Deloitte: Organizational Flattening as AI Absorbs Execution — CIO + CHRO Functions Merging

Deloitte·medium signal

Deloitte's Tech Trends 2026 report finds organizational structures flattening as AI absorbs routine execution tasks, with some companies merging CIO and CHRO functions to ensure systems and workforce design evolve together. This directly threatens HR and workforce management SaaS (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever) whose value proposition is managing human headcount processes that AI is eliminating. Workforce access to sanctioned AI grew from 40% to 60% of employees in one year — the fastest expansion of any enterprise software category ever measured.