HRTech Interview with Apratim Purakayastha, GM of Talent Development Solutions at Skillsoft

Welcome to HRTech Cube, Apratim, we’re delighted to have you here! To begin, could you please walk us through your professional journey and what brought you to your current role?
Thank you, it’s a pleasure. My career has been shaped by a deep passion for technology and its potential to transform how we work and learn. I’ve had the opportunity to lead product, technology, and operational teams across industries, from building IBM’s first commercial SaaS offering to driving growth in enterprise learning and talent platforms.

I oversee talent development solutions across both enterprise and consumer segments at Skillsoft, with a focus on helping organizations unlock workforce potential through data-driven learning and skills strategies. I also serve on advisory boards for companies in the healthcare and AI spaces, which keeps me closely connected to innovation across sectors.

The concept of a hybrid human-AI workforce is becoming more prominent. How do you define this shift, and why is it so critical for the future of work?
We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how work gets done and a new kind of workforce – one where humans and AI team up to create a “Skillforce.” This means humans and AI agents adapting, learning, and growing together in real-time. Humans bring creativity, empathy, and judgment; AI brings scale, speed, and pattern recognition. This collaboration is critical because it enables organizations to adapt faster, make smarter decisions, and unlock new levels of productivity – with proper implementation and upkeep, of course.

The potential in unlocking the “Skillforce” is limitless. Organizations that see their strengths and gaps, grow new skills, and mobilize talent into action with humans and AI acting as one will thrive. A hybrid human + AI workforce changes the fundamental nature of how work is structured – from static job and role-based to skill-based.

Your recent research explores the widening skills gap. What are the key insights HR and L&D professionals should pay attention to?
One of the most striking insights is how few leaders (just 10%) feel fully confident that their workforce is currently prepared to hit business objectives. While many leaders are now aware of skills gaps as a concept, they’re still struggling to identify specifics and track progress toward closing them. Many organizations simply don’t have a clear picture of what their people can do today, let alone what they’ll need tomorrow to hit goals.

This is why skills intelligence is so critical – leaders need an accurate, real-time view of workforce capability. It starts with assessing the workforce’s current skill set and mapping that against near- and long-term business objectives. By understanding the most urgent gaps, leaders can prioritize where to invest today – whether that’s AI, leadership, or compliance skills. Through this effort, skills intelligence also gives organizations the visibility to plan for the future. It can help them see how roles and business needs are likely to evolve so they can build a roadmap for building today’s and tomorrow’s skills.

How are traditional talent management systems evolving into skills intelligence systems, and what makes this evolution necessary?
Many organizations remain weighed down by fragmented and outdated learning management systems, learning experience platforms, and talent intelligence platforms. This fragmentation creates inefficiency and complexity, obscures workforce capability, and leaves businesses unprepared to compete in an AI-driven economy. Today, organizations need a single platform built for skills intelligence and business impact.

Skills intelligence systems offer a more granular, real-time view of what people and, increasingly, AI agents can actually do. This evolution enables precision: deploying talent where it’s needed most, identifying gaps early, and connecting development directly to business performance. In the same way market forecasts inform business planning, skills intelligence can help determine the potential success of projects by measuring needs and current ability, influencing strategy, and increasing accuracy.

What role do you see skills intelligence platforms playing in bridging workforce gaps and preparing employees for the future?
Skills intelligence platforms are becoming the backbone of workforce transformation. They unify learning, capability mapping, and performance insights into a single system. This allows organizations to close skill gaps faster, personalize development at scale, and ensure that every employee is contributing to strategic goals. It’s about turning potential into performance. A skills intelligence platform completes a key missing piece of an enterprise infrastructure, a skills supply chain, one that assesses available skills and allows dynamic workforce planning akin to ERP systems for the physical supply chain.

From your perspective, how can companies balance developing human talent while also integrating AI effectively into workflows?
It starts with clarity. Companies need to understand what tasks are best suited for humans, and which can be augmented or automated by AI. Then, they must invest in both sides – upskilling people to work alongside AI and designing workflows that maximize collaboration. The goal isn’t replacement; it’s augmentation and a unified skillforce. In the same way organizations had to find where cloud systems fit into each role, AI tools have a proper time, place, and degree of use.

What challenges do organizations face when trying to adopt skills intelligence platforms, and how can they overcome them?
The biggest challenge is fragmentation with existing tools: disconnected systems, siloed data, and unclear ownership. Many organizations are still tied to outdated talent “playbooks” and need to evolve. Another is cultural: shifting from a role-based mindset to a skills-based one. Organizations can overcome these by starting with a clear use case, demonstrating quick wins, and choosing platforms that integrate easily with existing infrastructure. Leadership buy-in is also essential; this is a business-wide imperative, not just an HR task.

Many of these principles are already present in HR departments. Performance reviews, competency frameworks, and learning pathways are all early expressions of skills-based thinking. What’s changing is the scale and precision. Skills intelligence moves from static assessments to dynamic, data-driven insights that can guide workforce strategy in real time.

On a personal level, what strategies guide you as a leader when navigating disruptive changes in work, technology, and talent?
I focus on three things: listening deeply, acting decisively, and staying grounded in purpose. Disruption is constant, but clarity and empathy go a long way. I also believe in empowering teams, giving them the tools, data, and autonomy to solve problems creatively. The best solutions often come from the edges, not the center.

What advice would you give to HR and business leaders who are just beginning to explore skills intelligence as part of their workforce strategy?
Start with visibility. You can’t manage and address what you can’t see. Build a skills map of your organization, understand current capabilities, identify gaps, and align development with business goals. Don’t wait for perfection. Start small, iterate quickly, and scale what works. The future of work is already here. If you aren’t already thinking about skills intelligence and a workforce where humans and AI are intertwined, you’re behind.

Finally, what closing thoughts would you like to share about preparing for the future of work in a world where humans and AI will increasingly collaborate?
The future belongs to organizations that embrace change, invest in capability, and design for collaboration. Humans and AI working together day-to-day isn’t science fiction anymore; it’s here and it’s now. Preparing for where the current workforce is heading means investing in the continuous development of both humans and AI. We’re thinking beyond the technology to a skillforce where people and machines bring out the best in each other.