Atlassian’s proprietary AI Collaboration Index found that only 4% of companies see real ROI from AI, and only one in five leaders believe AI has improved innovation. For Prabhakar, these numbers reflect the common mistake of treating AI as a purely technological change rather than a cultural one.
“AI transformation is more than just a tool; it’s about changing mindsets, building trust, and shaping behavior, and HR is at the intersection of all three,” she said.
Rather than deploying a single top-down AI platform, Atlassian encourages teams to experiment with AI “in the flow of their work.” Leaders model this behavior, employees are given a safe space to play and test, and successful use cases are refined and expanded. AI is configured as a teammate that helps people learn faster, iterate faster, and focus on higher-value work.
The company’s AI onboarding agent, NORA, is a prime example of that philosophy. Built in just two weeks by the People team and without engineers using Atlassian’s unique AI capabilities, NORA now processes nearly 100 questions per day for about 70% of new employees.
The effect is twofold. New employees now get faster, more consistent answers and a smoother start. Meanwhile, HR operations and managers have reduced manual onboarding efforts by 60%, allowing new hires to focus on “authentic, high-value human-to-human conversations.” Since NORA’s launch, 86% of managers report that their new hires’ performance reached or exceeded the level of tenured employees within three months.
