Build an AI-native operating model that delivers measurable people and business outcomes
Designed with AI, powered by AI, and built for continuous human–machine teaming — a practical glide path that proves value fast, scales with confidence, and avoids disruptive rip-and-replace.
Organizations are operating in an environment defined by constant change, expanding digital capabilities and new models of human-machine teaming. Traditional operating models, built around functions, processes and predictable cycles, no longer support the pace or complexity of today’s work.
Mercer’s outcome-driven, AI-native operating model provides a flexible, adaptive architecture that unifies people and digital capabilities around outcomes, not activities. It is design to evolve as technology advances, workforce needs shift and business priorities change.
Why change
- 1 Why change
- 2 What makes this model different
- The old operating logic was optimized for scarcity. AI changes what’s possible: speed, scale, and real-time insight remove old constraints and demand a new way of organizing work.
- Activity-driven models fragment accountability and slow decision-making. An outcomes-first model unites people, technology and finance around clear, measurable results.
- Human judgment remains essential. AI should amplify human decision-making, not replace it — enabling faster, fairer, and more consistent outcomes across talent, pay, integration and everyday HR operations.
- Change doesn’t need to be all at once. A graft-style glide path lets you attach new capabilities to existing structures, prove impact with pilots, then scale and retire legacy processes.
This model is built on enduring design principles, not short-term trends:
- Outcomes as the organizing principle rather than legacy processes
- Integrated teaming across HR, IT and the business – not siloed functions
- A digital fabric that connects data, signals, workflows and experience into a single coherent system
- Continuous adaption, informed by real-time insights and telemetry
- A safe, staged glide path that allows organizations to transform without disrupting core operations
This is a model made to last, centered on capabilities that remain relevant as technology and the world evolves.
The core components of Mercer’s model
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AI empowerment center
- What it is: The enterprise AI engine — responsible for ethics, integrations, security, continuous improvement and ongoing enablement – ensuring that people and technology work together effectively.
- Why it matters: Centralized AI stewardship ensures safe, auditable, repeatable AI use across the organization while enabling distributed teams to act with confidence.
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Digital fabric
- What it is: The connective layer that unifies people, data, systems and workflows into a single intelligent network.
- Why it matters: It removes silos, eliminates reporting lag, and provides real-time intelligence for decisions, work design and experience delivery.
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Outcome delivery teams (ODTs)
- What they are: Cross-functional, fluid, human–machine teams embedded in the business, accountable for specific people and digital outcomes.
- Why they matter: ODTs shorten feedback loops, enable adaptability localize budget authority, and drive measurable value — reconfiguring as priorities change.
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Domain expertise
- What it is: A capability that replaces traditional COE silos with domain-focused governance, strategic guidance, safety and specialized capability across people and digital domains; ensuring coherence without creating bottlenecks.
- Why it matters: Domain expertise uses AI-driven insights to set policy, guardrails and design principles that ensure responsible, aligned decision-making.
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Enablement services
- What they are: Scaled, automated operations across core systems (payroll, vendor management, compliance) and Tier 0 digital services that reduce manual work and delivers rapid resolution.
- Why they matter: Automation and policy-as-code free teams to focus on outcomes while improving speed, accuracy and cost-to-serve. They ensure operational stability as transformation accelerates.
Outcome-focused teams plus an enterprise AI engine and a resilient digital fabric reduce friction, accelerate decisions, and unlock new value across talent, rewards, integration and operations.
How the glide path works — practical, phased adoption
The glide path moves you from strategy to steady state in stages that reduce risk and deliver measurable value at each step. Each phase bundles outcomes, milestones and Mercer support so you see real results as you scale.
- What happens: Define the outcomes you need (speed, quality, fairness, cost). Establish the success measures and operating criteria that will guide redesign and decision-making.
- Mercer support: Executive workshops, outcome definition, ROI framing, operating intent, readiness assessment and formalized case for change
- Early signals: Defined purpose and outcomes, clear target metrics, stakeholder alignment
- What happens: Stand up centralized AI stewardship to underpin all future transformation: data, readiness, responsible AI governance, integration foundations and workforce enablement.
- Mercer support: AI center design, governance frameworks, data quality and access standards, technology ecosystem evaluation and requirements, and change enablement
- Early signals: Clear decision rights, strong data foundations, safe and governed use of AI
- What happens: Automate repeatable transactions and standardize service patterns. Shift from manual, tiered service delivery to a modern digital-first enablement - freeing capacity and improving experience.
- Mercer support: Automation roadmap, simplification of Teir 1 and Teir 2 workflows, design digital channels and knowledge flows, vendor and payroll modernization
- Early signals: Lower cost-to-serve, fewer manual handoffs, faster service response times, increased capacity and consistency
- What happens: Deploy compact human–machine teams embedded in the business, orchestrating work around outcomes – not functions or processes. Redesign work, integrate human and digital capability, solve business problems at the source.
- Mercer support: ODT design, skills and teaming requirements, work redesign mapping, measurement frameworks
- Early signals: Faster business impact, clearer accountability, measurable outcomes, iterative improvement without disruption
- What happens: Transition existing COEs from task execution to governance, coherence and design. Establish enterprise-wide strategy and policies that support ODTs and enablement services.
- Mercer support: Organization design, domain governance, leader enablement, telemetry integration, policy-as-code
- Early signals: Stronger alignment between business priorities and HR/IT decisions, faster design cycles and enterprise consistency without bureaucracy
- What happens: Scale successful patterns across the enterprise; institutionalize guardrails, measurement, and continuous learning loops so the model compounds value across the enterprise.
- Mercer support: Ongoing model adaptations, model extention, continuous improvement routines, capability uplift
- Early signals: Compounding efficiency gains, measurable business outcomes, resilient people + digital operating model
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Services that support every phase
- A blueprint designed for your context and outcomes
- A roadmap and glide path tailored to your levels of readiness
- Business case clarity, including ROI tied to people and machine teaming
- Support to build your digital fabric and AI empowerment center
- Design scale for outcome delivery teams and enablement services
- Build change muscle, governance and workforce transition support
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Client outcomes you can expect
- Faster, better decisions: Reduced decision latency through telemetry and AI-enabled insights.
- Lower operating cost and complexity: Automation and reuse of data products cut repetitive work and vendor friction.
- Safer, auditable AI use: Centralized governance plus domain guardrails reduce risk while enabling distributed execution.
- Measurable business impact: Pilots deliver near-term ROI and create repeatable patterns for scaling.
Why Mercer
Mercer combines global transformation experience with deep capability in people, technology, work design and AI-enabled decision-making. We provide not only the operating model but also practical, safe and sequenced pathway to implement it – ensuring organization can evolve continuously, sustainably and confidently.
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