Tech news this week: NaaS, Enterprise Connect, AI in HR

This week, host Antone Gonsalves meets with Bob Laliberte, principal analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, to talk NaaS; TechTarget Senior Editor Katherine Finnell to share the latest from Enterprise Connect; and Patrick Thibodeau, a reporter at TechTarget, to delve into AI's HR applications.

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Network as a service

The NaaS market is growing quickly. As network complexity and performance requirements increase, many organizations are consuming more network functions as a service.

"It all ties back to the fact that these environments are getting more complex, but organizations have to move faster than ever," Laliberte said. "So, how can you implement a solution that enables you to be more flexible, to be more agile, and to spin those services up with less work on your end, and without having to have fully trained PhDs in networking to be able to do this as well?"

Enterprise Connect

Enterprise Connect happened this week, and one of the main themes was return to office.

"A phrase that was really common at the conference was magnets, not mandates," Finnell said. "The idea is that mandating people to come back to the office was not effective. You need to make the office a magnet for people to actually want to come and collaborate there." Businesses can use technology to streamline meetings and make the office more magnetic. They can also host group activities like hackathons, town halls, lunches.

"Things that make you want to come to the office for more than just sitting at your desk, taking meetings or just sitting at your desk, working at your computer," Finnell said.

Another huge theme was generative AI. Vendors showed how generative AI could be used to streamline information across collaboration channels and take detailed virtual meeting notes.

"With Microsoft Copilot specifically, it can even join meetings for you," Finnell said. "So, if you're double booked, it can attend a meeting that you can't attend and get a full summary of the information that you need that you missed."

AI for HR

Generative AI is being embedded everywhere. HR software is no exception.

"It will infiltrate every aspect of HR," Thibodeau said. "But first, you have to know that you can trust what ChatGPT is doing. That's a huge divide right now. No one knows if you can really trust it because it tends to make things up and it tends to get things wrong."