The PayrollBADIes are back — and this episode is packed with SAP Sapphire, Payroll Congress, AI, autonomous HCM, and plenty of BADIe energy.

In this episode we are joined by Shahzad Naseem from the SAP SuccessFactors Product Strategy team to discuss the strategic reasoning behind the SmartRecruiters acquisition, the roadmap for Autonomous Payroll., & more!

We go "under the hood" to explore why SAP chose SmartRecruiters over other vendors. How they evaluated every vendor and what set SmartRecruiters apart, focusing on the strength of their Applicant Tracking System (ATS) vs. "hollow" AI chatbots. Shazad reveals the 2026 vision for Employee Central Payroll (ECP), including the introduction of Autonomous Payroll Agents for compliance, reconciliation, and alerts that allow admins to "go home at 5:00 PM".

We also clarify the future of SuccessFactors Recruiting vs. SmartRecruiters and how native onboarding fits into the new ecosystem.

Key Takeaways & Chapters

00:00:00 | Intro: The PayrollBADIes Podcast Kickoff

00:01:12 | Meet Shahzad Naseem: SAP Strategy Lead & Musician

00:06:40 | The SmartRecruiters Business Case: Why SAP Acquired Them

00:12:05 | ATS Strength vs. Hollow Chatbots: The Evaluation Process

00:19:21 | Joule AI vs. Winston AI: Will They Ever Merge?

00:23:23 | The Future of "Headless" AI HR Applications

00:25:51 | 2025 Roadmap: Workforce Scheduling & Business Data Cloud (BDC)

00:27:12 | Autonomous Payroll: The Vision for ECP

00:29:55 | How Payroll Agents Solve Finance Reconciliation Gaps

00:32:33 | What Happens to SuccessFactors Recruiting & Onboarding?00:37:16 | Closing: The Future of Payroll Innovation

A dynamic recap of the SAP SuccessConnect 2025 event, celebrating the Payroll BADIes 1-Year Anniversary! Join the crew as they discuss the massive announcements impacting SAP SuccessFactors HCM & Payroll. We dive deep into the SmartRecruiters acquisition, the future of AI agent-to-agent communication (Joule, Winston), major updates to SAP Time Tracking / Workforce Management, and the rise of the Payroll Baddy community. Learn what's next for payroll professionals and get the dates for SAP Connect 2026 and SAP Sapphire 2026.

Join this episode to hear from Bonnie Tinder, Founder & CEO of Raven Intelligence, for a no-BS look at what truly drives HR tech implementation success. Bonnie explains why team dynamics and partner quality beat software features, how to use verified customer reviews to pick the right implementation partner, and what really happens when HR and Payroll live on different vendors. We dig into AI in HR (hype vs. outcomes), recent market moves and acquisitions, and where the ecosystem is headed next. Her bottom line: push for unified systems where it counts, and insist on clear accountability across every vendor on the field—because, as Bonnie puts it, running Core HR without Payroll is like running a marathon with one shoe.

In this episode of the Payroll BADIes podcast, the group welcomes legendary payroll analyst Pete Tiliakos

·       Imran & Raj discuss the backlash they received after the previous episode and get Pete’s thoughts on the role of analysts in shaping the industry
·       Pete gives a sneak preview of his upcoming research: The Payroll Profession Confidence Index
·       The group talks about the five pillars of payroll excellence.
·       Pete gives his prediction on the future of payroll and how Artificial Intelligence will change the game

Join Imran and Raj in this episode as they discuss analyst reports and magic quadrants including their impact on software selection and market perceptions. They explore the criteria these reports use, question the credibility of various analyst firms given the pay to play model behind these reports and give very specific examples on serious issues with these reports.

Imran discusses his first hand experience being involved with analyst relations including involvement in the vendor response process and Raj shares his experience being solicited to pay in order to be considered in the report.

Lastly, they discuss the serious caution that should be used by SAP customers when they use these reports as a decision point for choosing a new software vendor as it does not consider their unique circumstances

Join this episode with very special guest Chris McKee who has led global payroll at multiple Fortune 500 companies. Hear his POV on how he and his team handled one of the worst nightmares you can image: The Time & Attendance system going down for 10 weeks time due to a cybersecurity incident. To make matters worse, it happened in December right before US year-end.Chris shares insights into handling crisis management including when the contingency plan does not prepare you. He shares the impact on employees and how to deal with that, the response from senior leadership and how it has a huge impact, along with how they made it through after 10 weeks of no time data including reconciling all of the payroll data!

What do motherhood, payroll leadership, and 1 BILLION payslips have in common? - Maryann Abbajay, Chief Revenue Officer of SAP SuccessFactors—and our latest #PayrollBADIe guest! 🎙️🔥From raising kids to revolutionizing payroll,

Maryann shares her incredible journey, the game-changing innovations shaping the future (hello, AI! 🤖), and why payroll professionals are the real BADIes. 💰💡Some Payroll #GOLD from this episode:

✅ Payroll = employee trust & stability 💯

✅ AI is transforming payroll—faster, smarter, better! 🚀

✅ The 1 Billion Payslips milestone—SAP Payroll runs the world 🌍

✅ Payroll & Finance = Power Duo for efficiency 🔥 #SAPPayroll#S4

✅ Being present (at work and home) is everything ❤️

Join this episode to hear what Grinds #BADIeDaddy’s Gears – Some must-hear advice and a breakdown of the 5 Pillars of Modern Payroll and thePayroll Profession Confidence Index being run by the one and only Pete Tiliakos

📰 New News:

🔹 Paychex acquires Paycor – 🤔

🔹 SAP’s update end-of-life announcement for ECC 🚀🥪

New Segment Alert: Food for Thought – HR & IT… a perfect match like PB&J, or a messy mix like oil & water? We dig into the debate!

Join the podcast to hear from payroll legend Flora Jebri from Delicato Family Wines🍷🔥. Her passion for payroll is contagious, her energy is inspirational. This fun conversation will cover: