‘We are entering the era of agentic HCM,’ says Senior VP at Oracle

The roles and responsibilities of HR leaders has transformed over the past decade or so – with more change expected to come.

This evolution reflects a broader cultural and technological change, which now places HR in a strategic position to enable connection, people empowerment, and AI and automation to make better, faster decisions.

At the forefront of this change is Yvette Cameron, Oracle’s Senior VP of Global HCM Product Strategy. 

During an exclusive interview with UNLEASH at Oracle Cloud World 2025, Cameron discusses how HR is being redefined in the age of AI – from being a process enforcer to a strategic change agent.

HR’s strategic position in business

“HR is no longer the ‘office of no’,” Cameron begins, “which is what I used to call them.”

“Instead, they are now the enablers of culture, democratizing data across the organization in new and intuitive ways, and truly driving transformation. This is not just about process change but also about how we engage with our evolving workforce.”

For Cameron, this is a reflection of how the workforce has changed. Now, she believes that HR professionals are positioned as “transformation agents, change agents, and truly strategic members of their organizations.”

Part of this transformation has come with the advent of AI – which has enabled HR’s role to be even more strategic and imperative.

HR professionals can truly be the change-makers in their organizations,” she adds. “The role and skill set of HR has had to evolve to become more technically focused, but without losing the human element, right?”

As the conversation of Gen AI grows, so does the fundamental necessity to keep humans in the loop.

Recognizing this, Oracle has built AI into its product design. For example, Oracle’s AI Agent Studio allows customers to configure human oversight at any stage of a process, allowing user flexibility as organizations will require different levels of approval.

Additionally, the need for human input differs for certain tasks; scheduling interviews doesn’t necessarily need human intervention, but for tasks like approving job offers, human validation is essential.

Cameron notes: “No one wants to be hired or fired by an AI agent alone. Our vision is to automate the work that should be automated while allowing humans to focus on the interactions that drive better decisions and outcomes.”

The “era of agentic HCM”

As Oracle’s Senior VP of Global HCM Product Strategy, Cameron is particularly interested as to how AI is impacting human capital management – which she believes, is a space to watch.

“We are entering the era of agentic HCM,” she explains. “This means using AI – whether predictive, generative, or intelligent agents – to take action.

“AI is streamlining processes and removing friction. For example, in my session at Oracle Cloud World London 2025, I showcased a new hiring agent embedded in the job offer process.

“A manager can ask the agent, ‘What salary should I offer?’ The AI pulls data from HCM, including accepted and rejected offers for similar roles, current salary ranges, and external labor market data. It then suggests an optimal offer and reminds the manager of relevant policies, such as eligibility for sign-on bonuses or relocation packages.”

Cameron provides another example of employees eager to be promoted; AI agents will be able to assess their readiness while prompting additional growth or advancements if needed.

Consequently, these AI-driven digital assistants guide decision-making, conduct research, and ultimately enable more autonomous workflows. Over time, Oracle will continue to automate entire processes, from job requisition to onboarding, reducing manual effort and enhancing efficiency.

To really emphasize the positives AI brings to HR, Cameron reflects: “Organizations are telling us they’re cutting down the amount of time that managers spend on different processes because they’re using AI.

“In fact, I recently delivered a presentation showing that for a 10,000-person company using AI in our applications, we estimate $4.5 million in recurring savings.

“Some companies express concerns about data exposure, security access, and similar risks when using AI. If you’re using an external solution like ChatGPT, for example, it’s likely that the data you input – such as salary details or personally identifiable information (PII) – could be at risk.

“However, we build guardrails that protect data. The same security structures our customers use to set up their HCM systems and control access are maintained when AI is applied within our applications. We embed AI for the purpose of honoring security and ensuring data safety.”

Readiness is another great concern for businesses, as many believe they lack the skill set to integrate AI correctly.

Cameron, however, insists that AI adoption can be as simple as toggling a switch.

She explains: “With generative AI, for example, customers want AI assistance in the flow of tasks like goal setting or performance summarization. A simple toggle activates it. Moreover, customers can edit AI-generated prompts easily without needing programming skills.”

Supporting this, Cameron provides the example of a recent customer advisory board session with one company that demonstrated how they built their own AI agent from scratch in just seven minutes using Oracle’s tools. This showcases how easily and quickly customers and partners can create AI agents within HCM while maintaining security and a seamless user experience.

One of the biggest shifts happening now is the mindset around AI adoption,” Cameron adds. “A year ago, customers on my advisory board were hesitant, wanting to consider governance and take a wait-and-see approach.

“Now, everyone is ready to activate AI. AI adoption is growing exponentially – we’ve hit the tipping point, and this year will be the year of adoption.”

Preparing today’s workforce for tomorrow

Oracle’s HCM suite supports HR leaders in navigating today’s workforce, particularly regarding different working models and digital transformation. This has been a 100% natively developed, end-to-end HCM suite, meaning Oracle hasn’t made acquisitions or bolted-on solutions.

From the ground up, all Oracle’s applications are built on the same platform and data model to ensure cohesiveness across all HR processes, from recruiting to development.

This is important because today’s workforce is very mixed,” Cameron shares. “It’s not just about managing employees; it’s also about managing contingent workers, volunteers, and the alumni community.

“While you may not be paying volunteers or evaluating contingent workers with the same performance management processes, you still want to communicate effectively with them and engage them in your culture.

“Some organizations have 45-50% of their workforce as contingent workers. That large group significantly impacts company culture.”

What’s more, a few years ago, Oracle introduced its employee experience platform, Oracle ME, to focus on the experiences of individuals – employees, managers, and others in the organization.

This platform includes tools like Communicate, a bespoke marketing tool that enables targeted messaging based on HCM system data.

Instead of corporate communications sending mass emails, Communicate allows HR to fine-tune messaging. For example, it can target only employees hired after a certain date or those with specific benefit selections.

This not only improves communication effectiveness but also reduces email spam.

Looking ahead, Cameron states that one of the biggest transformations the market will see within the next two years is that agentic applications will replace traditional SaaS interfaces.

Supporting this, she explains that users navigate transactions and complete processes manually. In the future, users will simply select an option – such as hiring a new employee – and a series of AI agents will handle each step of the process.

“Users will no longer need to navigate multiple screens; instead, they will engage with AI agents through interactive chat or voice interfaces,” she says.

“This will fundamentally change how users interact with enterprise software.”