Avionté’s annual CONNECT conference kicked off on August 3, 2022 with a packed ballroom at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. After two years of virtual conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was thrilled to finally be able to gather together in-person for several days of learning, sharing, and networking. While CONNECT 2021 was still memorable, Avionté was excited to bring back our popular industry event in its original format.
This year’s CONNECT staffing industry conference was made possible by sponsorships from our industry partners. A special thanks to all of them for participating in this year’s event and bringing so much value to our clients.
Judson Laipply, the conference MC, kicked off the conference, getting the crowd excited for two days of learning, networking, and entertainment. He introduced Avionté CEO Rishabh Mehrotra to open CONNECT with a presentation on the state of the staffing industry and the importance of mobile technology in the future of staffing.
The key theme of Mehrotra’s address focused on the importance of mobile technology in the staffing industry. He began with an overview of the extreme changes the staffing industry has endured in recent years.
“In the past, if you got the clients, people would show up. Today, that order is reversed,” Mehrotra said. “Now, if you have talent, the clients will come. Agencies will win new customers by having the talent.” Because of this inverse in the industry’s formula, Avionté is constantly innovating to help clients win in the current market.
“Mobile tech will create winners and losers. Avionté will help make sure the people in this room are the winners.” – Rishabh Mehrotra
According to Mehrotra, there are four major trends accelerating the need to adopt mobile technology in the staffing industry:
Currently, for every two job openings, there is only one candidate. Mehrotra acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this issue, but warned that the problem is based in structural issues within the US labor market. Therefore, this is not a temporary issue that will resolve quickly. This challenge will remain, and staffing firms need to position themselves now to attract talent in a mobile world.
The rising cost of acquiring talent is another key challenge firms face in today’s market. It currently costs $250-400 to bring in one new worker. With expenses like this, technology tools that accelerate and automate the onboarding process are imperative to managing these costs.
With these factors in mind, it’s clear staffing companies who want to survive in the current market need to adopt mobile technology for the talent journey. While it may seem counterintuitive, Avionté is working to re-humanize interactions with talent using technology.
Mehrotra announced an exciting new addition to the Avionté 24/7 platform, 24/7 PIXEL. Nicknamed “the recruiter’s assistant,” PIXEL is the AI-enhanced messaging and talent engagement app that integrates directly with AviontéBOLD and the 24/7 mobile platform to automate low-value tasks and focus on impactful talent interactions. Avionté encourages client feedback on this exciting new feature to ensure this tool is useful and exciting for staffing professionals.
After Mehrotra’s address, Avionté COO Sushma Tripathi and WorkN CEO Jakob Rohn took the stage to discuss Avionté’s product landscape and upcoming roadmap. Avionté acquired WorkN in late 2021, and the partnership enabled Avionté to launch Avionté 24/7, a candidate experience app used to reliably attract, recruit, engage, and enable talent. Throughout their presentation, Tripathi and Rohn presented an overview of the features currently available in Avionté 24/7 and shared upcoming roadmap items, including:
In the past year, Avionté also built out a next-generation business intelligence tool with Avionté INSIGHTS. Powered by world-class technology, teams can combine front office, back office, and talent data to analyze the profitability and performance of the business in near-real time. We’re the only ones in the industry with true accurate data points.
We also made significant infrastructure improvements to create a world-class system with high redundancy, high availability, enhanced security and improved performance. Since making these improvements, Avionté has received consistent feedback about improved speeds.
After the keynote speakers, attendees spent the rest of the day in breakout sessions and exploring the Avionté Experience Center. At the Experience Center, attendees could demo the Avionté 24/7 platform with system experts, including the new PIXEL interface.
The exciting first day of CONNECT concluded with an evening networking event at A’Bulae in downtown Saint Paul. The event venue features rooftop views of Minnesota’s capital and provides the perfect place for Avionte clients, staff, and industry partners to mingle. The night was sponsored by Experian Tax Credits.
It was an amazing few days reconnecting with our clients and partners at CONNECT 2022! Everyone at Avionté was thrilled to be back in-person for this year’s conference. We can’t wait to see you next year for CONNECT 2023, August 1-3 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Avionté Updates Brought Straight to Your Inbox
