In HR tech, there are two ways to win: Build it or buy it. Right now the market’s in a full consolidation wave, With over 128 deals announced so far this year. Instead of building new features from scratch, established vendors are buying mature, proven platforms to plug into their ecosystems. It’s a faster, safer way to deliver end-to-end solutions. Especially as compliance, analytics, and automation all converge into “must-have” features rather than “differentiators”. Payscale’s acquisition of Datapeople is a prime example. Payscale is expanding from compensation intelligence into hiring by acquiring Datapeople's AI recruiting analytics and job description tools. Datapeople's data is built on over 100M+ jobs across 80 countries, making it a highly valuable asset. They've cracked helping companies post fair, compliant roles. Which is a growing priority in North America, where salary-transparency fines can reach $300K. Now, Payscale will be powered by these insights. The next phase of HR tech isn’t about building faster. It’s about integrating smarter.
