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Systems of Record & Systems of Action
I want to highlight 2 acquisitions that were announced in late August:
Workday acquired AI recruiting platform Paradox for $1B (press release)
Thoma Bravo acquired HCM platform Dayforce for $12B (press release)
Josh Bersin covered the Paradox acquisition well and perfectly described what makes them so special: “At McDonald’s, you can stand in line to get a burger, then apply for and accept a job before your burger is even ready”. Leveraging conversational AI, Paradox simplifies and automates every step of the application process. As an investor in Paradox*, I won’t comment on company-specific details. Still, congrats to Aaron, Adam, and the rest of the team!
Paradox’s success illustrates a broader shift underway in enterprise software: A rise in systems of action (SOA) that sit on top of legacy systems of record (SOR). Systems of action don’t just store data; they build powerful workflows that automate routine tasks and enable faster, more informed decisions.
While the first wave of cloud created value by digitizing records, the next wave will create value by automating actions. Historically, point solutions sat on top of SORs as narrow add-ons; with GenAI, they have the agency to gather, interpret, and act on data
