ActivTrak

A year ago, we launched The Workforce Advantage newsletter to help executives understand how work actually happens. Thousands of you showed up for it, issue after issue. This issue looks back at the highlights from this past year, and forward to the question that came up more than any other: is AI actually changing how work gets done, or just adding more tools to the pile? CEO Heidi Farris tells the real story behind that question. She walks through how ActivTrak's platform grew to cover people, process and technology, one piece at a time. And how AI put pressure on all three at once, faster than anything before it. Thank you for following along since issue one. Read the full anniversary issue below, and see how ActivTrak's platform has evolved to address the challenges our customers have faced along the way.

Only 2% of workers have reached the point where AI changes how they work, not just what tool they open. A new study from the ActivTrak Productivity Lab tracked 120,620 workers across 1,009 organizations from Q4 2025 through Q2 2026. Most people who start using AI keep using it. 82% stuck with it quarter over quarter. But usage and integration aren't the same thing. 27% use AI for research. 14% use it to draft and execute tasks with a human checking the work. Just 2% have it built into their workflow, where they set intent and approve results. "Adoption is only the beginning," said Gabriela Mauch, our Chief Customer Officer. "The real question is whether it's changing how work gets done. For most organizations, the answer is not yet." Read the full findings in the press release 👉 https://lnkd.in/gdRPtErx

Your team is using AI. That part you can see. Whether it's changing the business is the part most dashboards can't answer. This Thursday, at 11 a.m. CDT, we're walking through five ways to measure AI's real impact using the reports and dashboards already in ActivTrak. A few things we'll get into: 🔹 Adoption across teams, and how to compare maturity from one group to the next 🔹 Where unapproved AI tools are showing up, and what that means for governance 🔹 How AI is affecting capacity, productivity and business outcomes 🔹 How to pull ActivTrak data into your BI tools and AI assistants to answer the harder questions If you need to show the business value of AI instead of just tracking who's using it, this one's built for you. 📅 Register here - https://lnkd.in/gPWzxZmz Can't make it live? Sign up anyway, and we'll send you the recording.

Meet Misha Lewis Rangel, our new Senior Director of Product Marketing. Misha spent the last five years at Veeam leading enterprise go-to-market strategy for their data resilience and AI trust initiatives. Before Veeam she led global product marketing at IBM. She's spent her career defining and owning new categories, the exact work ahead of us as we position ActivTrak at the intersection of AI, work intelligence and productivity. That means clearer messaging for our sales team and sharper positioning for how customers understand what we do. Outside of work, Misha is a CrossFit and running regular who spends her free time outdoors with her husband and two sons. Glad to have you here, Misha. #oneteam

Another week, another article about AI adding more work, not less. We called this in March when the ActivTrak Productivity Lab released our 2026 State of the Workplace report. By every conventional measure, AI is working: 🔹 AI adoption hit 80% 🔹Time in AI tools increased 8x 🔹 Productive hours went up 5% But look closer: 🔹 Focus time hit a three-year low 🔹 AI users lost 23 minutes of daily focused time 🔹 Email up 104% after AI adoption. 🔹 Chat up 145% 🔹 1 in 4 employees are now at risk of disengagement AI isn't replacing work. It's adding to it. Swipe through to see the full breakdown.

Companies buy AI tools first and figure out the job later. Then six months in, nobody can say what the tool actually changed. Gabriela Mauch, our CCO and Head of the Productivity Lab, flips that order in this month's Q&A on building an AI maturity blueprint. Name the job before you buy the tool. Every investment should map to at least one purpose and one outcome you can measure against a baseline. From there, she walks through the rest of the blueprint. Why adoption numbers and real value are two different things. And why AI maturity depends on seven areas working together as a single operating model, rather than separate projects split across IT, legal and HR. The takeaway for executives: AI maturity isn't a technology milestone. It's an operating discipline, and it starts with the outcome you're willing to be measured against, not the tool you're excited to launch. Read the full Q&A in this edition of The Workforce Advantage below.

ActivTrak's analytics are built on behavioral data pulled from how work actually happens across every application, workflow and AI tool in your business, every day, at scale. That's what the Business Intelligence Group recognized when it named ActivTrak a 2026 AI Excellence Award winner in Analytics. That data sits on a privacy-first foundation, which is what makes it trustworthy enough to act on. Employees aren't being watched. Work patterns are being measured. As our CEO Heidi Farris put it: "AI without measurement is an expense, not an investment." The award recognized our analytics. The behavioral data underneath is what makes them worth trusting.

Parts ASAP (formerly All States Ag Parts) consolidated 18 acquisitions down to 33 locations and sent 700 employees home to work. Measuring workforce productivity got harder. Some roles have easy KPIs. Sales calls, tickets closed. Others don't. So they brought in ActivTrak to find out. Their COO won't move forward on any project without a 6- to 10X return. Swipe to see how this project "blew it out of the water." Full case study in the comments 👇

Nick G. is joining ActivTrak as a Senior Enterprise Account Executive, and he's bringing a serious sales track record with him. Nick has spent more than 10 years selling enterprise software at companies like Workday, Gainsight and SAP's CallidusCloud before moving into the EV charging space at Loop. He knows complex deals and he knows how to get large organizations to move. He joins our growing enterprise sales team focused on helping organizations see how work intelligence connects to real business outcomes. Outside of work, Nick DJs and travels whenever he can. Welcome to #oneteam, Nick!

Your team is using AI. That part you can see. Whether it's changing the business is the part most dashboards can't answer. PwC's latest Global CEO Survey found 56% of CEOs say AI hasn't moved revenue or costs in the past year. Usage and impact aren't the same thing, and most companies only measure the first one. On July 23 at 11 a.m. CDT, we're walking through five ways to measure AI's real impact using the reports and dashboards already in ActivTrak. A few things we'll get into: 🔹 Adoption across teams, and how to compare maturity from one group to the next 🔹 Where unapproved AI tools are showing up, and what that means for governance 🔹 How AI is affecting capacity, productivity and business outcomes 🔹 How to pull ActivTrak data into your BI tools and AI assistants to answer the harder questions If you need to show the business value of AI instead of just tracking who's using it, this one's built for you. 📅 Register here - https://lnkd.in/gPWzxZmz Can't make it live? Sign up anyway, and we'll send you the recording.