As companies race to deploy AI agents across the workplace, Asymbl CEO Brandon Metcalf believes the real opportunity is not replacing people but redesigning how humans, software and digital workers operate together.
Speaking with Techtalent.ca at Dreamforce 2026, Metcalf described a future in which AI handles more routine work while human judgment, collaboration and expertise become increasingly valuable.
“I think humans are going to be much more in demand,” he said. “The role of humans is going to continue to evolve, and it’s going to get really challenging to find the right talent.”
Asymbl equips staffing and recruiting firms with software and services designed to modernize hiring, engage candidates and manage operations. Approximately 95 percent of its business serves the staffing and recruiting sector, according to Metcalf, with its technology filling gaps in Salesforce around applicant tracking, candidate matching, timesheets and other industry-specific processes.
Metcalf has been building Salesforce-based businesses since 2009. An earlier staffing technology company he founded was acquired by Bullhorn in 2018, with its product becoming part of Bullhorn’s Salesforce offering. Asymbl now competes in the same market.
The company’s current focus extends beyond conventional recruiting software into what Metcalf calls “workforce orchestration,” which involves determining which parts of a job should be completed by people, software, automation or AI agents.
“How do you really enable and elevate humans by giving them digital co-workers?” he said. “What should be something a human will do? What should be something an agent will do? And how do you orchestrate that all together with a game plan for how you’re going to run the company?”
That approach emerged from Asymbl’s own experience deploying AI internally. Metcalf said the company initially tried to turn as many processes as possible into agents before realizing that an agent was not always the best tool.
Instead, Asymbl now begins with the job to be done and the outcome required. Data processing, analysis and visualization may be better handled by conventional software, while agents can provide a conversational layer or coordinate work across systems.
Asymbl distinguishes between a single AI agent and a digital worker capable of performing a broader function.
Rosa, for example, is a recruiting-focused digital worker that operates alongside Asymbl’s applicant tracking technology to support candidate screening and processing. Ben serves as a digital business analyst within Asymbl’s consulting and implementation work.
Metcalf said clients can interact with Ben much as they would with a human analyst assigned to a project. Behind that interface may be dozens of individual agents carrying out different parts of the work.
Asymbl has introduced digital workers across roughly 13 internal functions and also makes the technology available to clients.
Its Talent Intelligence product applies the same philosophy to candidate matching. Rather than relying exclusively on the contents of a résumé and job description, both of which are now frequently written or polished by AI, the software examines the broader information a staffing firm has accumulated about a candidate. That can include previous submissions, interview progress, as well as client feedback.
A candidate who advanced through several rounds of interviews but was not selected may still be a strong match for another opportunity, Metcalf noted. Traditional résumé matching can overlook that signal.
“We look at the résumé and the job description, but we also look at all of the information a staffing firm curates about a candidate or about a client to really help understand who’s the right fit,” he said.
Metcalf believes digital workers can make staffing firms more productive, but he is also concerned that overreliance on AI could weaken learning and judgment.
Asymbl is also using Slack as an operating environment rather than merely a messaging tool. Metcalf previously challenged managers to implement processes in Slack that produced a measurable return on investment, awarding $1,000 each week during a six-week internal competition.
Many of those processes remain in use, he said, and the exercise changed how Asymbl’s leadership team thought about getting work done. Metcalf now wants employees to spend less time entering information manually and more time interacting conversationally with the systems around them.
It is a fitting example of his broader vision for the future of work: technology receding into the background while people focus on decisions, relationships and outcomes.
The paradox, according to Metcalf, is that the more capable digital workers become, the more consequential the human contribution may be.
AI can process information, coordinate workflows and complete routine tasks. Finding people who can think critically, continue learning and work effectively with both human and digital colleagues could prove considerably harder.