Sona

What Sona does

Sona is an AI-powered workforce management solution designed for large frontline operators. It combines end-to-end workforce management functionality, including scheduling, time & attendance, HR, and payroll, with intelligent AI capabilities. The platform provides real-time actionable insights to drive revenue and increase employee satisfaction, helping organizations improve efficiency and performance by raising the quality of workforce decisions across every location. Sona was purpose-built with AI at its core, designed to handle the complexity of multi-site operations, variable demand patterns, and real-time adjustments.

Products

• Sona AI Workforce Management PlatformA comprehensive platform that integrates HR, scheduling, time & attendance, payroll, and communications into a single unified system. It uses AI to provide insights and recommendations for workforce decisions, optimize labor productivity, and automate various administrative tasks.
• RaffySona's in-product AI assistant that explains what's happening, why it matters, and what to do next, empowering managers to act with confidence and make better decisions.
• Forecasting EngineAn AI-powered engine that learns from real-time operational data to predict staffing needs, model demand dynamically, test scenarios, and adapt to changing conditions. It helps in predictive forecasting, scenario planning, site comparison, budget alignment, and outlier detection.
• Auto-scheduling EngineAn intelligent automation system that evaluates millions of staffing combinations to find the optimal schedule, balancing skills, preferences, compliance rules, and budget constraints automatically. It supports multi-site management, talent sharing, and consistent standards.
• Time & AttendanceTracks time and attendance, including GPS-based clock-in/out, break tracking, and overtime management, with complete integration to scheduling and payroll for accurate timesheets and compliance.

Key capabilities

• AI-driven decision making
• End-to-end WFM functionality (Scheduling, Time & Attendance, HR, Payroll)
• Real-time actionable insights
• Demand planning
• Labour optimisation
• Auto-scheduling
• Compliance-ready
• Onboarding
• Absence management
• Documentation management
• Auto-calculations for payroll
• Error reduction in payroll
• Audit-ready records
• AI assistant (Raffy)
• Predictive forecasting
• Scenario planning
• Site comparison and benchmarking
• Budget alignment
• Auto-flagging of inefficiencies
• Outlier detection
• Skill matching
• Preference balancing
• Real-time cost visibility
• Multi-site management
• Talent sharing
• GPS clock-in/out
• Automated working time and break rule enforcement
• Centralized employee records
• Document expiry tracking and alerts
• Automated leave request approvals
• Multi-step workflow setup
• AI-powered recommendations for HR decisions
• Policy enforcement for payroll
• Pay transparency for employees
• Hours matching and variance flagging

Use cases

• Improving workforce efficiency
• Reducing overstaffing and understaffing
• Ensuring consistent service quality across locations
• Empowering managers with insights for better decisions
• Optimizing labor productivity
• Automating scheduling processes
• Managing HR functions like onboarding, absence, and documentation
• Ensuring accurate and compliant payroll
• Predicting staffing needs based on real-time demand
• Modeling and testing staffing scenarios
• Benchmarking performance across different sites
• Aligning labor cost projections with future demand
• Detecting inefficiencies and anomalies in workforce operations
• Automating shift filling and reducing agency dependency
• Consolidating fragmented HR and payroll systems
• Tracking employee certifications and compliance
• Managing leave requests and approvals
• Providing pay transparency and explaining payroll variances

AI approach

Sona is an AI-first workforce management platform that uses AI-driven decision making, real-time operational data, and predictive forecasting to optimize labor productivity, create smart schedules, and provide insights and recommendations through its AI assistant, Raffy. It learns from data to understand demand drivers, tests scenarios, and automates tasks like policy enforcement and outlier detection.

Tech named: AI-driven decision making, AI-powered from Day One, Raffy (AI assistant), AI-powered forecasting engine, Predictive forecasting, Scenario planning, Pattern recognition, Auto-flagging, Outlier detection, AI-powered recommendations, AI-powered payroll, AI turn policy into configured rules

Industries served

• Hospitality
• Care
• Retail
• Software Development

What it says sets it apart

• Purpose-built with AI at its core from day one, not retrofitted onto legacy platforms
• Deep understanding of frontline industries and their specific demand drivers (e.g., qualifications in social care, covers in hospitality, footfall in retail)
• Provides actionable recommendations and increasingly automates decisions, rather than just providing data
• Consumer-grade user experience for frontline employees with intuitive, mobile-first design
• Enterprise-level adaptability and flexibility for complex operations and integration with existing tools
• Partner-led approach with industry expertise and co-designed execution
• Proven track record with measurable improvements in labor cost reduction, EBITDA improvement, and admin time savings
• Unified platform for end-to-end workforce management, eliminating manual data transfers and fragmented systems

Funding rounds we track

From the AI funding tracker — rounds as reported by the linked publications.