--- title: "Why we built octo.taxi: Cornerstone data, made useful" source: https://octily.com/insights/why-we-built-octo-taxi/ description: "After ten years on Cornerstone, we built octo.taxi: HR data in one place, in near-realtime, with dashboards, alerts and plain-language charts." --- # Eight arms. One brain. Why we built octo.taxi ![Robert Bucher](https://ebnnmeydktscnefergjm.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/insights-images/robert-bucher.jpeg?width=168&quality=70&resize=contain) Written by Robert Bucher Publication date October 8, 2026 Categories Octopinions Products Insights Reading time 4 min read 4 min read 0% 4 min ## Eight arms. One brain. ### We launched octo.taxi on World Octopus Day. Here’s why. Here’s something I only learned this year: an octopus has about 500 million neurons, and roughly two thirds of them don’t sit in its brain. They sit in its arms. Each arm can touch, taste and react on its own. One brain keeps the whole animal moving in the same direction. I read that and thought: that’s an HR department. Your learning platform is one arm. HR core is another. Engagement surveys and performance tools – a third and a fourth. Every arm is busy and clever on its own. And the brain that’s supposed to hold it all together? In most companies we work with, it’s an Excel export from last Tuesday. So we built the brain. It’s called [octo.taxi](https://octily.com/products/octotaxi/), and on October 8, 2026 – World Octopus Day, of course – we put it out into the world. ## Ten years of “can we also get the data out?” Octily has worked with Cornerstone since 2016. We design and build the parts of the portal people actually see – [welcome pages](https://octily.com/customization/welcome-page/), [learner homes](https://octily.com/customization/learner-home/), [custom pages](https://octily.com/customization/custom-pages/) – and the [Cornerstone MicroApps](https://octily.com/products/cornerstone-microapps/) that put the right numbers in front of a manager without them leaving the portal. Across all of that work, one request kept coming back, phrased a hundred different ways. Can we see this next to that? Can the board pack be current? Can we get our data out, and keep it moving? Cornerstone holds a remarkable amount of data. Getting it out reliably is a different story. The Data Exporter API has rate limits that bite, a warehouse that lags by around fifteen minutes, numeric status codes you have to translate yourself, and a budget you share with every other integration on the portal. We wrote about that [in detail on octo.taxi (opens in a new tab)](https://octo.taxi/articles/cornerstone-deapi-throttle-limits). The short version: it’s real engineering, and it never stops being real engineering. We were writing that engineering again and again, for client after client. At some point we stopped and built it once, properly. ## The ride in under three minutes If you’d rather watch than read: Octi drives, I host, and every feature below gets its moment. 2:50 with Rob and Octi The video loads from YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode once you press play. ## What octo.taxi does octo.taxi syncs your data into its own database, keeps it fresh in near-realtime and turns it into something people can use on a Monday morning. We start where we’re at home: Cornerstone, deeply connected. When a client needs another source, we build that connector on request – and every new source is one more arm on the same brain. What that looks like today: - **Your day** One page every morning: the day in a few sentences, three things for today, what’s due next and what changed since yesterday. - **The taximeter** Every page shows exactly how fresh your data is. - **Dashboards you make your own** Copy any dashboard to edit it, add and move tiles, or describe the dashboard you need in plain language. - **Ask octo** Plain language in, chart out. Every answer shows how it was calculated, and groups smaller than five people stay hidden. - **Present** Turn a dashboard into a slide deck for the meeting, or save it as a PDF. - **A search that does more** It finds people, trainings and who’s overdue on what. It also calculates, converts currencies and units, and plans a meeting across time zones. - **Alerts** Put an alert on any KPI (“tell me when mandatory training drops below 85 %”) and octo.taxi taps you on the shoulder, in the app or by email. - **Org chart** The whole organization, and you can move through it with your keyboard. We built it with an organization of more than 50,000 people. - **Training Portfolio** Pick subject, language and org unit, hit generate, and get a branded PDF or HTML training catalog, stamped with the date of the data. - **Your brand** Paste your website address and octo.taxi dresses up in your logo, colors and fonts. And for the developers among you: a /v1 API that mirrors Cornerstone’s own objects and field names, simpler /v2 endpoints with an OData feed for Power BI and Excel, and a builder for your own endpoints – no code needed. ## The brain has to be trustworthy HR data is the most sensitive data a company has. So we made a few decisions early and didn’t move on them. Your data is stored in Frankfurt, and every organization gets its own database schema. The AI behind Ask octo runs on Amazon Bedrock in EU regions, and it never writes the numbers itself – it picks the metrics, our own queries do the math, and the privacy layer decides what you’re allowed to see. And because octo.taxi shares the Cornerstone API budget with everything else on your portal, it watches that budget and pauses when Cornerstone says “slow down” – instead of slowing down your portal. After ten years on Cornerstone, we know where the potholes are. We’d rather drive around them than explain them in a meeting. ## Why a taxi? Because a taxi doesn’t care where you’re from or where you’re going. It picks you up at A, brings you to B, and you arrive in style. That’s the whole idea: your HR data, from A to B, in style. Cornerstone is the first pick-up point because it’s the platform we know best. It won’t be the last. ## Hop in Our first customers are on board, and the doors are open. Early bird pricing is still on, and right now there’s no setup fee. Have a look around [the octo.taxi product page](https://octily.com/products/octotaxi/), or [request a demo (opens in a new tab)](https://octo.taxi/get-started) and we’ll show you around. Happy World Octopus Day. 🐙 ![Robert Bucher](https://ebnnmeydktscnefergjm.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/insights-images/robert-bucher.jpeg?width=168&quality=70&resize=contain) Written by Robert Bucher October 8, 2026 ![Building with AI: from Shiny Prototype to Painful Maintenance](https://ebnnmeydktscnefergjm.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/insights-images/building-with-ai-from-shiny-prototype-to-painful-maintenance.png?width=1280&quality=70&resize=contain) Octopinions ### Building with AI: from Shiny Prototype to Painful Maintenance AI made the software demo fast and cheap – but the last 20%, the security, and the maintenance still aren't. Why building it yourself usually backfires. Read More ![The Business Case Your Cornerstone Customization Is Missing](https://ebnnmeydktscnefergjm.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/insights-images/business-case-cornerstone-customization-cover.jpg?width=1280&quality=70&resize=contain) Octopinions ### The Business Case Your Cornerstone Customization Is Missing A post about software sales got me thinking about our own pitch – and about why great Cornerstone customization so often stalls one level below the people who sign off the budget. Here is how to tell the third story: the one a CFO actually funds. Read More ![Cornerstone Workforce AI – the Why, How & When](https://ebnnmeydktscnefergjm.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/insights-images/cornerstone-connect-2026-munich-octily-on-tour.jpg?width=1280&quality=70&resize=contain) Events ### Cornerstone Workforce AI – the Why, How & When Field notes from Cornerstone Connect Munich 2026 – our attempt to help make sense of the rebrand, the architecture, and the roadmap. And what it means if you run Cornerstone. Read More ![Ten Years of Octily: From a One-Person Idea to a Global Creative Studio](https://ebnnmeydktscnefergjm.supabase.co/storage/v1/render/image/public/insights-images/2026-03-08---17-58-56.jpg?width=1280&quality=70&resize=contain) Octopinions ### Ten Years of Octily: From a One-Person Idea to a Global Creative Studio On March 1, 2016, Octily started as a simple idea: make HR tech look and feel better. Ten years, 100+ clients, and 11 team members later, here is what we have learned along the way. Read More ## Want a ride? Request a demo and we’ll show you octo.taxi with our demo data. Early bird pricing is still on, and right now there’s no setup fee. [Get in Touch](https://octily.com/get-in-touch/) [Book a Meeting](https://octily.com/meet)