Answer extracted from the The Josh Bersin Company podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How much faster do HR responses become when moving to a digital platform?
Seneca Polytechnic moved more than 90% of employee HR interactions onto the ServiceNow platform, consolidating them from scattered email, phone, fax, and other channels. Average response times plummeted from nearly two weeks to less than 24 hours—a transformational shift in service speed.
This dramatic acceleration wasn't achieved through technology alone. The team refreshed over 100 knowledge articles to enable self-service capabilities, allowing employees to find answers independently without waiting for HR staff responses.
As Diana Mouhan explains in the episode, the shift required rethinking how HR operates fundamentally. Rather than asking what new technology to invest in, Seneca redesigned its service delivery model using existing tools—a pragmatic approach that freed resources and focused effort on user experience and data quality.
The consolidation onto a single platform also enabled stronger data governance and quality controls, allowing the HR team to analyze trends and make decisions based on complete, reliable information rather than fragmented records scattered across multiple systems.
"Trust isn't just telling people don't be afraid. Trust is actually built on acknowledging the concerns that they have and being super vulnerable in that journey with them."
Diana Mouhan — Executive Director of Transformation and Change at Seneca Polytechnic. With over a decade of organizational strategy and AI adoption expertise, Mouhan brings experience from leadership roles at Deloitte and Kearney, where she specialized in guiding organizations through complex technology transformations and change management initiatives.
The implementation succeeded not by forcing adoption, but by understanding where each team member stood in their technology journey. The transparency built trust, turning skepticism into buy-in—critical when asking people to abandon familiar channels and embrace a new way of working. Discover how Seneca's team navigated HR team readiness and adoption barriers in the full conversation.
Key takeaways
- Consolidating HR interactions onto a single platform (ServiceNow) reduced response times from nearly two weeks to under 24 hours.
- Refreshing over 100 knowledge articles enhanced self-service capabilities, empowering employees to resolve issues independently.
- Improved data governance enabled better trend analysis and decision-making across HR operations.
- Change management and stakeholder trust were as critical as the technology itself to successful adoption.
See also
Why should AI agents be formally integrated into organizational charts?
Diana intentionally embedded agents into Seneca's org chart to create clarity and ownership around who manages each agent and holds responsibility for its performance and governance.
What practical AI use cases can HR teams implement across workforce operations?
Seneca Polytechnic deployed AI across workforce planning, organizational design, job architecture, change management, and compensation analysis to unlock value across the entire HR function.
What assessment approach reveals HR team readiness levels for AI adoption?
Diana's team took time to listen and understand where each person was on their AI journey—from those learning what a prompt was to advanced users—allowing them to tailor support and build genuine confidence.