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Betterworks Redefines Performance Enablement for the Next Era of Intelligent, Personalized Growth

Menlo Park, Calif. – January 13, 2026 – Betterworks today introduced the next generation of its market-defining performance enablement solution, built to prepare organizations for the future of work and the era of AI. The new release, Betterworks NextGen, includes over 400 customer-prioritized features that deliver a modern, intuitive experience to drive adoption and a flexible, AI-native foundation designed to turn continuous performance signals into meaningful guidance. Its modular design brings intelligence wherever work happens—creating a connected system that keeps performance enablement continuous, contextual, and human-centered.

“Performance enablement is entering a new era,” said Doug Dennerline, Chief Executive Officer of Betterworks. “The big question facing every organization today is how to enable people to perform and upskill in ways that fuel the company’s next phase of growth—and how AI can provide the intelligence and scale to make that possible. That’s why we built Betterworks NextGen: to lay the groundwork for the next wave of innovation where intelligence amplifies the human side of performance by dramatically improving the quality, timeliness, and personalization of the insights and support employees, managers, and HR teams receive.”

From Performance Data to Performance Direction

AI is moving from novelty to expected infrastructure, and its real power lies in helping organizations turn data into direction—focusing effort, sharpening decisions, and accelerating both individual and organizational performance. But for AI to be truly useful, it can’t sit on the side—it has to be pervasive, embedded in daily work, and adaptable across roles, teams, and regions. Betterworks NextGen makes this possible, giving organizations both the data quality AI requires and the adaptability to extend performance enablement wherever work happens.

The most valuable performance data already exists within an organization’s daily rhythm—goals, feedback, conversations, and development activities. Betterworks transforms these signals into actionable insights that improve alignment, engagement, and growth. With NextGen, we’ve built sophisticated ways to connect and interpret that data so organizations can see progress more clearly, identify friction sooner, and evolve faster.

Beyond the architectural advances of Betterworks NextGen, this new foundation is reinforced with the governance, intelligence, and manager-centric experiences required to operate performance at enterprise scale, with features such as:

  • Responsible AI with clear controls and accountability: NextGen gives organizations fine-grained control over where and how AI is used. Administrators can enable AI features by department, region, or group, supporting phased rollouts, regional compliance needs, and internal governance expectations. This allows teams to adopt AI thoughtfully, with visibility into usage and without forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

     

  • Enterprise flexibility for complex, real-world organizations: Modern enterprises rarely operate in clean hierarchies. NextGen is built to support multi-geo environments and matrixed manager structures, enabling multiple leaders to contribute to goals, feedback, and performance evaluations. This results in a more complete and balanced view of performance, without slowing down managers or adding process overhead.

     

  • External feedback that connects real-world impact to performance: NextGen enables structured feedback from customers, partners, and other external collaborators without requiring full platform access. This expands the performance signal beyond internal hierarchies, bringing real-world outcomes into goals, feedback, and development conversations. 

  • Manager workspace designed to evolve with AI: The new Manager Command Center serves as a mission-control view of team performance by bringing goals, feedback, recognition, and actions into one connected workspace. By unifying previously siloed signals, it enables managers to act faster, coach more effectively, and sustain performance momentum throughout the year. This workspace also creates the foundation for more intelligent coaching and decision support as AI capabilities continue to expand.

  • Performance summary: Performance Summaries automatically synthesize goals, feedback, and achievements into a clear, narrative view of performance. By surfacing key themes, progress trends, and development insights, they reduce recency bias, streamline reviews, and help managers and HR focus conversations on growth rather than manual compilation.

Meeting the Moment in HR Tech

Fosway Group, a leading HR industry analyst firm in Europe, highlights a fundamental performance challenge facing organizations today: traditional approaches to performance management are no longer fit for purpose in a world defined by rapid change, shifting skills needs, and the growing presence of AI at work.

“Betterworks have taken a bold step to meet the new performance challenge. Through their re-platforming and ambitious roadmap, they are breaking away from the past and reimagining a future with total workforce intelligence, advanced workforce planning, and precise skills insight. The aim is to provide data-driven perspectives that enable radical advances in individual, team, and organisational performance, especially in a workforce comprising both people and AI,” said David Perring, Chief Insights Officer, Fosway Group.

Availability and Rollout

Betterworks NextGen is generally available now.

For more information, visit Betterworks.com.

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