Humans + AI, Built Together: Our Sharpest CWS 2026 Takeaways

Last month, our team headed to Dallas for CWS Summit North America 2026. We came to connect with clients and partners, excited to debut our exciting new brand, Vertage, and armed with new research that’s changing how we think about work.
 
Most of all, we came ready to listen.

One question kept surfacing in the hallways, so I put it to the room onstage: is the outcomes economy real, or just another buzzword? It's very real. And it's why the old ways of managing work just don't cut it anymore. New work needs new tools and new thinking. Here's what we took home.

One customer in our new research put it perfectly: "I don't care how many people you put on the dance floor. The dance needs to look like this."

Historically, businesses have hired people into fixed roles and paid them for their time. The outcomes economy flips that on its head. In the outcomes economy, we pay for the result. You define the outcome you need first, then pull together whatever mix of existing employees, new hires, and AI it takes to deliver it.

This shift isn’t just coming. It's already here.

In our new global research, 74% of enterprise leaders said they already define significant work in terms of outcomes.

But there's a big difference between wanting to work this way and actually being ready to. We call it the readiness gap. Most firms already understand the value of focusing on outcomes, but far fewer have truly integrated AI into how work gets done. Fewer than one in five are what we call "Outcome Ready," strong on both.

Our 2027 Peer Benchmark survey of 562 US-based leaders points to the same gap. These leaders came from many different worlds: IT, HR, Talent Acquisition and Procurement. Only 22% of them reported resourcing their complex, business-critical initiatives through outcome-based delivery partners with a fixed scope and defined milestones. The outcomes ambition is clearly there. But the way we buy and deliver work has not caught up yet.

Here's where the most important part, the humans, comes in. AI alone cannot close the readiness gap. The firms pulling ahead are changing how they think about their workforce in a few key ways.

1. Structural. They run one adaptable workforce ecosystem. Employees, contingent workers, partners, and AI are aligned to the same outcomes, not managed as separate pools of talent (57% of Outcome Ready firms vs. 40% overall).
2. Cultural. Of everything we measured, culture was clearly the strongest driver of maturity. Nearly half of Outcome Ready firms (48%) have a clear view of what human work is for and use AI to strengthen it. Across all firms, it is only 25%.
3. Financial. Outcome Ready firms are more likely to say they beat competitors on the speed of turning opportunities into business value over the past 12 months (85% vs. 67%). Part of their secret is having a plan for the time AI frees up and putting it toward better work.

In our fireside chat, Anastasia Gay, Head of Contingent Workforce at Phillips 66, brought this concept to life. Among other impactful real-world examples, she shared how Phillips 66 has built a model that is much more agile, much less role-bound.

So, here's a question for you. Do you have one holistic workforce strategy? Or does your external workforce still sit in a separate conversation from AI and permanent headcount planning?

A change this big comes with real risk. How do we use all these powerful AI tools without opening the door to fake candidates, security threats, and fraud? It's a fair concern. In our Peer Benchmark report, 42% of surveyed leaders named regulatory or compliance risk as a top three obstacle to their 2027 priorities.

Our CWS industry roundtables demonstrated just how top of mind this is. All three sessions filled up, and fake candidates and security threats came up at every table. One question got everyone talking: should CISOs and chief risk officers sponsor MSP programs?

Our answer is yes. The best way to reduce risk is to bake governance in, right from the very start. When the correct leaders own it early, governance is an enabler, not a brake. It actually becomes the thing that lets you scale safely.

This was my favorite finding.

Outcome Ready organizations are not shrinking the importance of people. They are changing what people do. Across the overall sample in our research, firms rated roles as more important at almost every level: 55% at entry level, 65% in middle management, and 71% in senior leadership.

The skills Outcome Ready businesses overall value most are the most human ones: adaptability, critical thinking, leadership, and emotional intelligence.

Our Peer Benchmark report tells the same story. 64% of talent acquisition leaders say AI is increasing their need for recruiters and sourcing staff. Only 25% say it's reducing it.

Some of the best moments at CWS happened away from the stage. At our Sunday customer dinner, we were focused on building connections and sharing expertise. We unlocked opportunities for sharing best practices and learning from other workforce solutions experts. Some of the best moments at CWS happened away from the stage. At our Sunday customer dinner, workforce solutions experts swapped stories, compared notes, and built valuable connections that outlasted the evening. Many told us meeting each other was a real highlight.

"The best part of CWS that I was fortunate to see in real time were the synergies created between our customers, whether during shared meals or planned seminars and roundtables. It is rare to get this kind of time with the client, MSP, supplier partners, and VMS partners. — McKenzie Rozo, Program Director

We also ditched the party, in the best way. We were proud to support Tadah's fourth "Ditch the Party" scholarship fundraiser, led by LanceSoft, for the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School. Students toured the show floor and learned more about the ecosystem of providers that power the world of work. These amazing young women will be entering the future workforce, and we were glad to be the ones to give them a glimpse into what makes it tick.

Our research was playing out in real time — entry-level talent has never mattered more, and investing in the next generation is one of the most valuable outcomes we can deliver.

I closed my session with a question for the Workforce Solutions leaders in the room, and I will leave you with it too. Two years from now, will your job still be managing contingent labor? Or will it be managing how work gets done across your whole organization?

Want the data behind these takeaways? Download the 2027 Peer Benchmark report to see how your peers are planning for the year ahead.