Workforce planning and analysis have accelerated in strategic importance, with 2026 seeing momentum across every industry, geography, and company size. As organizations navigate increasingly turbulent and volatile market conditions - marked by economic headwinds, shifting demand patterns, and rapid technological change - the need to evaluate workforce capacity and capability has become even more urgent.

With over 74% of organizations rating these capabilities as important or higher, the pressure to connect people, performance, and financial outcomes has never been greater.

We’re proud that Unit4 has retained the joint #1 position in Dresner Advisory Services’ 2026 Workforce Planning & Analysis Market Study ahead of 14 other vendors - reflecting our continued commitment to delivering people centric planning that unifies finance, HR, and operations.

This year’s report highlights several major shifts shaping the future of workforce planning and it shows how Unit4’s solution aligns with evolving industry needs:

• AI is rapidly reshaping planning and analysis, with agentic AI and generative AI achieving importance ratings of 72.6% and 68.3% respectively.
• Adoption is surging again, with nearly one fifth of organizations planning to adopt workforce planning and analysis within 24 months.
• Cloud-first deployment dominates, while on premises ranks lowest in importance.
• HR, Finance, and Executive Management continue to be the primary users - reinforcing the need for integrated, cross functional planning.

As Howard Dresner, Chief Research Officer, Dresner Advisory Services, notes: “Workforce planning and analysis continues to grow in importance as performance management extends beyond finance and into workforce, operational, and enterprise decision-making.”