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McLean & Company Reveals Early Key Insights Into HR Trends for 2025, Calls on HR to Focus on Technology, Leadership Development, and Retention in a Changing Climate

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McLean & Company, one of the world’s leading HR research and advisory firms, is pleased to share the highly anticipated preview of the HR Trends Report 2025, set to be published in January 2025, to help equip HR leaders with the data and insights needed to ensure their organizations are prepared to thrive in the future of work. 

TORONTO, Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ – In a time marked by economic and political shifts, evolving technology, and a growing need for human-centric work practices, HR leaders are being called on by their organizations to rethink priorities and approaches. According to the new HR Trends Report 2025 preview from global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company, HR teams are increasingly challenged to develop internal talent pipelines, retain employees, and manage labor costs as organizations navigate continued economic pressures and a labor market where skilled talent is both scarce and expensive. The comprehensive preview of the full report – which is set to be published on January 7, 2025 – has been released in advance of the new year as HR teams and their organizations plan for the top organizational priorities for HR in 2025.

“As we move into 2025, HR’s key strategic contribution will be driving leadership development and talent retention. A focus on these top priorities will reduce recruiting expenses, helping to control labor costs while ensuring the organization has the talent and leadership required for the future of work,” says Will Howard, practice lead, HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean & Company. “Additionally, there must be an increased focus on improving HR’s proficiency in data and technology skills. The lack of progress in this area is concerning, as effectively harnessing AI advancements and leveraging large amounts of data requires investing in a data-literate, tech-savvy HR workforce now, not later.”

The report has been informed by the perspectives of 779 HR and business professionals across a variety of regions and industries. Over the past three years, a stagnant 29% of HR organizations were reported to be highly effective at facilitating data-driven people decisions, with HR respondents reporting their own proficiency in data and technology skills to be lacking.

In the report preview, McLean & Company spotlights three critical trends for HR to consider as HR adapts to new demands and organizations progress into 2025: 

Human Leadership in a Complex Digital World. The role of leaders is evolving, with a heightened focus on helping employees achieve growth, purpose, and fulfillment while caring for their wellbeing and experience. According to the firm’s findings, effective leaders who possess the skills and competencies to help others thrive in today’s increasingly complex environment are of critical importance for organizations, with 73% of leaders indicating they feel that their skill sets will need to change completely or almost completely to adapt to the future of work.

McLean & Company explains in the report that failing to effectively develop leaders risks decreased organizational performance. This is particularly concerning because when HR excels at leadership development, organizations are 2.3 times more likely to be high performing at changing quickly to capitalize on new opportunities, 1.9 times more likely to be high performing at achieving strategic goals and objectives, and 1.6 times more likely to be high performing at overall organizational growth. HR’s effectiveness at developing leaders also has an immense impact on financial outcomes, such as optimizing costs and growing revenues. Therefore, organizations must close this gap in leadership development to prepare for 2025 and beyond.

The report preview spotlights the gap between the importance of leadership and the current state of leadership development across organizations, as well as the importance of a strong HR organization in fostering strong leaders.

AI Transformation in HR. With the impact of technologies like AI accelerating at an unprecedented rate, HR has a significant role to play in organizational technology enablement. While 42% of HR respondents say they are currently using AI, including generative AI, robotic process automation, and advanced analytics, only 7% reported that their HR organization has a formal, documented AI strategy that is broadly communicated and is the main driver for relevant initiatives. HR plays a key role in helping the organization adopt AI, but HR’s effectiveness in technology enablement remains low, ranking last across the strategic skills and competencies surveyed.

HR’s ability to play a crucial role in the selection, implementation, and use of advanced technologies will be critical in enabling success for organizations. When HR is effective at this competency, they are also 4.1 times more likely to be highly effective at enabling the organization’s adoption of new technology, which will be a key element for long-term success as the future of work continues to trend toward rapid technological change and advancement.

The report preview outlines how HR can more effectively harness the potential of AI in 2025, from having a formal AI strategy to improving HR’s technology enablement proficiency.

Navigating Multiple Threats to Wellbeing. As the external environment increasingly affects employees’ lives at work and at home, organizations are called to play a leading role in supporting holistic wellbeing. McLean & Company’s findings highlight that economic uncertainty puts immense pressure on workers, but organizational investments in financial wellbeing are falling short. Though 70% of respondents reported economic stability as the largest threat to the wellbeing of their workforce, financial wellbeing ranked last across the wellbeing dimensions that have reportedly received increased investment. Legislative and political shifts have also added complexities to supporting employee wellbeing, with new legislation and political issues ranking as the third and fourth largest perceived threats to employee wellbeing in 2025.

While additional investment into any wellbeing dimension will never be a wasted effort, the firm advises that HR must lead the way in uncovering what the workforce truly needs. This will be critical to ensuring investments are directed into wellbeing programs and initiatives that will make a difference for employees.

The report preview outlines some of the top threats to employee wellbeing and how organizations have changed investments in those areas.

The report preview also highlights the top three priorities for HR organizations in 2025, noting that the priorities in the first and second spots have shifted compared to the firm’s 2024 report. The top three priorities for the coming year are outlined below:

Developing Leaders. The top spot was previously held by “recruiting,” but has evolved to focus on developing leaders in 2025. However, despite the importance of leadership, only 33% of respondents reported that HR is highly effective at developing the organization’s leaders, emphasizing the crucial need to address the gap between HR’s top priority and its current state.

Retaining Employees. The second priority is a new addition to the firm’s reporting process, ranking exceptionally high on the list of critical HR priorities in its first year of inclusion. In a challenging labor market and uncertain economy, organizations are doubling down on the talent within the organization rather than seeking talent externally.Controlling Labor Costs. The third priority has remained consistent year over year, with “controlling labor costs” holding steady from 2024. Organizations must manage their labor costs in a tight economy to make sure their budget remains sustainable and their talent and labor spend is strategic to deliver the most return on their investment.

Alongside a deeper analysis of the three priorities above, the remainder of the top organizational priorities in HR will be explored and analyzed further in the full HR Trends Report 2025, expected January 7, 2025. The report will delve into the top organizational priorities, HR’s strategic leadership, and key challenges HR must overcome to help the organization meet the demands of 2025 and beyond.

To access the report preview, please visit HR Trends Report 2025 preview.

To register for McLean & Company’s free upcoming webinar, 2025 HR Trends:
Embracing Human-Centric HR, please visit the registration page for January 16 at 1 PM ET or the registration page for January 23 at 1 PM ET.

Media interested in connecting with McLean & Company analysts for exclusive, research-backed insights and commentary on HR Trends in 2025, HR’s critical role in digital transformation and the future of work, and more can contact Senior Communications Manager Kelsey King at kking@mcleanco.com.     

About McLean & Company

McLean & Company pairs evidence-based research and immediately applicable tools with deep HR expertise to position organizations to meet today’s needs and prepare for the future. The global HR research and advisory firm’s member organizations enjoy comprehensive resources, full-service diagnostics, workshops, action plans, and advisory services for all levels of HR professionals, from executive leadership to HR leaders to HR team members, that help shape workplaces where everyone thrives.

McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact kking@mcleanco.com.

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DeepKeep Demonstrates Superior Multilingual AI Security Performance in New Benchmark Study

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As the gap in the multilingual security of AI guardrails grows, new benchmark research reveals that DeepKeep’s ability to detect prompt injection and PII across languages outperforms others, including Meta and Nvidia

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DeepKeep, the end-to-end AI security platform, today unveiled the results of a new benchmark study showcasing significant improvements in the performance and efficiency of its multilingual AI security solution. The research study compared DeepKeep’s approach to other guardrails and LLM-as-a-Judge methods and demonstrated that DeepKeep’s multilingual capability provides superior accuracy and consistency.

As organizations deploy AI tools across global teams, the prompts and interactions these systems process increasingly span multiple languages. However, many AI security systems today are designed primarily for English-language prompts, and the consequences are measurable. A Brown University study found that translating unsafe inputs into low-resource languages got GPT-4 to engage with harmful requests 79% of the time, versus under 1% in English. As enterprises deploy AI globally, attackers can exploit this gap by issuing malicious prompts in other languages to bypass guardrails. While translation-based security solutions exist, these often introduce latency, lose context, or produce inconsistent results across languages, creating a growing security blind spot for multinational enterprises.

DeepKeep directly analyzes the semantic meaning of prompts and responses across languages using a cognition-based analysis, allowing the system to classify data without translating it into English first. The cognition-based solution can deliver an interpretable response, allowing the system to learn and improve in time. Due to their design, DeepKeep’s guardrails can efficiently handle zero-day attacks. The guardrails are also designed to handle mixed-language prompts seamlessly – a scenario increasingly common in enterprise environments where users combine multiple languages within a single AI query.

In benchmark testing against widely used open source models, including Meta’s LLaMa Prompt Guard and Nvidia’s NeMo, DeepKeep significantly outperformed in detecting prompt injection attempts and Personal Identifiable Information (PII).

The evaluation used several widely recognized prompt injection datasets, including SafeGuard, Wild Jailbreak, and Alpaca, with test sets translated into 12 additional languages including Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Dutch, and Portuguese. Across these benchmarks, DeepKeep achieved F1 scores approaching 0.98 in prompt injection detection while significantly reducing false negatives compared to translation-based guardrail models.

The platform maintains consistent security decisions across languages while operating with smaller, more efficient model architecture. DeepKeep’s multilingual classifier operates with a model of roughly 400 million parameters, which is significantly smaller than many guardrail models that rely on multi-billion-parameter architectures, enabling faster inference and lower latency in enterprise deployments.

“AI security has largely been built around the assumption that prompts are written in English or that translation is sufficient. That assumption no longer reflects how enterprises actually use AI,” said Yossi Altevet, CTO and Co-Founder at DeepKeep. “As AI systems are deployed across global teams and markets, security models must understand intent across languages, not just words. That shift requires a fundamentally different approach to how AI interactions are analyzed and protected, and we’re proud to have created a solution that meets this challenge with flying colors.”

DeepKeep’s multilingual security solution is part of the company’s established suite of enterprise AI security solutions that give businesses the confidence to leverage AI without sacrificing safety, control, or trust.

For more information about DeepKeep’s multilingual AI security research, read the full analysis here.

About DeepKeep

DeepKeep provides end-to-end AI security and trustworthiness across the full AI lifecycle. Its platform protects multimodal systems – including large language models and computer vision – helping enterprises deploy and use AI safely, accurately, and in compliance with security and privacy standards. With capabilities such as an AI Firewall, Vibe and Automated AI Red Teaming, AI Usage Control and advanced Model Scanning, DeepKeep enables cybersecurity teams to defend against vulnerabilities, data leakage, hallucinations, and bias while maintaining trust in AI-driven operations. Founded in 2021, DeepKeep is dedicated to securing the future of enterprise AI. For more information, visit www.deepkeep.ai.

Media Contact
Mike Katznelson
Headline Media
mike.katznelson@headline.media
US: +1 914 233 5302
UK: +44 203 769 0660

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deepkeep-demonstrates-superior-multilingual-ai-security-performance-in-new-benchmark-study-302831852.html

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InfiniTrak Announces PioneerRx Integration to Deliver Streamlined DSCSA Compliance to Pharmacies

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TOLEDO, Ohio, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — InfiniTrak the industry leading DSCSA provider is proud to announce the completed integration with PioneerRx, a RedSail Technologies company. This will deliver a fully integrated Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) solution to independent pharmacies. The integration will streamline DSCSA compliance requirements by utilizing existing PioneerRx workflows.

Future of Pharmacy is Here: Two Industry Leaders Deliver Complete Inventory Visualization with Turnkey DSCSA Compliance.

As DSCSA requirements evolve, independent pharmacies face increasing pressure to ensure drug traceability, maintain accurate records, and strengthen supply chain security. InfiniTrak’s track-and-trace solutions bring end-to-end visibility across the supply chain, from manufacturing to pharmacy dispensing, to help pharmacies meet these requirements with confidence.

Through the new integration, InfiniTrak’s compliance capabilities are now available directly within PioneerRx. Pharmacies can verify authorized trading partners, manage EPCIS data, and maintain audit-ready records without leaving their pharmacy management system. At the same time, they can minimize supply chain disruptions and prevent medication misuse—thus improving patient care.

Melanie Christie, President of Pharmacy Systems at RedSail Technologies, expressed optimism about the integration’s impact. “RedSail’s mission has always been to provide independent pharmacies with technology that simplifies complex processes so they can focus on patient care. The completed InfiniTrak integration will allow pharmacies to meet DSCSA requirements without disrupting their regular workflow and spend more time serving patients.”

InfiniTrak’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Lancz, echoed enthusiasm about pharmacies’ capabilities with the integration. “Both InfiniTrak and RedSail Technologies have been leaders in their industries for over a decade. This integration is great timing to get all PioneerRx users compliant, with no interruption from current workflow, before the November 27, 2026 deadline,” Alan Lancz added.

Together, PioneerRx and InfiniTrak integration are transforming DSCSA compliance from a separate task to a seamless step in everyday pharmacy workflow. PioneerRx pharmacies can access the InfiniTrak integration for just $75 per month. To learn more about the integration and DSCSA, visit: https://infinitrak.us/pioneerrx/ or get started at: https://www.redsailtechnologies.com/dscsa

About InfiniTrak

InfiniTrak is a pioneer and industry leader in track-and-trace technology. Built specifically with the need of the end users in mind, the company offers intuitive, user-friendly solutions that automate operations and seamlessly integrate into existing pharmacy workflows. InfiniTrak simplifies the path to compliance by providing full DSCSA coverage for all current and upcoming FDA requirements. Along with its comprehensive compliance features, InfiniTrak seamlessly integrates with RedSail Technology solutions, including PrimeRx, BestRx, and now PioneerRx.

InfiniTrak is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. For more information about InfiniTrak visit: www.infinitrak.us.

About PioneerRx

PioneerRx, a RedSail Technologies company, is the most installed independent pharmacy software on the market. With unmatched customer support and continuous innovation, PioneerRx equips pharmacies to thrive in a clinical, patient-centered future. By implementing user-driven enhancements and anticipating industry trends, PioneerRx empowers pharmacies to improve patient outcomes and achieve long-term success. To learn more about PioneerRx, visit www.PioneerRx.com.

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BOXX Insurance Futureproofs AI Coverage Ensuring Protection Against Deepfakes & Social Engineering

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TORONTO, July 22, 2026 /CNW/ — BOXX Insurance, a global cyber insurtech part of Zurich Insurance Group, today announced affirmative coverage for AI and deepfake related events for social engineering and security failures within their commercial policy offering, Cyberboxx® Business. 

New AI Endorsement Eliminates AI Coverage Grey Zone

This announcement eliminates ambiguity and cements BOXX’s commitment to providing clear cover for AI-driven incidents for their customers and their broker partners.

AI is creating new cyber and digital threats for small businesses with 86% of US business leaders with cybersecurity responsibilities reporting at least one AI-related incident in the past 12 months. In Canada, the trends follow similar patterns as 81% of Canadian businesses that experienced fraud in the past year also faced an AI-enabled attack. The sophistication of AI and deepfakes is also changing how attacks are carried out, with threat actors leveraging these tools to target and trick employees at scale via enhanced social engineering attacks.

“Threat actors are exploiting trusted relationships amongst employee and executive networks which can result in handing over credentials or misdirecting payments without an actual breach,” said Erik Tifft, Global Head of Underwriting at BOXX Insurance. “That’s why we’ve updated our policy language to address the real risks that businesses, executives and their employees face in the age of AI.”

Pairing AI & Deepfake Coverage with Each and Every Loss Reinstatements for Full Policy Term Protection

This endorsement, coupled with BOXX’s First Party Each and Every Loss, keeps coverage available throughout the policy period by reinstating the policy Aggregate Limit of Liability after each cyber incident. As AI-driven social engineering and deep fake losses ramp up, the risk of having multiple claims over a policy period increases.

“Our underwriting is keeping up with the higher frequency and the changing nature of emerging cyber and AI-driven threats,” continued Tifft, “As a result, we’re continuously enhancing our cyber insurance products with broadened, affirmative coverages to capture emerging cyber threats and new forms of cybercrime, whether they occur via systems breaches or through advanced social engineering.”

About BOXX Insurance

BOXX Insurance helps businesses and individuals insure and defend against cyber and technology risks, harnessing the power of ALL IN ONE Cyber and Technology Insurance and Protection. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices worldwide, BOXX is a global, award-winning provider of cyber protection services and technology insurance coverage.

We’re not a typical insurance company. That’s by design. We’re obsessive about making clients’ digital worlds safer and more resilient; creating real, positive changes for our clients, partners and brokers. With comprehensive, technologically advanced products and services that have a strong emphasis on predicting, preventing and insuring against negative cyber and technology events, BOXX is dedicated to helping businesses operate securely and confidently in an increasingly complex digital environment, 365 days a year. 

BOXX Insurance Inc. is part of Zurich Global Businesses & Operations, a global ecosystem focused on delivering meaningful value to customers and partners. By bringing together Travel, Cyber and Zurich’s global operations, including global capability centers, we operate at scale to provide customized, proactive and digital experiences that help individuals and businesses be better prepared for the future.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boxx-insurance-futureproofs-ai-coverage-ensuring-protection-against-deepfakes–social-engineering-302831194.html

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