Machine learning, or ML, is changing many industries in key ways, and in the long list of places where new AI functionality has changed workflows forever, don’t forget the human resources office.

At Oracle, a household name in cutting-edge technologies, new tools are bringing a new approach to HR.

“The fundamentals of how HR works haven’t changed,” group Vice President Gretchen Alarcon told HR Daily Wire in a recent interview. “It’s the same process – but more using tech to change how that interaction works.”

However, she said, new tools and resources mean that some of the old ways of doing business aren’t the best options anymore.

Remember the days of all-paper HR documentation? That’s a thing of the past now. So much of what we do to document our work experience is now digital – just ask a few friends where they keep their pay stubs.

But it goes further than that. At Oracle, the drive to revolutionize HR and recruiting starts with an “HPM Cloud Application” suite, with an app component that’s specifically geared toward recruiting.

Alarcon explained one of the key things the recruiting ML software does involves finding out about candidates in new and improved ways. Computers do some of the research that people used to do by hand, for instance, figuring out where each candidate comes from and building an automated profile that brings the right data to the HR manager’s fingertips. As you might imagine, that makes the process of slogging through 200 or 500 or 1,000 resumes a lot easier and quicker.

Another resource that Oracle is excited about is focused on learning management; Alarcon said this software component does things like figuring out the best videos and training resources for a given role, or in other words, doing research that’s supporting the new hire or other employee.

“It’s machine learning that’s targeted to you,” Alarcon said, describing how the software can use profiles to deliver solutions to both HR people and others who might be using the learning management tools.

Although there is a lot that HR can do with Oracle’s suite, Alarcon stressed that the new tech doesn’t completely erase the human component.

“It’s not going to make the final decision,” she said of the technology. Instead, she said, the tools assist humans in making their decisions about what’s best for an individual and a firm – but with a lot less guesswork, paper-pushing and detail wrangling.