According to a study of 32,000 LinkedIn users, employees who are promoted within three years of being hired have a 70% chance of staying five additional years. Workers who make a lateral move inside their organization have a 62% chance.

Janet Mertens, research director for the Josh Bersin Company, a leading HR consultancy, says internal mobility is now “a business imperative.” For early adopters of internal mobility platforms, it’s an investment that can improve talent retention rates, boost engagement and productivity, and break down organizational silos.

At the core of many of those internal mobility platforms is AI.

At IBM, where more than 50,000 employees have enrolled on the company’s Blue Matching platform since 2015, cross-silo recruitment uses predictive analytics to send notifications for potential job matches across divisions. IBM estimated that its AI-equipped program saved the company more than $100 million in 2018 by avoiding expenses associated with recruiting, training, and employee turnover, according to a SHRM report.

At Schneider Electric, the $30 billion French energy management company, an internal talent marketplace platform has matched 7,500 employees with mentors in other divisions.

“AI and analytics offer huge opportunities to manage talent in a data-driven and evidence-based way,” says Tom Haak, director of the HR Trend Institute. “It can be much less driven by whether you came from the right university or your previous work experience. It can tell us, ‘Do you have the interest and potential to develop the skills that we need?’”