Neobrain

Demo it if you want planning and skills tools from one supplier

It plans succession, takes your Excel files and keeps data in France

• You can run people reviews and plan successions in the same tool as your headcount target. Look at it first if you want succession plans and headcount targets in one tool.
• Neobrain's Talent Planner page says "Keep your Excel files, Neobrain takes care of the rest". If your plan lives in spreadsheets today, ask Neobrain to load one of yours in the demo.
• Neobrain is registered in Paris and hosts customer data with OVH in France. It says no data is transferred outside the EU. If whoever handles data protection for you needs HR data kept in the EU, get EU hosting in the contract.

Check your company size, your HR system and French law

• Neobrain calls Talent Planner "the preferred solution for companies with 1,000+ employees". If you employ fewer than 1,000 people, ask how the set-up and price change.
• If your HR system is Oracle, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, Cornerstone, Workday, Cegid, HR Access or Personio, Neobrain links to it. Neobrain says that link brings your HR data in and saves time before your first plans. If your HR system is not on that list, ask how your data reaches Neobrain.
• French employers with 300 employees or more must negotiate a jobs and career-paths plan, called GEPP, every three years. If GEPP applies to you, ask Neobrain to show how Talent Planner supports the GEPP negotiation.

Talent Planner is one tool of several and may need legal checks

• Neobrain lists Talent Planner as one of several tools on its skills platform, next to Skills, Opportunities and Performance. Neobrain's Workday and SAP SuccessFactors pages call it a "Strategic Workforce Planning module". If you want only a planning tool, check what Neobrain's quote includes.
• Neobrain's page on its AI says the AI can predict that an employee will leave the company. Neobrain's AI page covers its AI in general, not Talent Planner by name. Neobrain's own blog says the EU AI Act bars fully automated decisions about an employee's career or rights. In the demo, ask where a person checks and approves each result.
• The EU AI Act lists employment uses in Annex III. Any AI system listed in Annex III is always high-risk once it profiles people. From 2 December 2027, employers in the EU must tell workers' representatives and affected workers before the system is used. If you employ people in the EU, get legal advice before you use any prediction about a named employee.
• Neobrain's public pages do not say what happens to your plans and scenarios when your contract ends. Before you sign, get a written promise that you can take your plans with you if you leave.

Neobrain publishes no price, so get a written quote first

Neobrain publishes no price for Talent Planner or for its wider platform. Ask for the price in writing before you give time to a demo.

Neobrain's deployment page describes a "Fast Track" rollout of 3 to 4 weeks for its HR tools. It also describes a "Tailored Track" with five steps, from design and set-up to training, testing and launch support. Ask which one Talent Planner needs, and get its length and cost in writing. If you need a first plan by a set date, check the rollout length against it.

What to ask Neobrain before you sign

1. Can we buy Talent Planner on its own, without the rest of Neobrain's platform? Good answer: a plain yes or no, with the price each way.
2. Does Talent Planner predict anything about a named employee, such as who is likely to leave? Good answer: a plain yes or no, in writing.
3. Does an approved plan flow back into our HR system, or do we retype it there? Good answer: the direction of each link, shown in the demo.
4. Does Talent Planner track headcount against this year's budget? Good answer: a plain yes or no, shown in the demo.
5. How many years ahead can a Talent Planner plan run? Good answer: a set number of years, shown on your own data.
6. Can we speak to a customer that uses Talent Planner for workforce planning? Good answer: a named company you can call.
7. Can Talent Planner use Neobrain's outside data on jobs and skills in the wider market? Good answer: a plain yes or no, and which data, shown in the demo.
8. How do we export our plans if we leave, and when is our data deleted? Good answer: a written export process, the file formats and a deletion date.

Alternatives to Neobrain

Look at TalentNeuron for market data, Faethm for automation and 4PLAN HR for self-run planning.

TalentNeuron builds its plans on its own labour-market data and guides you step by step. It publishes no price.

Faethm forecasts how automation and new technology will change the skills your workforce needs. It looks one, three, five or up to ten years ahead. You upload anonymised workforce data, and its AI models run on it.

4PLAN HR is aimed at companies and groups from about 500 employees. It starts from a ready-made model, with a consultant-led set-up of 2 to 3 months. Your team can then change it without IT skills.

Use the strategic workforce planning guide to compare the tools in this market.