Exclusive: How ELMO Insights helps AI analytics finally make sense for HR

ELMO Software has expanded its product line with ELMO Insights, an analytics product that uses natural language queries.

The company's VP of MLOps and Platform Engineering, Ramesh Thiagalingam, describes it as a way for HR teams and business leaders to work directly with workforce data "without relying on specialists."

During a recent interview with Thiagalingam, who has been with ELMO for the last seven years, he explained that "the key" is not requiring data analytics expertise.

"ELMO Insights is designed to help HR teams and business leaders make data driven decisions by transforming that raw workforce data into real time, visual insights," Thiagalingam said.

"It's software that lets HR professionals and business leaders ask questions about their workforce in plain English, really simple English, like 'Which departments have the highest turnover?' or 'What's our average time to hire?' In seconds, they get a visual, board-ready answer, without needing SQL skills or data analysts to get the outcomes they want," said Thiagalingam.

He described the product as a response to the time and effort involved in manual workforce reporting and to the need for technical skills in many analytics workflows.

"Before we went into building Insights, we looked at the challenges that HR leaders face," he said. "Those challenges include the time it takes to build manual reports that answer yesterday's questions, and the need to write SQL queries to correlate data from one platform to another. We looked at how we could improve that, and that's where Insights was created."

Plain-English analytics

Thiagalingam linked the product's plain-English interface to natural language processing and a structured data warehouse, noting that HR-specific terminology plays an important role in interpretation.

"Insights uses natural language processing to interpret plain-English questions and translate them into structured queries against the data warehouse," he said. "That ability to convert natural language into structured queries is key."

"The platform combines semantic understanding of HR terminology with standardised data models, which allows it to automatically generate visual charts," he said.

Removing technical barriers changes who can work with workforce data, he said.

"When you eliminate technical prerequisites for accessing data, HR moves from reactive reporting to proactive decision-making," Thiagalingam said. "It transforms HR from report builders into strategic partners."

Real-time workforce insights

According to Thiagalingam, speed is central to how HR participates in the business.

"By reducing the time to insight from days to seconds, HR leaders can participate in real-time strategic conversations rather than spending time building retrospective reports," he said.

He cited common operational questions as practical examples of the platform's value.

"HR leaders might want to know which teams have mandatory training expiring this month, while executives might ask about average time to hire by role," he said. "Insights delivers answers in seconds, instead of hours spent searching systems or waiting on analysts."

That speed changes expectations of HR within the organisation, he said.

"It's the shift from 'I'll get you that report by Friday' to 'Here's the answer now, and here's what we should do about it,'" Thiagalingam said.

He also linked workforce analytics to organisational design, workforce modelling and financial planning.

"A position-led approach shows not just who is in the organisation, but how structure drives performance and where gaps affect operations," he said. "It allows workforce data to connect directly to budgets and strategic planning."

Thiagalingam's advice on AI adoption

As HR vendors introduce more AI-driven features, governance and operational controls have become increasingly important, Thiagalingam said.

He described MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) as a business-enabling function rather than a narrow technical discipline.

"MLOps supports predictive intelligence and allows teams to experiment safely and responsibly across the organisation," he said.

He said ELMO's approach focuses on embedding AI into core workflows rather than adding surface-level features.

"We're not bolting AI onto the platform," he said. "Insights is built into the platform fabric as an intelligence layer that automates what previously required SQL skills and analysts."

Thiagalingam said organisations adopting AI should focus on trust and change management.

"Start small, build trust and scale deliberately," he said. "Invest in change management early, focus on quick wins, and always keep humans in the loop. AI should make recommendations, not decisions."

Looking ahead, he said predictive analytics will play a growing role in HR technology, allowing organisations to anticipate workforce trends rather than react to them.

Early customer feedback has focused on speed and ease of use, particularly the ability to ask questions and receive dashboards in seconds.

ELMO will be hosting a webinar later this month to introduce the product. People can register here.

You can also see ELMO Insights in action and explore how it delivers real-time workforce analytics by watching a short demo here.