Building the Case for AI in HR Service Delivery and Operations

How Do You Get Buy-In?

HR teams know AI has the potential to supercharge reduce admin workload and operational costs, save everyone time, and enhance the employee experience. But securing budget means proving value. Building a strong business case for AI in HR means quantifying impact, aligning with company priorities, addressing executive concerns, and mitigating risks.

This guide provides an overview. We can help you build the business case. For a deeper discussion, schedule some time here.

Define the Problem

The first step in making the case is defining what inefficiencies AI could address.

Common HR challenges AI can solve:

• High ticket volume → How many tickets are you processing on average a month? How much time is that taking up for the HR team?
• Slow employee support → How long are employees waiting around from start to finish? Employees spend up to 1.8 hours per day searching for HR information (McKinsey).
• Manager inefficiency → How many of these tickets are coming from higher paid staff who impact the rest of the team’s productivity and retention—the managers?

Tie these challenges to measurable costs and inefficiencies to strengthen the case.

Align AI With Leadership Priorities

To gain executive support, position AI as a cross-functional business enabler. This will be specific to your organization, but as an example:

• HR: AI frees up HR teams from repetitive work, allowing them to focus on improving strategic initiatives like retention, talent development, and faster onboarding.
• Finance: AI cuts operational costs, offsets headcount growth, and improves back office efficiency per dollar spent.
• Ops, IT, Information: AI reduces HR’s reliance on IT, minimizes IT service desk burden, and ensures increased compliance given lower chance of human error.
• For the CEO: AI improves employee experience and productivity, and supports workforce scalability without increasing HR overhead.

Show the Business Impact

Example Impact Metrics:

• 50-70% reduction in HR ticket volume → How many hours could HR teams recover? How much faster could they deliver strategic projects based on the hours saved?
• Response time in minutes → Employees get instant support. What would be the productivity gains be based on salary, employees saved just 1 hour a month?
• Fewer future support staff → With the reduction of admin work, how many headcount could the HR team save as the company grows?

By framing AI’s impact in terms of time saved, cost reduction, and improved service quality, there’s a higher chance leadership will see it as an investment, not just another tool.

Differentiate AI HR Agents From Existing AI Tools

Executives will ask, “Can’t we just use Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT? Why AI HR Agents (Like Kinfolk) Are Different:

• Executes tasks, not just answers questions → Integrated with HR systems to handle PTO requests, onboarding tasks, benefits changes, system access, and more.
• Understands employee context → Provides personalized responses based on role, location, and policy eligibility, rather than generic answers.
• Resolves HR issues in Slack, Teams, and email → Eliminates the need for tickets, or the need to go into systems. Less clicks, less confusion, less issues.
• Can be used for multiple use cases → See the Use Cases page

Address Leadership Concerns

Even if AI’s benefits are clear, leadership will have concerns. Preemptively addressing these concerns removes roadblocks to approval. Here are some common objections:

“HR already has an HRIS and a service desk—why do we need AI?”‍

AI works on top of existing systems, automating tasks before they become tickets. Unlike service desks, AI resolves issues in the flow of work (Slack, Teams, email).

“AI sounds expensive—what’s the ROI?”

AI reduces costs by cutting ticket volume, admin overhead, and HR workload. AI Agents typically have a greater ROI multiple compared to normal software tools within 12 months.

“Will AI replace HR jobs?”

Yes and no. AI augments HR teams, preventing burnout and enabling them to focus on high-value initiatives, while reducing the need for future headcount of administrative staff.

“How do we ensure AI is accurate and compliant?”

AI pulls directly from HRIS data and knowledge bases to provide accurate responses that are specific to each employee. HR retains full control over which employees have access to what content, what the AI can and can’t do, and continued oversight with approvals. None of the company’s data or employee’s personal information is used to train third party models. Using AI for automation means reducing human error.

Run a Pilot and Measure Results

Once leadership is interested, start small with a pilot program to prove AI’s value:

• Pick low-risk use case → Start with PTO requests and policy questions.
• Measure results → Track ticket deflection, resolution time, and hours saved.
• Set a timeline → 30-90 days to measure those results. Keep everyone up to date to demonstrate early wins and build confidence.
• Compare pre-AI vs. post-AI data → Show improvement in efficiency and experience.
• Have a post-pilot roll out plan → Use the pilot to gather feedback, build champions, identify key areas of focus and create a phased approach on the most impactful areas.

AI in HR is a Business Decision, Not Just an HR Upgrade

Getting leadership buy-in for AI isn’t about explaining features or just focussing on the benefits for the HR team. It’s about proving overall ROI, solving business problems, and aligning with company priorities. Focus on measurable impact, executive concerns, and a phased rollout to position rolling out HR-specific AI Agents as a low risk game-changer for organizational efficiency and employee experience.

Get in touch to build your business case. Book a call here.