Avionté hosted its 15th annual CONNECT user conference at the Downtown Hilton Minneapolis last week. The event brought together hundreds of staffing professionals and industry leaders. Despite current economic uncertainties, the high turnout underscored the extraordinary resilience of the staffing industry.
Staffing has never been for the faint of heart. In times of change, staffing serves as a shock absorber for the entire U.S. economy. But even within staffing, agencies powered by the Avionté software platform are a special breed. They embrace innovation and use technology to drive a competitive edge. CONNECT 2024 reflects the dedication of our customers and partners to not just survive but thrive – even in challenging times.
And attendees were not disappointed. They had the opportunity to hear directly from Avionté leaders about the current state of the staffing industry, explore the emerging trends of technology-driven platform staffing, and learn new strategies for developing competitive advantage through technology. The opportunity to network with peers within the Avionté community was equally valuable.
The event kicked off with a keynote from Avionté CEO Rishabh Mehrotra. From the outset, Rishabh emphasized the importance of toughness and leadership in times of uncertainty, noting that the industry faces both the challenge of a softening economy, as well as structural changes in employer buying patterns and talent preferences.
In this type of environment, Rishabh noted that tough leaders confront challenges head-on, ask tough questions, engage in honest conversations with clients, and confront bad news objectively, without fear or bias. He urged leaders to closely analyze market trends to focus on the emerging needs of employers and changing work preferences of talent, while keeping a laser focus on recruiter productivity. Armed with this insight, leaders can confidently make smart investments in their business to ensure their agency’s future success.
“Ultimately, being tough requires understanding the situation and taking the action required for that situation. Tough or resilient people have one thing in common. When things get stressful, they don’t hide. They explore. They observe. It takes toughness and grit to be in the staffing industry. And as we are fond of saying at Avionté, no matter the circumstances…staffing shows up.”
Rishabh MehrotraCEO, Avionté
Rishabh then explored in depth the three key factors that agencies need to focus on for success:
Agencies must provide tangible, measurable value to their employers, partnering with their clients to help them find solutions to their most difficult talent challenges when managing a growing contingent workforce.
Dramatically improving the productivity of recruiters is essential. When times are difficult and you need to scale back, having technology that allows your recruiters to do more with fewer staff is critical. It also allows your business to scale swiftly once the market is ready for growth.
Agencies need to find ways to monetize their talent and foster loyalty. Creating seamless experiences that empower your workforce and encourage their return is essential for building strong talent pools and securing the largest share of quality candidates.
In the CTO address, as well as in breakout sessions, Avionté explored the critical tenants of platform staffing:
Platform Staffing provides the best path forward for staffing agencies to deliver high-quality, high-value staffing at scale through technology. As the management of contingent work rapidly evolves, older ATS platforms are rapidly becoming obsolete, creating opportunities for early adopters, and risks for agencies that don’t modernize. Staffing firms must be more than talent providers; they must also be tech providers, as employers who rely on technology to manage their own workforce now expect their agency partners to do the same.
CONNECT featured important sessions from the SimpleVMS team, including an employer panel that explored how employers evaluate staffing agencies, and how they use VMS systems to manage their contingent workforce programs. The SimpleVMS sessions were packed with staffing agencies looking for insight into how they can use a VMS with their employer to dramatically enhance the overall business relationship.
Avionté PIXEL also generated substantial buzz. This embedded chatbot and communication tool was dramatically improved by adding a true artificial intelligence engine, enabling a far more flexible and superior user interface for a wide range of communication chores, ranging from talent pre-screening and surveys to context-sensitive reminders and instructions. The new Avionté PIXEL workflow engine also provides a standard model for user-configurable workflows that will ultimately be extended to other areas of the platform.
During the CTO address with Odell Tuttle, Avionté addressed the importance of developing a highly intentional platform architecture across all major systems, with common frameworks for safety, security, and connectivity. This also includes a front-end that delivers a delightful and consistent user interface. A core tenet of Avionté’s design philosophy is that technology needs to serve the needs of ALL people—employers, recruiters, and talent alike.
But what ultimately makes a staffing platform effective? Ask yourself this question: does it build desirable experiences for your staff, employees, and clients? Staffing is unique because it serves two key groups: employers and candidates. Both need positive, memorable experiences with your agency. To ensure you have the right platform, consider how your technology enhances experiences for both sides.
Customer Experience Expert Brittany Hodak, author of Creating Superfans: How to Turn Your Customers into Lifelong Advocates, emphasized in her CONNECT keynote that superfans are your most passionate advocates, becoming your best marketers and consistently referring you to others. To create superfans, you must focus on every touchpoint. It doesn’t have to be grand—often, the small details make the biggest impact.
“Every interaction is a chance to delight your customer. Every touchpoint is an experience and an opportunity to build superfans. Technology is key to creating seamless experiences that enhance these touchpoints, allowing your recruiters to focus on intentional, personalized interactions that strengthen relationships with both talent and employers.”
Brittany HodakCustomer Experience Expert
In this context, a modern platform that delivers a consistent user experience while boosting recruiter efficiency is crucial. It enables a scalable, one-to-many relationship with talent, keeping recruiters at the center and allowing them to provide hands-on, personalized experiences that better serve both employees and clients. This approach helps create touchpoints that truly delight. By leveraging a platform that effectively manages interactions, your agency can evolve from being a simple commodity provider to, as Brittany puts it, “a commodity of one.”
For example, in the breakout session “The Power of End-to-End Solutions,” Avionté experts, including Chief Product Officer Sushma Tripathi, demonstrated how our platform supports every stage of the hiring journey to create seamless interactions. From our integration with SimpleVMS to our robust mobile talent app, our platform provides comprehensive support at every stage, aligning with Brittany Hodak’s keynote on crafting delightful experiences at every touchpoint.
With our seamless integrations, we drive efficiency across the hiring process while fostering strong, referable relationships with both quality candidates and employers.
Despite market fluctuations and structural shifts redefining our industry, CONNECT attendees left with a powerful takeaway: Avionté is fully committed to delivering exceptional experiences for users, enhancing recruiter efficiency, and elevating interactions for both candidates and employers.
By consolidating our tools into an adaptable, end-to-end staffing platform, we support every stage of the hiring process, from job creation to candidate placement, all within a single, seamless portal. Our aim is to streamline workflows and deliver a unified experience that not only enhances recruiter productivity but also delights both quality candidates and agency clients.
And this is just the beginning! Our mission is to continuously innovate and refine our platform. This year alone, as highlighted by our Chief Technology Officer, Odell Tuttle, we’ve implemented over 500 enhancements—all designed to align with our customers’ core objectives and meet real-world demands. Even the smallest updates are aimed at boosting efficiency, simplicity, and access—bringing Brittany’s vision of delivering delightful user experiences to life.
“We’re turning our employees into product experts by embedding a culture of using and understanding our products daily. We are actively listening, reading, and processing your feedback and integrating it into our development process because we know it can be the little things that make the biggest difference. As we see it, YOU – our customers – are part of that team! We’re creating the future platform for staffing together. ”
Odell TuttleCTO, Avionté
We’re also integrating AI into our solutions, including the above-mentioned and newly updated Avionté PIXEL AI bot that now leverages anthropic AI for natural, multilingual conversations with users—transforming the chatbot into a true recruiter co-pilot. Additionally, we are continuing to build new integrations with third-party AI tools like Talroo, Ringover, and ConverzAI to enhance various stages of the recruiting process.
As the staffing industry continues to evolve, agencies must adapt and harness technology to remain competitive. The insights from CONNECT underscored the importance of adaptability, investing in technology, and delivering better value to employers and quality candidates to differentiate your business from others.
Avionté’s 15th CONNECT user conference reaffirmed our commitment to innovation and leadership in staffing. By championing strong leadership, market adaptability, and the strategic use of technology, we’re equipping agencies to navigate the complexities of today’s staffing landscape and achieve future success.
“Avionté’s goal is to give you the tools you need to build and scale a future-proof staffing agency. We believe that Avionté’s Platform technology will be the key differentiator for winning in this industry. ”
Rishabh MehrotraCEO, Avionté
Want to see how a modern staffing platform can help your staffing business be more efficient? Schedule a free consultation call today.
