Phenom, an applied AI company focused on helping organizations hire, develop, and retain talent, announced it has acquired Included, an AI-native agentic people analytics platform that turns fragmented workforce data into actionable insights for faster decision-making.
The acquisition is aimed at expanding Phenom’s workforce intelligence capabilities by giving HR teams and business leaders broader access to analytics that have traditionally required specialized data resources. Phenom said the combination will help organizations move beyond static reporting to identify trends, diagnose bottlenecks, and take corrective action across the talent lifecycle.
Companies of all sizes have pushed to become more data-driven in their talent strategy, but many continue to struggle to consolidate information spread across core HR systems, recruiting tools, engagement platforms, and performance management solutions. In large enterprises, that complexity often forces reliance on analysts to stitch together reporting across tech stacks; in smaller organizations, similar questions can go unanswered due to limited analytics bandwidth. Phenom said Included’s technology is intended to close that gap by standardizing workforce data and delivering insights in natural language to a broader set of users, from executives to line managers.
Included is known for proprietary algorithms that address inconsistencies and gaps in people data—issues that can undermine analytics accuracy and limit the usefulness of AI-driven recommendations. The platform pairs that foundation with a canonical data model and ontology that can ingest additional data sources and adapt to an organization’s specific structure and needs. Phenom said this framework powers AI-generated narratives that highlight organizational health, hiring bottlenecks, workforce trends and potential outliers, enabling teams to surface risks and opportunities faster.
Phenom plans to integrate Included natively into its applied AI platform, expanding the breadth of connected workforce data available to customers. As part of that integration, Included’s agentic AI is expected to complement Phenom’s Workforce Intelligence solution by adding a conversational interface for exploring workforce questions, assessing potential business risks and receiving recommendations and action plans through prompts and natural language queries. Phenom also said the experience will be personalized, surfacing the most relevant insights based on a user’s role and behavior.
The combined offering is positioned to support unified people analytics and workforce planning across functions, including talent acquisition, engagement and performance. Phenom said it will enable standardized data integration, predictive intelligence supported by its ontology, cross-functional dashboards and real-time visualizations, and AI-generated narratives to improve hiring velocity, optimize productivity, mitigate burnout risk and identify skills gaps.
Included was co-founded in 2021 by Raghu Gollamudi, Chandan Golla and Laura Close. Phenom CEO and co-founder Mahe Bayireddi said the deal aligns with the company’s roadmap for applied AI in talent and reflects a focus on acquisitions that strengthen its ability to address hiring and retention challenges.
Phenom also highlighted its upcoming IAMPHENOM event, scheduled for March 10–12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, with early-bird pricing available through January 31.
KEY QUOTES:
“Many companies still struggle to get vital workforce insights to their leaders for efficient and effective talent planning. People analytics provide critical support to identify these insights and integrate them into business performance management toward optimizing operational health. Phenom’s acquisition of Included offers contextualized, automated people analytics available across the organization, deepening capabilities to personalize experiences with AI for all users from executives down to line managers.”
Zachary Chertok, Senior Research Manager for HCM Applications and Agents, IDC
“Every acquisition we make is intentional and highly selective, pursuing only those that complement our innovation roadmap and strengthen our ability to solve our customers’ biggest hiring and retention challenges. Deeper people analytics and workforce planning insights are no longer optional; they’re the foundation for building agile, future-ready teams. The acquisition of Included expands our ability to deliver contextualized Applied AI capabilities for every persona and organization.”
Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and Co-founder, Phenom
“We created Included to build the ultimate people experience solution. By becoming part of Phenom, we’re excited to bring agentic analytics to more HR professionals and executives.”
Raghu Gollamudi, CEO and Co-founder, Included
