ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

IBM Provides Clarity for Finance

Posted by ISG Research on 25 May 2011

IBM Software recently held a user group conference called Vision 2011 that focused on its Clarity Systems acquisition’s users but also covered broader finance department topics. For me, the highlight of the show was the continued evolution and enrichment of the Clarity FSR external reporting application designed to automate the close-to-report cycle. This process is commonly referred to as “the... Read More

Topics: Big Data, Performance Management, Social Media, Sustainability, Human Capital Management, Metrics, Mobile Applications, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Financial Performance, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Workforce Performance, data mart, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Mercer Promotes Possibility of the New Empowered Workforce

Posted by ISG Research on 21 May 2011

Less than a week after attending ADP’s industry analyst day, I flew to Washington, D.C., to attend Mercer’s analyst forum, which gave me a chance to compare another human resources juggernaut. While ADP is known primarily for payroll and business process outsourcing, Mercer is known for HR consulting and benefits outsourcing. Mercer is not as big as ADP, with $3.5 billion in annual revenue and... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Human Capital Management, Metrics, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Financial Performance, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Workforce Performance, Compensation, data mart, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics, Workforce Planning

Workforce Planning Is Part of the Next Generation of Human Capital Management

Posted by ISG Research on 20 May 2011

Workforce planning is a business process that done right ensures an organization of suitable access to talent to ensure future business success. At a Mercer analyst summit I attended recently, which I wrote about in “Mercer Promotes Possibility of the New Empowered Workforce,” one of the sponsor execs kept challenging the HR industry analyst community to do more research on workforce planning,... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Sales Performance, Supply Chain Performance, Human Capital Management, Metrics, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Customer & Contact Center, Financial Performance, Information Applications, Information Management, Workforce Performance, Compensation, data mart, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics, Workforce Planning

ADP Plots Course for Workforce Analytics

Posted by ISG Research on 12 May 2011

One thing became crystal clear while I was at ADP’s industry analyst day last week: The world is more connected than ever before, and this contributes to making the world more complex than ever before. For human capital management this means it is easier for organizations to communicate and collaborate but more difficult to manage the increasingly massive amounts of workforce data in core HR... Read More

Topics: Big Data, Performance Management, Social Media, Human Capital Management, Metrics, Mobile Applications, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Financial Performance, Information Management, Workforce Performance, Compensation, data mart, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

ADP Advances Workforce Mobility with Vantage HCM

Posted by ISG Research on 12 May 2011

Going into ADP’s industry analyst day, I was curious about where a 61-year-old “payroll” company fits in today’s market for human capital management. It certainly has a presence, with over 550,000 customers across multiple lines of business – HR, payroll, tax and benefits administration – and nearly $9 billion in revenue with three consecutive quarters of growth coming out of the worst recession... Read More

Topics: Big Data, Performance Management, Sales Performance, Social Media, Supply Chain Performance, Human Capital Management, Mobile Applications, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Customer & Contact Center, Financial Performance, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management

SuccessFactors Finds Learning Management System and More with Plateau Acquisition

Posted by ISG Research on 12 May 2011

Consolidation in the human capital management software market is in full swing. Recently Peopleclick Authoria acquired Aquire Solutions, and just this week Golden Gate Capital and Infor agreed to buy Lawson Software for about $2 billion, which my colleague Robert Kugel commented. SuccessFactors is at it again this week as well, announcing a definitive agreement to acquire Plateau Systems, a... Read More

Topics: Performance Management, Sales Performance, Human Capital Management, Learning, Learning Management System, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Customer & Contact Center, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Planning

Acquisition of Lawson Complements Infor’s Portfolio

Posted by ISG Research on 12 May 2011

Golden Gate Capital and Infor (which is owned largely by Golden Gate Capital) will acquire Lawson Software for approximately $2 billion in a transaction that is expected to be completed sometime in this year’s third quarter. Lawson is the latest in a string of enterprise software acquisitions made or financed by Golden Gate that began almost a decade ago. Today, Infor is made up of legacy... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Supply Chain Performance, ERP, Human Capital Management, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Performance, Business Technology, Customer & Contact Center, Financial Performance, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Oracle, Workforce Performance, CFO, Infor, Talent Management, Corporate Finance, Financial Performance Management

Total Compensation Management Research: Voice Your Needs and Opinions

Posted by ISG Research on 25 April 2011

Are you a human resources executive who’s still using spreadsheets and various database systems to track and manage compensation and incentives of your workforce? If you aren’t, then believe it or not, you’re in the minority. If you are, recall how that started. Maybe your payroll software or outsourced payroll provider helped you take care of tracking and managing base compensation beyond the... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Human Capital Management, Office of Finance, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, finance, Talent Management, Workforce Performance Management

Talent Acquisition Best Practices in the Age of Social Media Coming Soon

Posted by ISG Research on 14 April 2011

You’d think it was raining “social.” Social media, social networking, social marketing, social recruiting, social learning – so many aspects of business these days have a “social” component to them. That can pose a dilemma for companies. On one hand, management wants the workforce to be fully connected and networked, as well as to collaborate globally and share knowledge across the digital... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Social Media, Customer Experience, Human Capital Management, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Talent Management

Peopleclick Authoria Elevates Workforce Analytics by Acquiring Aquire

Posted by ISG Research on 06 April 2011

Human resources professionals must deal with volumes of workforce data that resides in disparate software systems, including individual spreadsheets. But although the data is accessible to them, many organizations don’t have technology to aggregate, synthesize and analyze it, and so cannot easily use it to make efficient and effective decisions about talent acquisition and talent management. And... Read More

Topics: Learning, Performance, Recruiting, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Mobility, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Hiring, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

New Recruiting Technology Humanizes Talent Acquisition

Posted by ISG Research on 05 April 2011

Humanize every step of the employee experience. That was the grand theme of this year’s opening keynote just over a week ago at ERE Expo 2011 Spring by Matthew Jeffery, global director of talent brand for Electronic Arts, titled “Recruitment 3.0: Why traditional recruiters will be replaced by ‘emotional marketers.’” His speech emphasized the importance of emotionally connecting with candidates... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Learning, Performance, Recruiting, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Mobility, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Hiring, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Reimagining Talent Management and Technology in 2011

Posted by ISG Research on 04 April 2011

When I entered the human capital management space over a decade ago, the Internet had just started to transform the way companies recruit, hire and manage their workforces. Since then the technological transformations have been astounding: Social media, mobile devices and cloud computing are just a few. And although every talent acquisition and talent management system available today is about... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Learning, Performance, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Mobility, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Business Collaboration Brings Together People and Technology

Posted by ISG Research on 17 March 2011

In today’s competitive environment, people working in collaboration can make the difference between a company’s success or failure. But hitting “reply to all” on an e-mail chain isn’t the kind of collaboration I’m talking about. Neither is managing your employee and business communications with cups connected by string and Ouija boards. I’m talking about true business collaboration – bringing... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Learning, Performance, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Collaboration, Mobility, Operational Intelligence, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Aquire Brings Fresh Face to Workforce Analytics

Posted by ISG Research on 10 March 2011

The state of the economy has intensified scrutiny of organizations’ people assets, and so we’re seeing new dialogues about human capital management. Deriving full value from the people in a workforce requires more than just HR managing annual performance reviews or occasional scrutiny of the compensation processes for increases to merit pay or incremental incentives. Investing wisely in... Read More

Topics: Sales Performance, Learning, Performance, Operational Performance, Business Analytics, Business Mobility, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Mobility, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

On Becoming Part of the Ventana Research Team

Posted by ISG Research on 10 March 2011

Hello there! Starting this week, I’m part of the best independent research team in the business – the Ventana Research team – and I couldn’t be more thrilled. As the song goes, “What a long, strange trip it’s been” to get here. For more than two decades I’ve held leadership roles in various capacities, including marketing communications, business development, employee development, talent... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Learning, Performance, Recruiting, Onboarding, Operational Performance, Analytics, Business Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Hiring, Talent Management, Workforce Performance Management

Human Concepts Brings Workforce Analytics and Mobility to the Cloud

Posted by ISG Research on 03 March 2011

Recently Human Concepts sold its personal organizational structure software OrgPlus to Administaff . Since it retains other products with the OrgPlus name, this step might seem puzzling, but it makes sense in terms of the company’s developing product strategy. The sale also frees Human Concepts to focus on organizations with more than 1,000 employees, where growth is more readily available. Human... Read More

Topics: Learning, Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Mobility, Operational Intelligence, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Talent Technology Makes Generating Talent Efficient and Social

Posted by Mark Smith on 22 February 2011

The talent management software market has and continues to consolidate dramatically through acquisitions. The trend is to bring together processes and applications for hiring, onboarding, performance assessment, compensation, succession planning and analytics. As the race continues to attract customers and users by presenting the most integrated suite of applications, a new market segment has... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Learning, Performance, Recruiting, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Hiring, Talent Generation, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

SumTotal Provides Clarity in the New Year

Posted by ISG Research on 06 January 2011

The new year started off with a bang in the human capital management software market as SumTotal Systems acquired GeoLearning, a leading learning management system (LMS) software vendor. If you think this is just another acquisition, think again. I see GeoLearning as a strategic acquisition and a clearly offensive move on SumTotal’s part. Strategic, because vendors are looking to consolidate... Read More

Topics: Learning, Performance, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Financial Performance, Workforce Performance, Compensation, SumTotal Systems, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics

Kronos Goes Usability and Mobility in New Releases

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

At its annual user conference in Las Vegas, Kronos unveiled the next stage of its approach to workforce management to its customers and partners, showing an aggressively confident posture after completing its fiscal year 2010 with revenue increased 9 percent to $741 million. Kronos is the largest provider of workforce management systems for time and attendance, scheduling, absence tracking,... Read More

Topics: Human Capital, Human Resources Management, Kronos, Mobile Applications, Operational Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Talent Management, Workforce Management

Saba Dedicates Itself to People and Collaboration

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2010

At its annual user conference in Boston, Saba provided insights to industry analysts on its progress over the last year and its direction for 2011. Best known for its learning management system (LMS), collaboration and more recently its talent management applications, Saba now has more than 19 million users in 1,400 customer organizations that are mostly in the public sector, have 5,000 or more... Read More

Topics: Human Capital, Human Resources Management, Learning, Mobile Applications, Performance, Business Performance, Cloud Computing, Workforce Performance, Compensation, Saba, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics