Providence cuts hiring admin effort by 90% with IBM AI agent

A hiring process that had become too complex

Providence is one of the largest health systems in the United States. According to IBM, its hiring process had grown difficult to manage. Managers worked across multiple systems and navigated manual approvals, while caregivers struggled to move internally. These workflows slowed staffing decisions that are critical to patient care.

The problem was significant because nearly half of Providence's annual hiring activity comes from internal transfers. IBM says the process had become so cumbersome that some caregivers found it easier to leave the organization and reapply as external candidates than to transfer internally.

RITA, an AI digital worker on watsonx Orchestrate

Providence worked with IBM Consulting to rethink how people move into new roles. Rather than replacing its core HR systems or adding a standalone application, the organization redesigned the hiring experience around real-world workflows. The effort brought together Oracle expertise, AI engineering and IBM's experience and design team to find where work was breaking down.

The result is RITA, Providence's Requisition and Internal Transfer Agent. It is an AI-powered digital worker built on IBM watsonx Orchestrate, which IBM describes as the agentic control plane that gives organizations a way to secure, govern, and manage any AI agent as adoption scales across the enterprise.

RITA orchestrates tasks across Providence's existing Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Recruiting environment. It also connects with other systems and data sources beyond Oracle. By bringing the data needed for the workflow into a single user experience, RITA handles tasks including:

• requisition creation and approvals
• internal transfers
• job marketing
• hiring status updates

Results reported by IBM and Providence

According to IBM, hiring managers reduced administrative effort by 90%, and internal caregivers now start their new roles on average 12 days sooner. Providence also lowered transfer costs by 60% and improved process accuracy by up to 70%.

Carol McDaniel, Vice President, Talent Acquisition at Providence, said the organization saw "an opportunity to use AI in a way that could remove barriers, simplify work and better support our caregivers and our mission."

Greg Till, Chief People Officer at Providence, said: "AI transformation is ultimately a leadership challenge, not a technology challenge."

What it means for organizations adopting AI

IBM frames the project as an example of using AI to change how work flows across systems, teams and approvals, instead of only automating individual tasks. It cites IBM Institute for Business Value research showing that 82% of C-suite executives say functional silos are preventing their organizations from realizing AI's full value.

For Providence, the stated outcome is stronger internal mobility and a better ability to retain talent in a highly competitive healthcare labor market. IBM says it is helping other organizations take the same approach across critical business processes. The figures in the announcement come from IBM and Providence, and the release does not detail how they were measured.