Cornerstone Connect 2024: Acquisitions, Product Releases, and More
In the last year, most of the conversations I’ve had with employers around trends have come down to two big themes: skills and AI. Today, I had a chance to hear from the team at Cornerstone at Cornerstone Connect 2024 about some of the company’s future, and it is deeply tied to both of those concepts.
Cornerstone has done some incredible work on skills and the future of work, and the new Cornerstone Galaxy simplifies the offerings the company offers, making it easier for employers to adopt the technology. In fact, our team recently worked with Cornerstone on research into the connections among skills and development of the workforce and how they tie into workforce and business agility overall. That report is now available at the link below.
Check out the new report with the Cornerstone team about how skills and business agility intersect
3 Big Takeaways
After more than seven hours of presentations and Q&A on product improvements, hearing about enhancements and customer wins, and learning about future plans for the technology, there’s quite a bit to share.
Not counting the fun experience testing the virtual reality headset capabilities from the recent Talespin acquisition, some of the items that most intrigued me:
- Skills Studio
Unlike some technology providers that require employers to use a proprietary model, Cornerstone takes a BYOM approach to Skills Studio. BYOM=bring your own model. Employers can use a blend of own models, custom skills, or an external taxonomy/ontology to make skills visible and actionable parts of the business strategy.
Snapshot of the skills approach that Cornerstone supports
- Cornerstone Companion
The new generative AI tool Cornerstone Companion offers a tool for partnering with learners, admins, and other personas to get the most out of the technology. Unlike some platforms that simply integrate with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Cornerstone uses multiple large language models (LLMs) to deliver a learning-focused, high-value experience for all users.
- New Acquisition of SkyHive
The new acquisition of skills intelligence platform SkyHive opens up exciting opportunities for Cornerstone clients. Cornerstone likely has more data on learning than any other entity on the planet based on existing customer base. But the new SkyHive acquisition brings additional differentiated data sources into the plaform, such as labor market insights. SkyHive leadership said the company has 10,000+ sources of data powering its platform that cover the workforce, multiple countries and regions, and industry-specific insights. I’m excited to think about all of that data being integrated into the Cornerstone learning/performance ecosystem (as I shared recently on LinkedIn).
It’s an exciting time for the Cornerstone team and the clients they serve as the company is solving both legacy challenges around learning and compliance as well as new challenges around skills-based talent strategies and organizational agility.
Ben Eubanks is the Chief Research Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory. He is an author, speaker, and researcher with a passion for telling stories and making complex topics easy to understand.
His latest book Talent Scarcity answers the question every business leader has asked in recent years: “Where are all the people, and how do we get them back to work?” It shares practical and strategic recruiting and retention ideas and case studies for every employer.
His first book, Artificial Intelligence for HR, is the world’s most-cited resource on AI applications for hiring, development, and employee experience.
Ben has more than 10 years of experience both as an HR/recruiting executive as well as a researcher on workplace topics. His work is practical, relevant, and valued by practitioners from F100 firms to SMB organizations across the globe.
He has spoken to tens of thousands of HR professionals across the globe and enjoys sharing about technology, talent practices, and more. His speaking credits include the SHRM Annual Conference, Seminarium International, PeopleMatters Dubai and India, and over 100 other notable events.