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New ICIMS and Kyle & Co. Research Links AI Readiness and Deployment to Stronger Hiring Performance

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ICIMS and Kyle & Co.’s 2026 Talent Transformation Yearbook surveys 500 HR and talent leaders and 1,000 U.S. job seekers, finding that talent teams that do the homework and put AI to work lead on time to hire, quality of hire and retention 

ICIMS customers earn yearbook superlatives for results including nearly $2 million in first-year savings, a tripled candidate pipeline and doubled retention for high-volume roles

HOLMDEL, N.J., Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ICIMS, the Intelligent Hiring Platform, today released the 2026 Talent Transformation Yearbook: AI Progress Report, new research in partnership with Kyle & Co. The report surveyed 500 HR and talent leaders and 1,000 U.S. job seekers and revealed a clear divide between organizations making AI work for their hiring teams and those still figuring out the assignment. While 45% of HR and talent leaders rated their AI implementation highly successful, the average organization puts only about half of its purchased AI capabilities into production. The report indicates the top performers are doing their homework, putting more AI to work across hiring workflows and building the foundations to turn their investments into measurable business results.

“This report is a to-do list for every talent leader heading into 2027.”

Presented as a school yearbook, the report examines AI adoption, candidate experiences and hiring performance in 2026, recognizing standout organizations and offering guidance for talent acquisition leaders planning for 2027.

“This report is a to-do list for every talent leader heading into 2027,” said Trent Cotton, head of talent insights, ICIMS. “The value of AI shows up when it is trusted, running across hiring workflows and transparent to every candidate. By automating routine tasks, AI gives recruiters time back to build relationships, engage with the strongest talent and help hiring managers make better hiring decisions. That is how organizations improve hiring outcomes and deliver measurable business results.”

The Wide Shot: What Happened to Hiring in 2026

ICIMS surveyed 1,000 U.S. job seekers to understand how they encountered AI during their job searches. The findings reveal an opportunity for employers to expand the use of AI across the hiring process while communicating clearly with candidates about where and how it is used.

AI screening remains uncommon for many job seekers. 44% never encountered AI screening during their job search in 2026, while another 17% encountered it only once. Just 32% encountered it several times or in most applications.Candidates who noticed AI often viewed it positively. 45% of job seekers who noticed AI described its effect as positive.AI transparency and fairness remain concerns. Among candidates who believed AI evaluated their applications, only 32% said employers clearly disclosed its use, while 41% suspected AI was used without being told. 42% were confident automated screening evaluated them fairly.

The Class Photo: What Sets High-Performing AI Hiring Teams Apart

ICIMS grouped 500 HR and talent leaders by self-reported performance across six outcomes: time to hire, cost per hire, quality of hire, new hire retention, hiring manager satisfaction and contribution to business outcomes. Upper Classmen (37% of respondents) rated their organizations above average across all six outcomes and Freshmen (34% of respondents) rated their organizations above average on three or fewer.

AI success is rising, but adoption lags. 45% rated their AI implementation highly successful, compared with 17% in a 2025 SHRM survey. Yet organizations put only about half of their purchased AI capabilities into production.Foundational readiness separates top performers. Upper Classmen were more likely than Freshmen to have completed five foundational practices: AI literacy training, data ownership, AI contract terms, manager enablement and redeployment. Completion rates ranged from 51% to 62% among Upper Classmen, versus 17% to 24% among Freshmen.Top teams deploy more AI. Upper Classmen ran an average of six of seven AI hiring capabilities, compared with two and a half among Freshmen. Capabilities included resume screening and ranking, candidate chatbots, interview scheduling, AI-led assessments, agentic AI, AI-assisted writing and skills matching.Agentic AI adoption is concentrated among top performers. About one-quarter of respondents had deployed agentic AI across multistep hiring workflows at full scale, including 42% of Upper Classmen and 9% of Freshmen. 35% said AI enables recruiters and hiring managers to complete common applicant tracking system (ATS) actions within the tools they already use.High-volume hiring is a leading priority for 2027. 28% identified high-volume and frontline hiring capacity as a top priority, followed by skills-based hiring or internal mobility (27%) and scaling AI (24%). Yet 46% described their approach to high-volume hiring as mostly reactive. 42% of Upper Classmen build proactive talent pipelines, compared with 25% of Freshmen.Candidate experience remains a top concern. Delivering a strong candidate experience was the top hiring concern for 2027 (30%), followed by maintaining human judgment (29%) and responsible, accurate and compliant AI use (28%). 

The findings suggest that stronger hiring outcomes are associated with deploying the right AI across hiring workflows and establishing the data, skills and governance needed to support it. The ICIMS Intelligent Hiring Platform brings together hiring technology and trusted, responsible AI to help organizations apply intelligence across the hiring process and turn AI investments into measurable business value.

“The gap is not simply between organizations that have AI and those that do not. It is between buying capabilities and building the skills, data ownership and operating practices to put them to work,” said Kyle Lagunas, founder and principal analyst, Kyle & Co. “The teams reporting stronger hiring outcomes are further along on both readiness and deployment. That gives talent leaders a practical place to focus their 2027 plans.”

Meet the Class Superlatives

Most Likely to Succeed: ATI Physical Therapy grew its candidate pool 3x over two years without adding recruiting headcount.Most Adventurous: Xanterra Travel Collection kept hiring moving through floods, seasonal peaks and changing workforce needs, boosting applicants per opening 50%.Most Popular: EchoStar made candidate experience a team effort and won the CandE Benchmark two years in a row.Most School Spirit: Covenant HealthCare’s team of five recruiters and one sourcer made approximately 800 hires from more than 18,000 applications. Time to apply fell from 20 minutes to two and a half minutes.Teacher’s Pet: Esler Companies built a 45-person talent acquisition team from scratch.Best Personality: Enterprise Mobility maintained human interaction throughout the candidate journey and doubled retention in high-volume roles.Most Resourceful: ATCC’s two-person recruiting team saved nearly $2 million in its first year.Most Likely to Run the World: Signature HealthCARE makes ~6,000 hires annually across 67 locations.

Download the 2026 Talent Transformation Yearbook: AI Progress Report to see how your organization compares with the Class of 2026, explore the research findings and identify opportunities to turn AI investments into business value in 2027.

About ICIMS, Inc.

ICIMS is the talent acquisition platform built to help organizations hire at enterprise scale. Powered by billions of hiring interactions and more than 25 years of expertise, ICIMS combines trusted AI with end-to-end hiring technology to help recruiting teams hire smarter, faster and with greater confidence across corporate, high-volume and frontline roles.

Trusted by thousands of organizations worldwide, ICIMS continuously innovates with responsible AI and a highly extensible platform designed to help customers adapt quickly to changing workforce needs, scale globally and turn talent acquisition into a strategic business advantage. For more information, visit ICIMS.com.

Contact:

Will DeMuria

Corporate Communications

will.demuria@ICIMS.com

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SOURCE iCIMS, Inc.

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Moonello Shifts Focus to AI and Software Engineering, Introduces Four Fixed-Fee Services

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October 29, 2026

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Novi, Michigan-based Moonello shifts entirely to AI and software engineering, introducing four defined services for mid-market companies with publicly available starting prices.

NOVI, Mich., Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Moonello, an award-winning software engineering firm based in Novi, Michigan, today announced a strategic shift toward AI and software engineering for mid-market companies, ending its marketing services offering and introducing four defined engineering engagements with publicly available starting prices.

“Companies have more ways than ever to build software, especially with AI. But getting something built and making sure it’s secure, reliable, and ready to run a business are two very different things.” — Matt Trueblood, President and Founder, Moonello

Moonello says this shift in focus responds to problems it sees across mid-market companies. Many still run on legacy systems that can’t connect to modern AI tools. Employees paste company data into public AI tools to move faster. And internal tools, often built quickly and sometimes with AI coding tools, end up running quoting, scheduling, or operations without monitoring, tested backups, or anyone outside the builder reviewing them.

Moonello now offers four services, each priced at a flat fee agreed before work begins, with starting prices published on its website:

Legacy System Modernization replaces aging enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other legacy systems one function at a time while the old system keeps running. It starts with a $7,500 roadmap, and most build phases cost $25,000 to $60,000.Internal Build Audit is an outside review of software a company built for itself, including tools built with AI, across security, architecture and code quality, operations and reliability, business continuity, and AI integration risk. Single-module audits take about two weeks and start at $3,500.Private AI Systems puts a private AI assistant in the client’s own cloud account, connected to its documents and ERP, with no company data used to train outside models. A pilot costs $15,000; the full production system costs $75,000 and takes 90 days.Production Hardening makes Moonello the engineering team behind software built by a client’s own staff or by another vendor, covering security, monitoring, backups, and documentation. Stabilization sprints start at $10,000, and ongoing retainers start at $2,500 a month.

“Companies have more ways than ever to build software, especially with AI. But getting something built and making sure it’s secure, reliable, and ready to run a business are two very different things,” said Matt Trueblood, president and founder of Moonello. “That’s where we’re putting our focus. And we’re publishing our prices because businesses should be able to understand what an engagement costs before they ever pick up the phone.”

Moonello’s work includes the operations platform for a national telecom inspection company. Moonello built the platform with them from the ground up and has operated it since launch; it runs the company’s nationwide crew scheduling, dispatch, job tracking, and field reporting. The company has grown roughly tenfold since the platform was launched.

For a Michigan restaurant equipment installation and service company, Moonello developed a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system that makes decades of operational data accessible through natural-language questions. Information that previously took days to retrieve can now be accessed in seconds. Moonello is also building a modern ERP platform for the company, integrating the AI system into its broader operations.

For a large Michigan nonprofit, Moonello is modernizing a resource database built on 25-year-old technology and developing a new CRM and call-intake platform. The system will incorporate AI-assisted capabilities to help call-center staff identify relevant community resources based on callers’ needs, improving how the organization connects Southeast Michigan residents with assistance.

Moonello builds and deploys secure software on infrastructure controlled by its clients, with its Michigan-based team performing all of the engineering.

Clients own the custom software developed for them, without ongoing licensing fees paid to Moonello for that software. Cloud infrastructure, third-party services, and ongoing support are handled separately.

Each service can be purchased independently. Audit fees can be credited toward a modernization roadmap or hardening sprint; modernization roadmap fees apply toward the first build phase, and private AI pilot fees are credited in full toward production deployment. Service details and starting prices are available at www.moonello.com.

About Moonello

Founded in 2018, Moonello is a software engineering firm based in Novi, Michigan. It helps mid-market companies modernize legacy systems and ERPs, deploy private AI on their own infrastructure, and audit and harden the software they depend on. Each engagement is priced at a flat fee before work begins, with starting prices published at www.moonello.com.

Media Contact

Matt Trueblood, Moonello LLC, 1 2482647014, matt@moonello.com, https://www.moonello.com

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SOURCE Moonello LLC

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United Premier Soccer League Names Corgi Insurance Its Official Insurance Partner

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October 29, 2026

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The partnership provides comprehensive insurance coverage to more than 900 Member Clubs and 37,000 registered participants nationwide.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Corgi Insurance, an AI-native insurance carrier and financial infrastructure company, announced a three-year partnership with the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL), naming Golden by Corgi the league’s official insurance and protection partner.

Effective September 30, 2026, the partnership provides insurance coverage for the UPSL, its more than 900 Member Clubs, and approximately 37,000 registered players, coaches, and officials across sanctioned competitions nationwide.

Through Golden, Corgi is bringing its integrated insurance infrastructure to one of the largest club soccer leagues in the United States, simplifying how organizations obtain coverage, manage risk, and handle claims.

Beyond insurance coverage, the partnership is designed to simplify the administrative processes that clubs and league officials navigate throughout the season.

Member Clubs will also have access to the Golden Standard, a safety and risk management resource hub providing expert-backed guidance to help organizations maintain safer playing environments.

“UPSL is one of the largest club soccer platforms in the country, and it deserves a program built for how it actually operates,” said Mike T. Brown, Executive Partner at Golden by Corgi. “As a full-stack carrier, we do better when the sport stays safe, so we are with UPSL and its clubs all year, not just at renewal.”

The UPSL partnership is the latest in a series of national league and governing body partnerships established by Golden in 2026 as Corgi continues to expand its insurance offerings across new industries.

UPSL Member Clubs can access information about their coverage, request certificates of insurance, and report incidents at premier.upsl.com/insurance.

About the United Premier Soccer League

UPSL is a national professional and semi-professional soccer league with more than 900 Member Clubs and approximately 37,000 registered participants across the United States, including men’s, women’s, and youth divisions. Learn more at premier.upsl.com.

About Golden by Corgi

Golden is a full-stack insurance program for sports and entertainment organizations, backed by Corgi. Golden issues, administers, and services coverage for national governing bodies, leagues, teams, and events under one roof.

Media Contact

Corgi Press
press@corgi.com

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SOURCE Corgi

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Appian Defense Cloud Achieves IL5 Authorization Across Department of War Operations

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October 29, 2026

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Process orchestration leader earns highest unclassified level of authorization to deliver secure, intelligent automation for mission-critical warfare operations

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Appian today announced that the Appian Defense Cloud (ADC) achieved Impact Level 5 (IL5) Provisional Authorization to Operate (PA) from the United States Department of War (DOW). Building on Appian’s IL5 Appian Government Cloud (AGC) offering, this accreditation enables DOW agencies to deploy mission-critical workloads using Appian’s intelligent process automation innovations with enterprise-grade security.

The Appian Defense Cloud achieved Impact Level 5 Provisional Authorization to Operate from the US Department of War.

“Achieving IL5 for our next generation platform – ADC marks a significant milestone for Appian in providing the DOW with mature and secure intelligent process automation to support warfighter operations,” said Michael Beckley, Chief Technology Officer at Appian. “The production-ready platform represents an evolution of Appian’s long-standing defense capabilities, bringing modern agentic intelligence and process orchestration directly to mission operations with enterprise-grade guardrails.”

Appian’s defense heritage began with its contract to architect Army Knowledge Online (AKO) more than two decades ago, which grew into one of the world’s largest military intranets. As one of the first cloud service providers to achieve FedRAMP authorization in 2015, Appian has demonstrated continuous mastery of meeting continuous monitoring and security compliance requirements across public sector environments.

This latest designation recognizes the operational maturity of the Appian Platform and the DOW’s continued trust for it to provide industry-leading security and availability across high-impact warfare operations. With IL5 designation, ADC can store and process the DOW’s highest-sensitivity unclassified information, mission-critical data, and unclassified national security systems.

Scale and deployment across US defense

Appian’s defense footprint scaled almost 4x in deployment volume over the last 12 months. Today, Appian supports:  

2,000,000+ active DOW & IC users relying on the platform for daily operations. 100+ mission platforms running mission-critical automation.  Supporting key operational communities, including contract writing, legal case management, intelligence and security, foreign military sales, and logistics and maintenance.  

Key fielded capabilities include 12 prominent Army programs in production, including the Total Army Combat and Training Munitions Information System (TACTMIS) for the US Army. Created in 110 days from contract award to support more than 10,000 active users worldwide, TACTMIS delivers speed and value for training and operational missions. By unifying munitions management processes across the Active Army, Army National Guard, US Army Reserve, and joint partners, TACTMIS provides the scale, security, and visibility needed to support Army-wide readiness and senior-leader decision-making.

Defense-grade capabilities for DOW-compliance

Built on Appian’s next-generation cloud-native architecture, ADC delivers complete commercial platform capabilities within a DOW-compliant boundary:

Orchestrated agentic intelligence: Native capabilities for agent-assisted workflow creation, intelligent document processing (IDP), generative capabilities, and agentic insights.Data fabric: Connects disparate data sources without moving core records, giving agents and users immediate context.Process intelligence: Real-time process monitoring and analytics to track operational efficiency and auditability.

The US Department of War and every service branch of the US Armed Forces trust Appian to improve government processes. Learn how Appian can help transform your operations to increase efficiency and productivity: https://appian.com/defense.

Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding future product capabilities, strategic plans, and industry growth, are forward-looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Appian undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

About Appian
Appian provides AI automation for the most important business processes at the world’s largest organizations.

On the Appian Platform, customers build AI-powered processes that accelerate work, reduce cost, and manage risk. Our platform is known for its unique power, reliability, and scale. We’ve been automating processes for more than 25 years and have proven expertise in enterprise operations. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

Follow Appian: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X.

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SOURCE Appian

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