💡 “The future of HR tech is shifting away from traditional SaaS.” —Me :)

Last month, I shared that warm take on LinkedIn.

It sparked a flood of thoughtful replies and DMs from HR leaders.

The question I kept hearing:

“If SaaS is no longer the center of the HR / People Stack… what is?”

Here’s my zoom-out answer: You need a system, not a shopping list.

Most People teams didn’t design the systems they’re running. They inherited them—layer on layer, tool on tool, fire drill on fire drill.

And over time? They patched it all up with duct tape and good intentions.

In the AI era, that won’t cut it.

If you want to lead a modern People function, you need more than rituals and rebrands. You need architecture.

🧠 The 4 Layers of an Intelligent People System

At Huertanomics, we use this 4-layer model to help HR teams move from duct-taped chaos to intelligent design:

🧱 1. Infrastructure Layer Your foundation: tools, data, integrations.

Most teams think, “We bought an HRIS - job done.” It’s not.

Infrastructure only works when it’s wired into clear workflows and logic. Otherwise? You’re plugging fancy tools into a broken system.

✅ Quick Action: Take 15 minutes to map your core tools against your top 3 employee lifecycle moments. Do they talk to each other? If not, you’ve got an integration debt problem.

🔁 2. Workflow Layer The operational engine—what happens when someone gets hired, promoted, exits, or returns?

Great systems have workflows that are:

✅ Visible

🧪 Testable

🔄 Designed to evolve

Bad systems? They live in tribal knowledge, email chains, and last-minute Slack DMs.

🧠 3. Decision Design Layer This is where most systems break—especially at scale. Who decides what? When? With what inputs? Add AI to the mix and it gets trickier:

What gets automated?

What stays human?

Where do you escalate?

The best systems define decision rights and logic trees up front so humans focus on judgment calls—and AI handles the rest.

✅ So, what does this look like in practice, imagine your promotion process:

Trigger: HRIS flags eligibility based on tenure and performance data

Logic: If comp ratio < 1.05 and performance = “Exceeds,” auto-approve within band

Escalation: Anything >10% increase routes to VP for review

Human step: Manager writes a short business case for exceptions

This invisible architecture keeps decisions consistent, fair, and AI-ready.

💡 4. Experience Layer How it feels to move through your system:

Is onboarding welcoming or confusing?

Do reviews build trust or fear?

Does your People brand signal clarity, consistency, and care?

Experience is the front door. But it’s only as good as the plumbing behind the walls.

🛠 Why This Matters AI is coming for every layer of your People system. But without intentional design, AI just adds noise to chaos.

The takeaway? We don’t just need new tools. We need new mental models.

Intelligent teams aren’t waiting. They’re rebuilding now—one layer at a time.

🔎 Next Up: The Org Stack Audit Next week, and as I ramp up resources I’ll share a free Org Design System Map to help you assess your own People Stack and spot the gaps.

Let’s rebuild better. Smarter. Layer by layer.

Your partner in change,

Stephen