Staffing Buzz Network: EDGEovation 2026 Partners

Episode Overview:

Host Bob Pettke sits down with sponsors of EDGEovation 2026, the free Ultra-Staff EDGE user conference held April 21 at the Drury Lane Theatre in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Mike Bankhead of AccuSourceHR explains how the background screening company serves about 1,200 staffing clients each year with a 98% retention rate. He also covers its new Ultra-Staff EDGE integration and identity validation service.

Dan Ring represents Dialpad, which transcribes every call and meeting with in-house AI. He walks through AI call recaps that post straight to Ultra-Staff EDGE and AI Playbooks that track required interview questions.

Chris White of Hooray Health shares how his company builds benefits around temporary employees to help staffing firms keep workers on assignment. He adds a few dad jokes along the way.

In the finale, the guests explain why users should attend, from getting more out of their software investment to having focused conversations with partners and peers. Bob closes with a preview of new AI features, including candidate profiles and turnover probability scoring.

Listen to the Episode:

Episode Transcript:

Bob Pettke: [00:00:00] Coming to you from the Ultra-Staff Studios in Chicago, welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network with your host, Bob Pettke

Bob Pettke: Ladies and gentlemen, staffing people, Ultra-Staff EDGE users, got a fact for you. Ultra-Staff users unite. EDGEovation is sweeping the nation. I am going to invite you to come and experience our innovation at EDGEovation on April 21st at the Drury Lane Theater. Again, on April 21st. You can even stay a couple of days and attend the Midwest Staffing Conference at the exact same location, which is a doozy.

Bob Pettke: When you’re at EDGEovation, you will be able to attend breakout sessions, keynote speaking sessions, and [00:01:00] visit with some of our premier Ultra-Staff EDGE partners. Speaking of partners, on today’s episode, we’re gonna sit down with three of those valued partners to learn more about what they do and how they can help your business, and how we work with them.

Bob Pettke: So without wasting any time, we’re gonna bring our first person up to the show stage. And I wanna introduce today’s first guest, Mike Bankhead from AccuSourceHR. Mike is the vice president of strategic alliances. Mike, my friend, welcome to the Staffing-

Mike Bankhead: Thank you, yeah. Thank you, Bob. Glad to be here, and excited to be a part of EDGEovation.

Bob Pettke: Hey, we’re glad to have you here, brother. It’s good to see you again. You know, as we get started, why don’t you tell us a little bit about AccuSourceHR and your involvement in the staffing industry?

Mike Bankhead: [00:02:00] Sure. AccuSourceHR has actually been in business since 1999, and we have around 1,200 staffing clients that we service annually.

Mike Bankhead: We have really worked to build our reputation in that industry, not only from being customer-first, but also really just being a company that has put operational practices in place that really give our clients a feeling that they are being successful in their onboarding of candidates through integrations, you know, and through our operational processes that provide that service in a quick and efficient way.

Mike Bankhead: Now, we really made a hard push into the staffing industry in 2014, and we’ve continued to kinda grow from there. We had somewhat of a staffing lineup prior to that, but really in 2014 is when we really started pushing into that industry. You know, and as an organization, we are really focused on ensuring best practices for our staffing clients.

Mike Bankhead: Within [00:03:00] the background check industry, staffing is notorious for, you know, wanting to, you know, get the, the, the fastest background check possible. So sometimes they, you know, there might be a desire to, you know, do the minimum. But we really focus on the compliance. We really focus on best practices.

Mike Bankhead: We have conversations with companies that we feel just wanna do the minimum, and encourage them to maybe do a little bit to step up, so that they’re protected, and that we provide the best background checks possible for them as they are looking to hire their individuals.

Bob Pettke: So again, and it sounds like you kind of alluded to that already, you know, talking about the value that you bring.

Bob Pettke: You know, there’s other companies that do this, Mike, you know it, and I know it. What’s the value that you bring? And maybe it is the fact that you’re really making sure that those background checks are right. Why don’t I give you a chance to double-click on that and give us a little bit more information on the value that you bring?

Mike Bankhead: To the staffing industry?

Mike Bankhead: Sure. Yeah. The value that we bring is really simple. It’s boiled down to a few key factors that really help us to be competitive and bring [00:04:00] value to those companies that we service. The… and in our industry, when companies are looking for services, especially in staffing, it really boils down to customer service, turnaround time, and pricing.

Mike Bankhead: So from a customer service perspective, we have about a 98% client retention rate, which is an outstanding client retention rate. We… And w- within our customer service department, we have service level expectations that has been set by our CEO that we answer 95% of calls answered live. Companies that call in will get an immediate response with somebody that knows what they’re doing.

Mike Bankhead: We’re currently, in the last rolling 90 days, sitting at about 96% of those calls answered live. Now, for the staffing industry and for our staffing clients, this is a huge key, because one of the biggest complaints that we get constantly is lack of responsiveness from a background check company that they’re currently with, and so that’s prompted them to move and look for somebody [00:05:00] new.

Mike Bankhead: And they need to get things resolved quickly. They need to be able to move forward and we don’t hold them back from doing that with that 95% of calls answered live. Also, with our ticketing system, we get responses back within two hours and a resolution within six. That’s always the goal. From the turnaround time perspective, we are…

Mike Bankhead: we utilize the technology that’s available. We’re always continually working to enhance that technology to ensure fast delivery, and we also couple that with a team that is solely focused on the quality assurance piece and making sure that every report is reviewed and returned is accurate and there’s not gonna be any issues with dealing with any of those inaccuracies.

Mike Bankhead: And the last one is pricing. Obviously, pricing comes into play often, right? And everybody is budget conscious, and we understand that. We utilize a volume-based pricing model that’s always competitive when we’re pitted against our competition. We’re not a company, though, that will [00:06:00] race to the bottom. We don’t want to be one of those that’s gonna provide inadequate database searches, old data, et cetera.

Mike Bankhead: W- what we want to do is provide our pricing, which is competitive across the board. But we also want to ensure that companies understand the intangibles, so the hands-on customer service, the white-glove service, and the operational practices that have really been designed to keep our clients moving forward so that they don’t have to wait on any delays.

Bob Pettke: No, great stuff, right? And it’s just some things that differentiate you from the rest. And having a deliverable, you know, def- definitely being able to be price-conscious when somebody’s choosing, you know, you as their partner. You know, you probably don’t win business on price, but the fact that you’ve got these aggressive pricing modules definitely does not hurt.

Mike Bankhead: Yeah, we definitely — I we win on price, and we win because of the intangibles. Oh, yeah. You know, it’s kind of, it’s kind of [00:07:00] both/and, you know? Yeah.

Bob Pettke: Oh.

Mike Bankhead: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: Even better. Yeah. So hey, Mike, you know, you’ve been partnered with us for a while. Let’s talk about our partnership. For example, how long have we been partnered together?

Bob Pettke: And you know, talk a little bit about our relationship, if you could.

Mike Bankhead: Yeah. We’ve been partnered since 2021, and we built the first integration with Ultra-Staff EDGE. And we actually recently just built a new integration when we moved all of our clients to our proprietary platform, and that’s where all of our clients are gonna live now.

Mike Bankhead: And having our own platform is, again, it is just another value add for ABD clients and users of Ultra-Staff EDGE. It provides us the ability to be agile and do customized requests when they come from customers based on their needs. And, you know, working with ABD and the Ultra-Staff EDGE platform has definitely been a good choice for clients to consider because of the fact that, you know, we are [00:08:00] willing to do those things that are needed.

Mike Bankhead: ABD is responsive to those needs as well. So really from a partnership perspective, I feel like we’ve really worked well to meet those custom demands that some partners have. Now, and also within our organization, we do support the light industrial staffing and as well as the healthcare staffing side, which obviously aligns with ABD’s growth in both of those staffing verticals.

Mike Bankhead: And our sales and account management team, we actually have alignment in verticals. So we have people that work in transportation and sell into healthcare, but we also have a team that focuses on light industrial staffing, healthcare staffing. And so we provide experts to walk alongside those ABD clients and ensure that when they come to us, we’re providing the best information possible that they need, not only to consider, you know, what it looks like to be in that relationship with us and ABD and utilizing Ultra-Staff EDGE, but also just [00:09:00] understanding that they’re getting a, you know, two quality companies that are willing to work together to provide the best service possible for their clients.

Bob Pettke: Great. Mike, I’ve got basically two questions rolled up into one. Let’s talk about your sponsorship of EDGEovation. And more specifically, what are you looking forward to about EDGEovation, and why should attendees stop by your booth?

Mike Bankhead: Y- you know, one thing that I really appreciate year over year are these partner, are these client-type conferences.

Mike Bankhead: Because I think it definitely gives the ability to have some very meaningful conversations with clients, with prospects. It also gives the ability to, you know, to see clients come and interact with their peers and hear from the technology provider. You know, so we’re really looking forward to not only support ABD in this effort but also to interact with their, with the [00:10:00] clients that we currently have, but also some that might be looking for our services.

Mike Bankhead: Now, obviously, you know, being able to stop by our booth will give us the chance to have some of those intentional conversations that you might not have at a larger conference where, you know, there’s just a lot of traffic going by and people that aren’t really necessarily engaged. You know, stopping by our booth will allow us to talk about the background check challenges that they’re having understand our consistent service model, our expertise in the staffing industry, and our differentiators.

Mike Bankhead: But also give us the opportunity to talk about the integration and how it can really help facilitate the work that they need to do day in and day out as one of the best integrations in the industry.

Bob Pettke: Mike, as we wrap up this particular segment anything else that’s on the horizon for AccuSourceHR?

Bob Pettke: Any kind of final thoughts that you want to share?

Mike Bankhead: Yeah, we are always looking to develop new technologies and the one thing that we’re always [00:11:00] focused on is what is the best for our clients and in their client experience that they have with us. And so one of the things that we’re working on, over the last couple years we’ve we’ve rolled out i- identity validation, which has been used quite a bit by healthcare staffing and even some light industrial.

Mike Bankhead: Because when you’re hiring some of these that are remote, or even if they’re in office, the ID validation gives the ability for companies to ensure that who they’re hiring is the person that’s sitting in front of them or on a call and doing an interview, and that’s the same person that’s gonna show up for work.

Mike Bankhead: No bait and switch. But later this year we’re actually really excited about releasing what is gonna be called our monitoring hub, and this is gonna allow continuous monitoring services for criminal, for healthcare sanctions, for motor vehicle, and for social media. So for the staffing industry, these services are gonna provide peace of mind post-hire.

Mike Bankhead: We currently offer them, but the monitoring hub will be a very client-centric [00:12:00] hub, to be able to come and add people to those monitoring services, remove people. You don’t have to use all of them. You can use one or all. But especially in industries like highly regulated industries like healthcare, that’s where these healthcare sanctions searches, criminal monitoring, those types of things will definitely come into play and be of value to, to staffing clients.

Bob Pettke: That’s about 10 minutes with Mike Binkerd from AccuSourceHR. We’re gonna get more time with him at EDGEovation April 21st. Mike, thanks for being here. Hold tight, we’re gonna bring you in for the grand finale, but a lot of information there. Make sure you get a chance to go see Mike when you’re at EDGEovation.

Bob Pettke: It’s gonna be a sensation. Yes. We’re gonna talk about a lot of innovation. It’s gonna be sweeping the nation. Mike, thanks for being here.

Mike Bankhead: Thanks very much, Bob. Appreciate it.

Bob Pettke: You bet. So there, Mike’s message. He’s good partner good resource. They do a good job. Former staffing guy, you need those background checks done, you need [00:13:00] them done in a hurry.

Bob Pettke: And, you know, you need them… You not only need them quick, but you need them accurate and fast. And make sure that when you For those of you that are coming, and for those of you who are on their way because you haven’t registered yet, and we’re gonna show you how to register for that. We’re gonna get you there, and w- we’ll take care of the rest.

Bob Pettke: We’re gonna continue on here. And h- you know, here at ABD Ultra-Staff EDGE, you know, we have partnered with Corporate Technologies Group to bring Dialpad to the table. And our next guest is Dan Ring. Yeah, we’re talking about phones, talking about ringing. He’s heard ’em all, he’s done this for a long time.

Bob Pettke: I’ll have him, give him a chance to talk about that. But Dan Ring is their regional channel manager. Dan, welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network.

Dan Ring: Bob, pleasure to be here. We’re so glad to be a new partner.

Bob Pettke: How long have you been doing this? ‘Cause you and me talked about it pre-show. Dan Ring, what a heck of a name to have in a telephony fel- [00:14:00] telephone service.

Dan Ring: Let’s just say at least three decades I’ve been selling telephone systems. Because as I said before, I was not smart enough to be a jeweler I’m selling telephone systems.

Bob Pettke: Looks like you’re in the right spot and with that being said, let’s talk a little bit more about your company a- a and the involvement with the staffing industry.

Bob Pettke: I’ll let you kinda bridge some of the gaps there and kinda take us there.

Dan Ring: Sure. Our founders built a first iteration of Google Voice, and about 15 years ago, spun out of Google with that data heritage, right? And they wanted to build a better cloud-based phone system. So part of what makes us unique is we bring meetings and voice conversations and messaging, texting, all together in one platform.

Dan Ring: But our uniqueness is that we transcribe every call and every meeting. So voice conversations become data that can be analyzed, that can be reported on, that can be memorialized forever. Data [00:15:00] conversations that can… Or data points that can be acted on. And it’s all of our… It’s all our own native technology.

Dan Ring: We own all the AI, we don’t outsource to anyone. And staffing and recruiting is a key vertical for us. We’re proud to work with some of the largest staffing companies in the world, like Randstad, Express Employment, Spherion, and others. We’re up to about 1,500 employees now, and we’re global. We do business on every continent.

Bob Pettke: No, and you know, all of those companies, they need an ATS and CRM. So we at Ultra-Staff EDGE are glad to be partnered with you guys.

Dan Ring: Yep.

Bob Pettke: Let’s talk about that partnership. I know y- you know… How long have we been doing this together? And, you know, let’s talk about you know, what you bring to the table for these folks specifically.

Dan Ring: Yeah. So we’ve been partnered together for about six months. We have a rather rigorous process of vetting third-party software providers into the Dialpad platform. You guys passed with [00:16:00] flying colors, did everything necessary to do it. It was a very speedy process, one of the faster ones that I’ve ever seen.

Dan Ring: Your competence showed at every turn. So in, in staffing Bob, I, I’m not a staffing expert, but I think you know that speed is everything, right? And so Dialpad does various things like AI recaps, real-time transcriptions, so that at the end of every phone call, we hand an AI-generated recap of that 10 or 15-minute phone call off to your API so that you can upload it.

Dan Ring: So as a salesperson or as a recruiter, I don’t have to take time to type that out, and then I can post a link to that entire transcript so that any time I want, I can get back to that. And then we have other services, like one that I love is called AI Playbooks. So let’s say you’re a recruiter. You have 10 questions that the employer wants you to ask on that particular call.

Dan Ring: Those 10 questions pop [00:17:00] up where you can see them. As they are asked and answered, it checks off so that I know it’s done and I’ve met all the requirements. And then now the transcript is perfectly laid out exactly like the client wanted it to be laid out. And you know you can read a transcript way faster than you can listen to a call recording, right?

Dan Ring: I mean, if you ever listen to call recording, it’s at 1.5 speed. It is a soul-sucking exercise versus I’ve got this transcript. I’m gonna drill into a couple important paragraphs. Yes, I wanna talk to this person. So hopefully we’re really reducing that time to fill through automating processes, right?

Bob Pettke: You know, inside staffing and for those Ultra-Staff EDGE users who know this already, time kills deals.

Bob Pettke: Kills deals on the sales side-

Dan Ring: Yep …

Bob Pettke: equally on the recruiting side, and making points of contact with people, your clients in the context. Or so yeah if you’re able to [00:18:00] expedite that process and create a automated mechanism to make that happen, it’s something that people definitely need to consider.

Bob Pettke: You know, with that in mind you know, you’re one of our sponsors, you’re valued. That’s why we’ve got you here. And let’s talk about what you are looking forward to as far as, you know, your sponsorship at EDGEovation, and why specifically should people stop and see you?

Dan Ring: So we share a, we have a shared mission with you, right?

Dan Ring: We wanna make the customer’s workflow as frictionless as possible. How do we do that? How do we put time back in their day, right, Bob? I mean, how do we make people’s lives easier with Dialpad’s business intelligence that, that we’re providing, and some of the automation that you and I have created together, right?

Dan Ring: Really important stuff. So I’m looking forward to connecting with innovators who wanna shape the future of recruitment. I’m not an expert in recruitment, but I can talk about communications and [00:19:00] automation all day long. So how can we partner together to create that frictionless world?

Dan Ring: So we’re gonna be demonstrating some features that are designed to solve daily problems, real AI stuff. You know, I’ve read reports where 70% of AI projects have failed in the last years, in the last year. All of ours succeed because we don’t try to boil the ocean. We take bikes- bite-sized business problems and use AI to automate them, to create those bite-sized bullets, just to advance things one step at a time.

Dan Ring: So I’m looking forward to having those conversations with clients.

Bob Pettke: Makes sense. And we’re excited to have you there, right? Yeah. And you’re gonna get to talk to, you know, these are people, these are Ultra-Staff EDGE users. You know, you’ve got an exclusive audience and, you know, I am going to encourage people to stop by a- and visit you.

Bob Pettke: With that in mind as we kind of wrap up this segment with you- [00:20:00] Anything on the horizon or any kind of final thoughts that you wanna share?

Dan Ring: So we’re gonna make a major announcement in March about our agentic AI, the agentless stuff. So you guys will be coming in right, right behind that. Coming in hot.

Dan Ring: And what we’re l- what we’re talking about is how can that AI agent automate redundant tasks, redundant workflows so that real people can handle those things that only real people can handle, right? Because that’s where the, that’s where we close deals on those relationships, not taking down meaningless details.

Dan Ring: So how can you use an, an, an AI agent to automate some of those workflows to free your people up to close more deals? So I’m really looking forward to having those conversations with your clients, Bob. Yeah,

Bob Pettke: I’m glad you’re here. Good segment. Hold on tight, we’re gonna bring you in for the finale as [00:21:00] well.

Bob Pettke: But we’ll look forward to talking to you here in a little bit, and we’ll see you again in April.

Dan Ring: All right. Thanks, Bob.

Bob Pettke: Thanks. That dial pad integration that Ultra-Staff EDGE has is phenomenal. From the auto note-taking, for the ability to take calls in with the caller ID features and functions, clicking on links, getting right to a candidate or a contact screen.

Bob Pettke: Man, you know, s- doing things in staffing and Dan mentioned it, it’s all about time, right? You gotta be quick. You know, time can kill a deal. And, you know, w- with that expedited process through utilization of that tool, definitely somebody you wanna go ahead and see when you’re at EDGEovation. So that’s gonna lead us to our next guest.

Bob Pettke: So we’ve got our final guest. I will say, you know, last but not least. I won’t say save the best for last, because I know this guy, I knew it’d go right to his head. But we’re gonna bring in our next guest, Chris White from Hooray Health. Chris is the d- Director… Let me try [00:22:00] that again. Chris is the Director of Strategic Consulting.

Bob Pettke: Chris, my friend- Yes … welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network.

Chris White: Listen, just about any title you wanna give me is fine. I’ll answer to just about anything as long as it doesn’t rhyme with bass bowl.

Bob Pettke: Okay, how about dad? I know you’re a dad.

Chris White: I am one of those, and I happen to be a master of parental puns. And I’m excited to be here on the Staffing Buzz Network, and it ties in nicely, because just yesterday we went to a local beekeeper and bought a dozen bees because we were trying to do some pollination in our garden, but when we got home and opened the box, there were actually 13 in the box.

Chris White: Turns out we got a freebee.

Bob Pettke: You got a freebee. The baker’s dozen. I love it. I love it. No, and I think people, you know, people are gonna stop by you, but they can expect more of that. But, you know, y- it’s actually you know, you’re almost all business, right? You’re almost [00:23:00] all business. And you know, we’ve got a real nice partnership with you, Chris, and we’re so excited to have you at EDGEovation.

Bob Pettke: Let’s talk about Hooray Health. Let’s talk about, you know, your involvement in the staffing industry.

Chris White: Thank you, Bob, first of all, seriously for being part of not only the Staffing Buzz here with getting to let folks know more about what’s coming at Education, but also talking about our partnership that we have together.

Chris White: And I’ve been part of the staffing industry for 16 years now. Started way back when and have seen quite a bit in the space. Hooray Health in existence wrapping up our 10th year doing staffing for a little over six of those years now. Plenty of background in the staffing space. And Hooray Health is a benefit solution that is designed and geared for those external employees, those people that you’re placing out on assignment who of course we don’t have business if we don’t have people to place out on assignment, those candidates.

Chris White: So we are a benefit solution that is designed for those [00:24:00] candidates.

Bob Pettke: So as you talk about that and bringing that benefit, when I think of benefit, I also think of value. And so besides the actual benefit term, now talk about the value that you’re bringing to the staffing community. What is it that’s making you different?

Chris White: So really, for those of you who have been in the industry for a while there have been medical offerings that have been made to temporary employees for decades now. People in the space who have offered and had very similar offerings, it’s been very similar in the space for a few decades now. And really the offerings have always been the type that work well for carriers, that they make work for staffing companies, and the employees, you kind of get what it is that’s available to you.

Chris White: Whereas with Hooray Health, we were actually built from the member up. How do we create and [00:25:00] generate a member experience that is going to create more retainable employees, that stickiness that we’re looking for people to stay on assignment, by giving them a quality benefit solution, making it work for the staffing industry as a whole, and then finding the right carrier partner that embraced our vision?

Chris White: So I think taking that bottom up approach has really allowed us to be different and be a disruptor in a space that you’ve really kind of had the the old saying that they had where Henry Ford said, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black.” And that’s the way it’s been for a long time for benefits for temporary staffing employees, was there was one particular type of benefit at a certain price point without any real innovation around it, and we’re excited to be a disruptor in the space

Bob Pettke: And we’re excited to have you as a sponsor.

Bob Pettke: And a- as, you know, as being part of the pa- sponsorship of EDGEovation, what is it you’re looking forward to about EDGEovation, a- and why should attendees stop by and see [00:26:00] you?

Chris White: I’ll answer the latter question very simply. I promise every single person who comes by the booth, you will receive a dad joke that you will have never heard before in your entire life.

Chris White: I promise you. Even if I have to go through the entire Rolodex, I will make sure that you hear one that you’ve never heard before. I promise.

Bob Pettke: Clever, I like that. Clever, haven’t heard that one yet.

Chris White: Yeah, so that’ll be for every single person that stops by. But I would say for everybody who’s attending, whether we are vendors who are there in partnership with ABD, whether you are a client of ABD, one of the things that I hope we all get from being there, y- we can’t tap dance around it.

Chris White: 2025 was a difficult year for the staffing industry, a lot of companies. So I think it gives us an opportunity to be able to get together and feel like we’re not alone in this difficult [00:27:00] industry. It’s hard for us, even with, we have friends that are in other industries, to help them understand the unique challenges and complexities that we have in the staffing space.

Chris White: So to have the opportunity for us to gather together, to commiserate, to hear new ideas, to find out what the latest and greatest is that helps improve your business, it’s energizing, it’s refreshing, and it helps us get 2026 off to the start that we’re all looking for. So even before you climb into the business side of things, where you hear about all the new companies, come in with an open mind looking to be refreshed when you come to the conference, because we can all use that here early in 2026 after what we had in ’25.

Chris White: So at the very least, come in a- and I think that’ll be a huge benefit of being at the conference. Again, whether you’re on the vendor side, whether you’re a client of Ultra-Staff EDGE, it doesn’t matter. We can all use [00:28:00] that

Bob Pettke: As we conclude this segment, Chris and I’m excited to hear some dad jokes, I’m not gonna lie. Hey, let me ask you, did you hear the one about the three eggs?

Chris White: No, I did not.

Bob Pettke: Too bad

Chris White: Love it I

Bob Pettke: got you, brother

Chris White: Love it

Bob Pettke: Hey, as we conclude, anything else you wanted to share? Anything you wanna announce? Any kind of final thoughts?

Chris White: So I mean, really as far as announcements go, you know, again, excited to chat with folks at the conference to let them know more as it relates to our integration that we have with Ultra-Staff EDGE and working with the team there at ABD.

Chris White: So e- excited to be able to do that when we’re there at the conference. But just reiterating, if you’re on the pardon the pun, but if you’re on the edge about coming, it’s so important that you do so because why on [00:29:00] earth would you partner with a great company like ABD, have a product like Ultra-Staff EDGE, and not get everything that you can out of it and truly milk that relationship?

Chris White: Because there are so many products, you’ve heard of a great couple here with AccuSource and with Dialpad as well, that these, there are so many companies that you may not even realize can help boost your business, so you need to be there. You need to show up come with your ears on, and truly interact with everybody there, especially the vendors, and ask them that important question, “What can you specifically do to improve my business in 2026 and beyond?”

Chris White: And be open to hearing what they have to say, and I guarantee you’re gonna leave with some great ideas and some great new partners to be able to get integrated to help boost your staffing company as well.

Bob Pettke: Chris, I’m glad you’re here. You know, we had a star-studded cast today. And Chris, we’re gonna see you here in a minute ’cause I’m gonna bring everybody on for the finale, but I’m gonna wrap some things up [00:30:00] before I do that.

Bob Pettke: Hold on tight

Bob Pettke: Three great guests, right? Three super solid guests that we had, and all adding tremendous value to help you do the things that you’re gonna do best, right? You do need some tools to help you get positions filled quicker, to make sure that the people you’re putting into the positions have the right background and qualifications.

Bob Pettke: And then you also wanna make sure that they have the right benefits, too. You wanna make your offer to them something that’s appealing. And I think with the three of them there and there’s more to come, right? This, these are not just the three that we’re gonna have, but these are three valued partners that we’re glad and excited to have here.

Bob Pettke: Just three more reasons why you wanna make sure that if you haven’t done so already, that you go ahead and get signed up to come to EDGEovation. But we’ll talk more about the details on how to do that if you haven’t done so already. But Jennifer, let’s bring the three guests back on ’cause I got a question I gotta ask [00:31:00] of each of them.

Bob Pettke: So are you guys ready for this one?

Mike Bankhead: Hit me with it. All right, let’s go.

Bob Pettke: Look, th- here you guys all are. You guys did a heck of a job here today. We’re so glad to have you here. Thank you. Thank you for this time. We’re grateful to partner with you. But I’m gonna ask the question, the last question.

Bob Pettke: It’s gonna be the same question for the three of you, and I can repeat it if you need to, and I’ll call you… I’ll call on you individually to respond. Now, as a partner in this industry, I’m sure you guys are very familiar with different types of user conferences like this one We’ve got some folks that haven’t signed up yet.

Bob Pettke: You know, they’re busy. They might not have been able to open up their emails yet or for some reason or other they’re just kind of waiting. They’re gonna be watching this. This is to get them to come to the event. What is one reason why you think [00:32:00] it’s important? I’ll start with you, Chris, we’ll work the reverse way.

Bob Pettke: Chris, why do you think it’s important if you’re not enrolled already as an Edge user that you make sure you attend it?

Chris White: I would answer that question with a question if somebody were to ask me that. Why are you using Ultra-Staff EDGE? You’re using it because you find it to be a best in class product that is able to address the needs that you have as a staffing organization here in 2026.

Chris White: If you believe that to be true, why wouldn’t you wanna maximize it as much as you possibly can, both from not only a integrated vendor standpoint, but from an amazing keynote and speaker standpoint who’s not only going to assist you with ways to be able to use Ultra-Staff EDGE even better, but things that you’re gonna be able to take back to your sales team, things you’re gonna be able to take back to your operations team to help improve what you’re doing as an [00:33:00] organization.

Chris White: It’s all about maximizing what we can, and there’s no better way to do that than by being at EDGEovation.

Bob Pettke: I love that answer. And, you know, we’re gonna have our best and brightest people from our team there. We’re gonna be conducting our own breakout sessions, so we’re gonna have keynote speakers.

Bob Pettke: I’ll double-click on that a little bit later. But Chris, thanks for your candor and your response in that. And I’ll go right, right back to the middle. Dan, I’ll ask you the same question. You’re familiar with these conferences. Why should people who haven’t signed up yet why should they sign up?

Dan Ring: I completely agree with Chris and would summarize it like this: software is only as good as the strategy behind it. You write great software, Bob, but that software is useless unless you have a strategic vision on how to use it and unless you have some, some real proven tactics to, to, to put that into practice to meet your business objective.

Dan Ring: So this is a [00:34:00] great opportunity to talk to other innovators, talk to you guys, talk to Chris and Mike as well about best practices and how to improve your own strategy, right? I mean, there, what a great opportunity to leverage that software investment that you’ve made. Because software is not cheap.

Dan Ring: Our stuff is not cheap. So maximize it. Leverage it to the max

Bob Pettke: Absolutely. Let’s leverage this opportunity as an Edge user to come in, maximize its potential, and o- actually maximize your opportunities to partner with companies like Hooray Health, AccuSourceHR, getting involved with Dialpad as well.

Bob Pettke: Mike, you know, the question, I’ve seen you at different conferences across the time, so I know you’re a savvy, seasoned veteran at these things. W- why do you think people who haven’t signed up as Edge users need to make sure they get out there?

Mike Bankhead: Chris and Dan pretty much summed it up already, but I’ll steal a little bit from each of them.

Mike Bankhead: But I, you know, I think that the biggest thing to note is, you know, you not only have [00:35:00] the ability to come and connect with other industry professionals, which I think is important for y- you know, any of these companies to be able to come in and talk about what’s working for them maybe and compare notes on how things are happening for their individual business.

Mike Bankhead: But I think also getting an opportunity to learn more about UltraStaff Edge and improvements that are coming, the strategy around growth and what what the expectation is. I think EDGEovation is gonna bring all those things out. And, you know, the, the opportunity con- to connect with industry partners like Dialpad, like AccuSourceHR, like Hooray Health, I think is another intangible because I said earlier, those intentional conversations that you can have at a user conference like this are really invaluable because I think you’re going to…

Mike Bankhead: attendees are gonna be able to find that they can learn more from each one of those vendors. They can learn more from ABD and UltraStaff Edge about you know, how best to utilize each component [00:36:00] to better their operations and their business.

Bob Pettke: Mike, thanks for your insight. Again, you guys went three for three.

Bob Pettke: I couldn’t agree with you more. And again, great messages. This is just kind of a little teaser of what they can see and get when they come and see you at the booth. And we look forward to seeing you there, guys. Thanks for being here with us on the Staffing Buzz Network.

Dan Ring: Our pleasure.

Mike Bankhead: Appreciate it.

Dan Ring: Thank

Mike Bankhead: you. Thank you. Thank you, Bob.

Bob Pettke: See you soon. April 21st, EDGEovation 2026. It’s in Oak Brook, Illinois. It’s at the Drury Lane Theatre. It’s free. Doesn’t cost you anything. Just gotta get yourself here, and we will do the rest. You’re gonna be in great hands. You’re gonna rub shoulders with people at other organizations that are like-minded who are Ultra-Staff EDGE users.

You’re gonna get a chance to visit with our valued partners. You know, if you have not registered, what are you waiting for? And you can [00:37:00] register, you know, you can go to abd.net. You could also register… Check your inbox. We’re sending out stuff to you anyway. I know some of that stuff gets buried.

Do we have a QR code that we can share with them? We’re gonna put a QR code on the screen here for you as well. Get on that QR code. Get yourself registered. I will be there. We’ve got our best and brightest team to go ahead and share, you know, some of the latest and greatest innovation technology that we have. We’re gonna have some, some really good breakout sessions. You’re gonna see where we are with the AI technology and some of the things that we’re doing as far as you know, having AI profiles built for candidates and clients, and being able to use AI technology to see what your success probability is on somebody turning over or not. I’m just gonna stop there. Come see us April 21st.

Also remember, right after that is the Midwest Staffing Conference, which is one of the biggest and best [00:38:00] conferences, regional conferences in the country. And if you need more information, we can get you registered for that as well. With that said, thank you to our guests today, and thanks for watching us on the Staffing Buzz Network. Get registered. We’ll see you on April 21st. Thanks.