Eightfold launches TalentForge to build custom HR tools

Eightfold has launched TalentForge for custom HR software development, alongside 360 Interview and Workforce Readiness.

The rollout marks a broader push beyond packaged HR applications into tools that let employers design systems around their own workforce needs.

TalentForge is aimed at large organisations that want HR software tailored to their processes rather than standard software models. It combines Eightfold's talent intelligence data in an open framework that companies can use to create their own applications and workflows.

Eightfold presented the move as a response to the limits of one-size-fits-all HR systems. Employers in sectors such as manufacturing and healthcare often need different digital tools, even when managing similar functions such as hiring, skills development and workforce planning.

Ashutosh Garg, Chief Executive Officer of Eightfold, said the product reflects a shift in how employers want to buy and use software.

"Eightfold has always been at the forefront of innovation in HR, from introducing AI, to agentic workflows, and now AI-powered software creation. With TalentForge, we're empowering enterprises to move beyond the limitations of packaged software and enter a new era where they can build exactly what they need," Garg said.

Eightfold expects custom-built enterprise software to become far more common, estimating that 90% will eventually be built to fit individual organisations. The claim points to a wider shift in the software market as companies seek more control over their systems and data models instead of adapting internal processes to off-the-shelf tools.

Interview tools

Alongside TalentForge, Eightfold unveiled 360 Interview, a new feature within its AI Interviewer product. The tool combines several types of interview assessment into a single session, including functional, coding and language evaluation.

"The ability to build software that fits an enterprise's workforce will help us transform how we assist clients to realize value faster, creating the experiences that matter most to them," said Manoj Mishra, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer for Human Capital, Deloitte Consulting LLP. "This ability to tailor to the specific industry, sector or subsector needs of our clients is incredibly powerful for us as providers, and a game changer for enterprises."

The aim is to reduce the need for multiple interview rounds and standardise assessments that might otherwise vary between interviewers. The system reads the requirements of a role, creates an interview structure and then conducts what Eightfold described as an adaptive session.

The interview framework includes audit logs, score explainability and support built on a framework certified to SOC 2 and ISO 42001 standards. Eightfold also said the system can operate continuously and at scale, reflecting employers' efforts to shorten hiring cycles and bring more consistency to recruitment.

Workforce data

The third product announcement, Workforce Readiness, focuses on internal AI adoption rather than recruitment. Eightfold said many organisations still rely on staff surveys and anecdotal feedback to understand how employees are using AI tools, leaving executives with delayed or incomplete information.

Workforce Readiness is intended to analyse workforce data and gather conversational insight into how staff are using AI in their daily work. It can then create personalised development plans through a coaching agent while giving chief human resources officers a real-time view of adoption and productivity trends across the business.

Eightfold cast this as a management issue as much as a technology one. As businesses invest more heavily in AI systems, senior HR leaders are under pressure to identify where those tools are being used effectively, where employees need support and whether those investments are changing how work is carried out.

Abhinav Shrivastava, research manager for talent acquisition and strategy at IDC, said the approach reflects a broader change in software development for HR teams.

"Building an adaptable HR tech ecosystem has often felt like laying tracks in front of a moving train, requiring an army of HR-IT engineers. AI-empowered application development democratizes and shortens the customization lifecycle, allowing organizations to quickly operationalize new capabilities to respond to rapid tech advancements and dynamic market conditions," Shrivastava said.

Large employers often manage a patchwork of HR systems covering recruitment, learning, performance, internal mobility and workforce analytics. In many cases, adding AI tools has increased complexity rather than reduced it, especially when those products sit in separate systems and do not provide a single view of employees or candidates.

Eightfold is positioning TalentForge as a way to connect those processes through software built around a company's own operating model. The pitch is likely to appeal most to multinationals with established HR technology estates and the resources to reshape them, rather than smaller businesses looking for pre-configured systems.

One early customer cited was Deutsche Telekom, where the focus is on linking fragmented tools and workflows more closely.

"We are still navigating a fragmented landscape of HR tools, and now agents, that often fail to create a true end-to-end experience," said Ilja Bitterling, VP Skills Intelligence & Performance Management, Deutsche Telekom. "Instead of forcing our processes to adapt to software, TalentForge gives us the opportunity to build solutions that fit our business, connect our workflows, and deliver experiences end to end. For large enterprises, this is a game changer: cloud solutions that finally adapt to the complexity of the organization, not the other way around."