Artificial intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous in many industries, and it is gaining ground in the talent mobility sector. AI has become a tool to enhance not only productivity but also efficiency, leaving staff to focus on more complex talent mobility concerns. We spoke with experts and leaders at Altair Global and NEI Global Relocation about their experiences with AI and what advice they have for others in the sector.
AI can create marketing materials, streamline operations, and create business efficiencies, but many critics have concerns about its impact on jobs, privacy, and security. “We’ve embraced AI as a strategic enabler to enhance the experiences of our client partners, relocating customers, supplier partners, and team members,” says Jason Beaudreau, chief technology officer for Altair Global. “We view AI not as a replacement for people but as a tool to elevate the human experience.”
Michelle Moore, president and CEO of NEI Global Relocation, says, “AI adoption should align with your people strategy. It augments valuable human talent but does not replace it.”
Why Adopt AI Tools
Talent relocation has a number of moving parts that need to work in tandem for a successful move. AI can provide relocation management companies (RMCs) with an edge over their competitors. It is always good for business when a company can efficiently and satisfactorily execute a talent relocation strategy for its clients.
For Altair Global, AI helps staff personalize services, reduce process friction, and anticipate client needs. Kathryn Cassidy, Altair Global’s president and chief operating officer, says, “AI enables relocations to be more efficient, intuitive, and empathetic.” Its adoption has enabled Altair to better serve clients and their employees, as well as help Altair’s staff to meet the needs of its clients. AI can provide the real-time guidance that employees need in their relocation journey.
“Our primary motivations at NEI Global are to use AI to enhance our productivity and create a multiplier effect for our existing resources,” Moore says. “Ultimately, our goal for NEI’s continuous adoption of AI is to improve the overall quality of our service, accelerate delivery, reduce costs, facilitate better decision-making, eliminate customer friction, and enhance our monitoring of the entire NEI ecosystem so clients get the full advantage of our progress.”
Which AI Tool Is the Right Tool?
Both Altair Global and NEI Global Relocation have piloted a number of AI projects, and the results have run the gamut of possibilities.
Altair Global has engaged AI pilot programs that use natural language processing and predictive analytics. For instance, natural language processing has been used for policy interpretations, while AI has helped improve relocation timelines with predictive analytics. Ali, Altair’s AI-powered virtual assistant for customers, is a conversational tool.
Kelly Tepera, senior vice president for customer experience at Altair Global, says, “Ali is a prime example of using AI technology to enhance the customer experience.” The virtual assistant can provide personalized assistance in a timely manner and in a relocating employees’ preferred language. “Simultaneously, we’ve collected insights from Altair team members that Ali is a knowledgeable digital partner who has freed them up to focus on more complex, human-centric needs,” she says.
In addition to enhancing the client experience, AI has helped Altair’s data analytics team when it is engaged in exploratory data analysis. It has helped the team to gather data and create visualizations that make identifying patterns easier. “These pilots have shown strong results in increasing the speed of delivery, aiding in multitasking, offering self-serve avenues, and increasing employee and team member satisfaction,” Tepera says.
According to NEI’s Moore, Grok delivered the team some strong outcomes, and ChatGPT offered good results in content support and drafting. “Microsoft Copilot has been effective across productivity tools, while Claude has proven particularly valuable in code analysis,” she says. “These pilots have helped NEI better understand where AI can create the most immediate impact—from gaining insight into SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud system setup and triaging various Microsoft Office 365 issues to conducting market analysis for prospective RMC clients and supporting compliance reviews across federal, state, and international standards.”
Moore adds, “We’re always evaluating new tools as they become available and re-evaluating our existing tools and their upgrades.”
NEI Global actively embraces AI tools across all facets of its operations, including those that indirectly support relocation services. “We leverage AI for anonymized code review and development across numerous applications, as well as for IT issue research pertaining to a wide range of applications, such as MS Office, SAP S/4HANA, and IT network gear,” Moore says. “AI also plays a significant role in researching new developments and analyzing tax law or regulation changes.”
Addressing AI Adoption Challenges
AI adoption is not without challenges, particularly because data privacy remains critical. To ensure privacy, RMCs, and others in the talent mobility sector need to train staff on responsible AI use. Anuar Solis, Altair Global’s data protection officer, agrees that governance, data privacy, and transparency expectations must evolve alongside AI’s capabilities.
“One of the primary challenges we’ve faced in adopting AI is balancing the speed of innovation with the structure of compliance,” he says. Solis points to the mandatory requirements for organizations using AI under the European Union AI Act. Before deploying AI in the EU, Altair proactively and voluntarily signed the EU AI Pact to align with its principles. “This is a voluntary commitment to develop internal governance frameworks for AI oversight, promote AI literacy and accountability across Altair Global’s teams, and to map high-risk AI systems,” he says.
“This commitment helps build trust and future-proof our innovation. It also places new demands on resources and operations as Altair scales up AI within the global talent mobility landscape,” Solis adds. Company leaders have been instrumental throughout the process, providing purpose and clarity to the teams involved. “Our goal is to lead with intention, ensuring our use of AI remains ethical, compliant, and human-centered,” he says. “In short, we’re advancing innovation with discipline, making sure governance keeps pace with growth across jurisdictionally complex, privacy-sensitive service environments.”
At NEI Global, teams made adjustments throughout as AI was integrated into the company’s application testing processes. The enterprise resource planning system helped support these adjustments, which ultimately led to a more streamlined process, according to Moore. Additionally, NEI has seen expanded marketing capabilities with the adoption of AI, broader bandwidth among application development teams, and higher productivity levels. “These ‘wins’ have reinforced our belief in AI’s truly transformative, productivity-enhancing potential across the board,” she says.
Employee Buy-in and Operational Transformation
Altair’s Tepera indicates that AI prompted her company to rethink workflow and policy structures. “For example, we’ve streamlined certain policy components to be more machine-readable, enabling faster automation,” she adds. Data processing and routine queries at Altair Global are also managed by AI through the company’s service delivery model. According to Tepera, “This allows our consultants to handle high-touch interactions.”
“AI adoption at Altair has been strong,” Beaudreau says. This has been especially true as the company continues to emphasize change management, training, and usage policies. “AI is now being used by many of our team members in elements of their daily work,” he says.
Operational processes at NEI Global have also become more data-driven, which Moore says has streamlined and improved decision-making. “Both human and AI agents have access to consistent, high-quality data to make better decisions,” she adds. On the operational side of the business, information gathering and pre-assignment assessments for talent relocation are more streamlined because of AI. “This has accelerated the early stages of the relocation process by reducing the manual effort needed from staff,” Moore says.
NEI Global’s perception of workflow design has changed thanks to AI, which has led to greater policy flexibility. According to Moore, “AI’s ability to develop training materials and engage in deep research tasks has helped automate complex workflows, while maintaining a very human touch where it matters most to our clients.”
NEI’s employee handbook has been updated to reflect AI’s integration into the company’s operations. The handbook provides guidance on how to protect data externally and internally, as well as when it is appropriate to use AI. NEI Global has some early AI adopters, but there are also those who are on a more gradual track. There are some operations that use AI daily for certain tasks, but there are other areas where integration has been slower. For instance, Moore says the core transactional operations still rely on the human touch.
“One critical factor is constantly evaluating and resolving any potential security concerns, particularly around handling personally identifiable information (PII), before we can fully leverage AI in transactional systems,” Moore says.
People and Intent Are the Foundation
Both Altair Global and NEI Global have started their AI journeys, but not without a focused intent. “We’re intentional about ensuring AI augments rather than overwhelms. We want our teams to feel empowered, not replaced,” says Altair’s Beaudreau.
Moore at NEI points out that while AI tools can speed up processes, they should be vetted and evaluated by human experts. “Our wise CIO, Dar Andrews, encourages us to get acquainted with AI and how it works before expecting teams to embrace it,” she says.
Some AI adoption tips Moore recommends are:
- Define and start with a clear understanding of what specific challenges AI can solve and what value it can add.
- Identify low-risk, high-impact areas and pilot AI tools to address them.
- Prioritize data security and protecting PII.
- Support continuous learning and adaptation for your employees.
Moore explains that AI is a field that is continuously evolving, which is why NEI Global invests heavily in monitoring tools and comprehensive employee training. Stakeholders, including the IT, human resources, and legal teams, should be read in early to build the guardrails needed for usage, ethics, and security policies. “We feel staying agile with AI and being open to new ideas is key to NEI’s long-term success,” she says.
Altair’s Cassidy advises, “Start with your people. Understand their pain points and design AI solutions that support—not replace—them.” Part of that process also requires cross-functional collaboration, investments in data quality, and a foundation of change management to smooth the integration process.
“Be inclusive of the stakeholders in mobility, which includes relocating customers, clients, and supplier partners,” she says. “And, most importantly, keep the human at the center. AI is powerful, but empathy is irreplaceable.”