real-time.

Discovery #5: We Innovate on the Back of Customer Sentiment

My first 90 days have reinforced the idea that we can't stand still. Our customers rely on us to push boundaries in employee experience technology. But the best innovation ideas come directly from them.

They tell us where the business needs to go. They share struggles, aspirations, and constraints. We listen, then build solutions addressing those specific needs. That's why we invested in our AI strategy, including several strategic acquisitions. That's how we became the AI operating system for employee experience.

Listening without action is expensive theater. Every insight our platform generates connects to specific, research-backed behaviors and concrete actions. When we identify a team struggling with growth and development, we don't just report it. We automatically deploy targeted nudges, helping managers improve feedback quality, create development opportunities, and coach more effectively.

Employee experience is only as good as the actions it inspires. You can have sophisticated analytics and beautiful dashboards. None of it matters without driving behavioral change at scale.

The Bottom Line After 90 Days

Organizations that win in the next decade will understand this truth: Employee experience is a business strategy, not an HR program. It directly drives revenue, reduces operational risk, and creates sustainable competitive advantage. With the right combination of behavioral science, AI technology, and relentless focus on action, it's entirely achievable.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again here: The era of just reporting the news is over. Now it's time to make news by transforming how your employees experience work and watching your business metrics transform in response.

That's what we're building at Perceptyx. That's what our customers achieve every day. And that's why I couldn't be more excited about where this industry is headed.

Ready to see how employee experience can drive measurable business outcomes for your organization? Schedule a meeting with our team to explore how our AI-powered platform transforms insights into action at scale.