HR Technology News Analysis: Paycom’s IWant Opens the Door to AI Adoption

Summary: With the release of IWant — Paycom’s command-driven AI engine for employees, managers, HR professionals and executives — the company has made access to HR, payroll and employee data fast, efficient, easy and reliable. It’s one of the most effective expressions of AI we have seen in the HR technology space.

The News

On July 30, Paycom announced the launch of IWant, its command-driven AI engine providing instant and accurate access to employee data. Users can prompt the engine via a simple text or voice-to-text interface through Employee Self-Service® and Manager on-the Go® (both located in the Paycom app) and on desktop through the client login page.

IWant gives users accurate results by pulling data from one source: Paycom’s single software. This helps avoid errors from duplicate or inconsistent data. IWant aims to be easy for anyone to use, no matter how familiar they are with the software, by making employee data simple to access and navigate.

Let’s break down the news, its impact on customers and how AI solutions contribute to customer and end-user satisfaction.

Product/Service Offering Impact

Over the past few years, there has been without question, a proliferation of new tools and software solutions for use in HR, payroll, benefits, analytics and talent management processes that incorporate some form of artificial intelligence technology.

Paycom has introduced this new AI-powered capability to its single-database HCM software, making the process of finding important employee data easier, faster and more direct, and leveraging its inherent data privacy and security features. IWant is a significant step forward in Paycom’s ongoing evolution, and it fills an increasingly crucial gap in functional capability for enterprise systems.

AI engines for accessing and retrieving HR data have become more common in HR and workplace technology, primarily driven by the widespread popularity and user adoption of consumer generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. As has been the case with several recent technological advancements, consumer use and adoption have driven enterprise technology development and adoption.

With IWant, Paycom continues its commitment to data accuracy. IWant is not generative AI; it only pulls from exact data already in your Paycom software. This ensures accuracy and is made possible by Paycom’s single software architecture. IWant does not guess and there is no worry about data hallucinations.

Customer Impact

With the capabilities introduced with IWant, Paycom directly addresses customers’ needs and expectations for improved access to accurate information about their most important assets: their people.

Especially notable in IWant is the development of “Executive Mode,” which describes the simple, text-entry interface or “front door” to rich, detailed and accurate HR and payroll data that can be used by executives and leaders to greatly improve and simplify their use of employee data. Traditionally, executive engagement with HRIS platforms has been limited due to the complex and time-consuming nature of navigating menus, dashboards and unfamiliar interfaces. These tasks often feel inefficient or irrelevant to busy leaders focused on strategy and performance, so many executives rely on assistants or HR staff to extract the data they need. This can cause delays and missed opportunities for timely decision-making.

Executive Mode addresses this long-standing challenge by transforming the entire HRIS interaction into a seamless, chat-based experience tailored for speed, simplicity and accuracy. By removing the friction of traditional use and enabling leaders to instantly access insights — such as performance data, compensation summaries or head count information — via a command-line type interface, this innovation empowers executives to engage directly with HR and workforce data without the need for software training.

One executive for a Paycom client who participated in the pilot of IWant said, “IWant makes everyone a system expert, so I can access all the info I need without navigating beyond the home screen. And I don’t rely on others for employee data anymore. It’s a total game changer.”

Increased executive adoption not only drives faster, more informed decisions but also fosters a data-driven culture from the top down, maximizing the strategic impact of the HRIS across the organization.

H3 HR Insights

The HR and workplace technology market is awash with artificial intelligence solutions. These solutions offer tremendous capability and promise, but for many organizations and HR leaders, AI still seems opaque, complex and risky, causing them to take a measured and cautious approach to introducing AI for HR and people-related data and processes. These HR leaders are right to be concerned and even conservative about exposing critical personal and employee data to potentially uncertain and unproven AI technologies.

As with any HR technology, the key to measurable success with AI in HR tech will be superior accessibility, excellent ease of use, explainability, rock-solid privacy and security, and a clear value proposition for each user. Being able to articulate these properties of any AI solution to HR leaders, employees, managers, IT and C-suite will be essential to gaining acceptance, trust and user adoption. We think that Paycom’s IWant succeeds in all these measures. Let’s examine these concepts or requirements for success with AI technology in HR in more detail. 

Accessibility: This is a critical pillar in the development and deployment of AI solutions, especially for generative AI engines embedded in enterprise systems. For enterprise customers, ensuring that all employees, including those with disabilities, can effectively interact with AI engines is paramount. A truly accessible AI engine should support screen readers, voice commands, keyboard navigation and other assistive technologies, and be designed following established standards. Paycom is well known for its inclusive design, and this is expressed through its thoughtful adoption of new technology. IWant can be accessed by any user by simply typing (or using a voice prompt) into a text box. It is as simple and inclusive as it gets.

Ease of Use: Just ask IWant a question about pay, taxes, benefits or time off and get your answers from Paycom’s single database of employee information. Upon asking your question, you immediately get the HR and employee information you want and can quickly get back to your day. And that is the surest indication that IWant will be easily and widely adopted by clients and their employees.

Explainability: As AI engines become more embedded in enterprise systems like HR and payroll software, the ability to explain how the technology arrives at its answers is critically important. Enterprise customers need transparency and trust, particularly when the AI engine provides information related to payroll, time off or employee data, where accuracy and accountability are essential. Explainability ensures that users, IT teams and HR leaders can understand the logic behind AI responses, trace the source of the data, and validate that the output aligns with internal policies and real-time system records. This not only builds confidence in the technology, but also supports compliance, audit readiness and ethical AI use. Since IWant references only trusted HR and payroll data in Paycom’s software, it ensures that the answers it provides are accurate, timely and trustworthy.

Privacy and Security: Since IWant is built on Paycom’s single database of HR and payroll data, it leverages the software’s defined information-privacy and data-security protocols. IWant users will only be able to view the HR and payroll data to which they have authorized access. There is no need for HR or IT leaders to be concerned about sensitive data being exposed incorrectly.

Value Proposition: By enabling real-time access to essential HR and payroll information through a command-line type interface and by using natural language queries, employees can get immediate answers to common questions (checking time-off balances, reviewing paycheck details or confirming benefits) without needing to navigate menus or wait for HR support. This not only enhances the employee experience by reducing frustration and delays but also creates space and capacity for HR teams to focus on higher-value, strategic work.

Conclusion

With the release of IWant, Paycom has firmly reinforced its position as a comprehensive, full-suite HCM provider, with innovation, ease of use and security as fundamental pillars of its software. With IWant and its command-driven AI engine, Paycom has significantly enhanced the overall value and competitiveness of the software. For HR leaders considering their HR technology options, there are three main areas of increased value worth considering.

First, IWant modernizes the user experience by enabling intuitive, conversational access to information, therefore reducing the need for user training and simplifying engagement for employees and managers alike. Second, it increases utilization and ROI by making data stored in the software more accessible and actionable, ensuring that key features like payroll, benefits and time tracking are used to their full potential. Third, it positions the HR technology as a forward-thinking, intelligent software capable of delivering real-time support, which is increasingly expected in today’s fast-paced, digital-first workplace. In a crowded HR tech market, the inclusion of AI like IWant elevates HR tech from a transactional tool to a dynamic, employee-centric software that differentiates from competitors and aligns with the evolving expectations of modern businesses. In a sea of AI technology in the HR space, we think IWant stands out. It makes sense, it works and your people can start using AI to help them in their jobs today.

Congratulations to the team at Paycom on the release of IWant. Learn more about Paycom’s single software and IWant at paycom.com.