Saba Drives Significant Momentum in EMEA With Strong Customer Wins, New Offices, and Strategic Partnership…from Saba

October 12, 2011

 

With 23+ Million Worldwide Users, Saba Continues to Add Key Enhancements to Its People Cloud Applications to Meet Growing Global Demand

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Matt Lafata with HRchitect attended the 2010 Saba Global Summit and Analyst Day in Boston, MA. Matt Lafata & Tiffany Appleby attended the Saba Global Sales Rally FY12 in June 2011 in Redwood City, CA.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, don’t rely solely on “recommendations” or published reports. Do yourself a huge favor and talk to HRchitect first. After 14 years, HRchitect has unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is always available to help!

 

Saba (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier People Cloud provider, today announced continued momentum in the EMEA region during its first quarter of fiscal year 2012, which ended August 31, 2011. Milestones achieved in the quarter in EMEA included increased adoption of Saba solutions, new alliance partnerships, and the opening of two new offices. Saba also enhanced product capabilities across Saba’s suite of People Cloud applications and increased the number of worldwide users to 23 million, as organizations increasingly turn to Saba to better leverage their most important assets — their people and people networks.

According to PwC’s 14th Annual Global CEO Survey, organizations are increasingly realizing that despite high unemployment in mature markets like the United States and Western Europe, there are still major skills shortages around the world. Simultaneously, in high-growth markets like China, Brazil, and India, there is fierce competition for a limited pool of top talent. This means that organizations cannot rely on recruiting and hiring from the outside and must be much smarter about internal talent reviews, calibration, learning, knowledge sharing, and mobility.

“Retaining and nurturing the best people and focusing on people as the core strategy are critical in today’s competitive market,” said Bobby Yazdani, CEO and founder of Saba. “We are enabling our customers to cultivate a knowledge-sharing and learning culture to address global challenges of hyper-competition, workforce complexity, and shorter product life cycles. Our rapid customer adoption in EMEA is validation that our strategy is working, as we begin to realize our vision for the industry’s first, unified People Cloud offering that enables organizations to become transformative, smarter, and more adaptable to the changing world of work.”

Significant Customer and Partner Growth

Over the past six months Saba has witnessed rapid adoption of its People Cloud applications across EMEA, adding new customers and partners, as well as seeing increased adoption of its broad solution set by existing customers.

 

  • New customers include organizations such as Apollo-Optik (Germany’s leading optician); Axel Springer AG, Lancashire County Council, Landesamt fur Finanzen, Metro Ag,  PKO Bank Polski (Poland’s largest bank), and Springer Medicine (the leading CME-Academy provider)
  • Saba also announced an important new partnership with British Telecom to provide a fully managed people management solution as part of BT Learning Solutions.

“We chose Saba People Cloud Applications because it is on a unified platform for learning and development, performance appraisal, and talent management. In the future, we will be able to train our workforce more comprehensively and offer them more opportunities for personal development,” said Erich Ehbauer, CIO, Apollo-Optik. “We also wish to continually optimize our customer service, which will give us a strategic edge. Saba People Cloud Applications are highly scalable and internationally available. We can use the applications easily and flexibly in our franchises.”

“Saba provides us with an enterprise-scale solution based on a holistic vision around people management. They offer a solution that is organically built, providing a truly unified experience across all people processes, infused with collaboration and enterprise social networking capabilities,” said Sundar Balasubramanian, director of BT Learning Solutions. “We have implemented various Learning Management Systems previously and have in-depth knowledge of the various technologies in this space. We were looking for a modular platform that can grow with the needs of our customers without requiring significant investments in integration.”

New Offices

To meet growing demand, Saba has moved to new offices in Paris and Munich.

“As demand for our innovative People Cloud applications continues to increase, we have made significant investments in our sales and services teams to ensure we maximize our market coverage, whilst at the same time continuing to offer the highest levels of customer service,” said Phil Richardson, vice president of EMEA region, Saba.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces First Quarter Fiscal Year 2012 Results…from Saba

October 1, 2011

 

  • Total quarterly billings up 18% with cloud billings growing 81% year-over-year
  • Cloud revenue grew 59% year-over-year
  • Subscription revenue up 26% year-over-year; representing 61% of total revenues
  • Subscription revenue gross margin expanded to 77%
  • Total deferred revenue increased 29% year-over-year to $43.9 million

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Matt Lafata with HRchitect attended the 2010 Saba Global Summit and Analyst Day in Boston, MA. Matt Lafata & Tiffany Appleby attended the Saba Global Sales Rally FY12 in June 2011 in Redwood City, CA.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, don’t rely solely on “recommendations” or published reports. Do yourself a huge favor and talk to HRchitect first. After 14 years, HRchitect has unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is always available to help!

 

Saba (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier People Cloud provider, today reported financial results for its first quarter ended August 31, 2011.

“We started fiscal year 2012 with strong quarterly performance in billings and revenue growth, and gross margin expansion,” said Bobby Yazdani, Founder and CEO, Saba. “Our strength this quarter was broad-based across geographies and market segments — global enterprises, large enterprises, and mid-market enterprises. As we continue to make significant progress on our transition to the cloud, Saba is establishing itself as the vendor of choice and strategic partner to organizations seeking to transform the way their people network — employees, partners, customers, and franchisees — works, collaborates, and learns.”

Results for the First Quarter Fiscal Year 2012

Revenues: Total GAAP revenues were $30.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, up 13% from $27.2 million in the same quarter last year. Total non-GAAP revenues in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 were $30.9 million, up 14%, compared to $27.2 million in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP revenues reflect the impact to revenue of fair value adjustments to deferred revenue due to acquisitions.

Deferred Revenue: Total deferred revenue was $43.8 million at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, up 29% year-over-year.

Earnings (Loss) per Share: GAAP loss per share was $0.20 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 compared to a loss per share of $0.06 in the same period last year. Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.12 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 compared to breakeven in the first quarter last fiscal year. First quarter fiscal year 2012 loss per share reflects increased levels of investment in operations for future growth.

Our non-GAAP results are calculated by adjusting GAAP results for the impact of certain items including (i) non-cash amortization of intangibles, (ii) non-cash share-based compensation expenses, (iii) non-operating reorganization costs, (iv) the impact to revenue of fair value adjustments to deferred revenue due to acquisitions and (v) other acquisition related costs. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial statements accompanying this press release.

Cash: Cash flow from operations was a usage of $3.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, and cash and cash equivalents at August 31, 2011 were $20.8 million. Saba typically uses cash in the first half of the fiscal year and generates positive cash flow in the second half of the fiscal year due to strong subscription renewals in the third and fourth quarters.

Business Outlook

The following statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this release. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. Saba does not undertake any obligations to update these forward-looking statements.

For fiscal year 2012, ending May 31, 2012, Saba reiterates its forecast of total GAAP revenues to be in the range of $130 million to $133 million and total billings to grow in the range of 16% to 18% in fiscal year 2012 over fiscal year 2011.

The Company also reiterates its forecast for GAAP net loss to range from $0.39 to $0.45 per share and non-GAAP net loss to range from $0.17 to $0.23 per share. Saba also confirms that it expects to return to non-GAAP profitability in the second half of fiscal year 2012.

Fiscal year 2012 non-GAAP outlook excludes non-cash amortization of intangibles, non-cash stock-based compensation expenses, the impact to revenue of fair value adjustments to deferred revenue due to acquisitions, other acquisition-related costs and non-operating reorganization costs.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces Fourth Quarter and Record Fiscal Year 2011 Results…from Saba

July 29, 2011

 

  • Record total bookings of $125.4 million in fiscal year 2011, up 13% year-over-year
  • Record deferred revenue of $45.8 million at the end of fiscal year 2011, up 24% year-over-year
  • Annual contract value of new SaaS bookings grew 276% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and grew 210% in fiscal year 2011 over the respective year ago periods
  • SaaS revenue grew 59% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 and 33% in fiscal year 2011 over the respective year ago periods
  • Added 153 new enterprise customers in fiscal year 2011; 40 in the fourth quarter

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Matt Lafata with HRchitect attended the 2010 Saba Global Summit and Analyst Day in Boston, MA. Matt Lafata & Tiffany Appleby attended the Saba Global Sales Rally FY12 in June 2011 in Redwood City, CA.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, don’t rely solely on “recommendations” or published reports. Do yourself a huge favor and talk to HRchitect first. After 14 years, HRchitect has unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is always available to help!

Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), the premier People Cloud provider, today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended May 31, 2011.

“We grew our SaaS bookings 276% and SaaS revenue 59% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011.  We now have one of the fastest growing SaaS businesses among public companies,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba.  “We signed four of the five largest transactions in our history during the fiscal year, with all four customers selecting Saba People Cloud Applications.  The transformation of our business to SaaS from license is well ahead of plan.  I want to take this opportunity to thank the Saba team for all their hard work and dedication, and congratulate them on their success in enabling Saba to become a world-class SaaS company.”

SaaS revenue steadily increased during fiscal year 2011, growing 8% in the first quarter, 19% in the second quarter, 42% in the third quarter, and 59% in the fourth quarter over the respective year-ago periods.  Nine of our 12 largest deals in the fourth quarter were for SaaS offerings.  The number of new SaaS transactions over $50,000 increased almost three-fold in fiscal year 2011 over fiscal year 2010. 

Results for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2011

Revenues: Total GAAP revenues were $29.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, up 1% from $29.6 million in the same quarter last year.  Total Non-GAAP revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 were $30.0 million, up 1%, compared to $29.6 million in the same quarter last year.  Non-GAAP revenues reflect the exclusion of the fair value adjustments to deferred revenue due to acquisitions.

For fiscal year 2011, total GAAP revenues increased to $116.7 million from $109.6 million in the year ago period.  Total Non-GAAP revenues for fiscal year 2011 increased 7% to $116.7 million from $109.6 million in the year ago period.

Deferred Revenue: Total Deferred revenue increased to a record $45.8 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, growing 24% year-over-year and 8% sequentially.

Fourth Quarter Investments:  During the fourth quarter, we accelerated our investments in a number of key areas by approximately $2.0 million or $0.07 per share to support our fiscal year 2012 growth initiatives.  Areas of investment included:

Sales Force Expansion — added country managers in Canada, India, and China and continued expansion of sales capacity and management in existing and new markets

International Expansion — launched our operations in China and grew our operations in Latin America and Asia Pacific

Cloud Operations  – invested in our global cloud operations in preparation for the major release of our new People Cloud Applications which is planned for this Fall and invested in a number of new technological innovations that are planned to be released throughout fiscal year 2012.  We also added key executives to run our Cloud business including Shawn Farshchi as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Daniel Lipkin, Vice President of Technology

Acquisitions — closed our acquisition of two leading testing and assessment software companies

Earnings (Loss) per Share: GAAP loss per share was $0.17 in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 compared to fully diluted earnings per share of $0.03 in the same period last year.  Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.10 in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 compared to non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share of $0.08 in the fourth quarter of last year. 

For fiscal year 2011, GAAP loss per share was $0.26 compared to fully diluted earnings per share of $0.09 in fiscal year 2010.  Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.02 in fiscal year 2011 compared to non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share of $0.29 in fiscal year 2010.

Our non-GAAP results are calculated by adjusting GAAP results for the impact of certain items including (i) non-cash amortization of intangibles, (ii) non-cash charges related to share-based compensation expenses, (iii) non-operating reorganization costs, (iv) fair value adjustments to deferred revenue due to acquisitions and (v) other acquisition related costs for legal and accounting services.  A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial statements accompanying this press release.  

Cash: Cash flow from operations was $4.0 million in fiscal year 2011, and cash and cash equivalents at May 31, 2011 were $25.9 million.  

Share Repurchase: The Company repurchased 243,648 shares of common stock during the quarter for $2.3 million, bringing the total number of shares repurchased under its share repurchase program to 777,291 shares for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $5.5 million.  The Company now has approximately $4.5 million remaining under the repurchase program.    

Customers: We added 40 new enterprise customers in the quarter including Fiat/Chrysler, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Fitch Ratings, and Kumon Institute of Education.  

In addition, we expanded our footprint with a number of our existing customers in the quarter including W.W. Grainger, Five Guys, Union Bank, Bio-Rad, Novartis, France Telecom, and Kronos. 

Partners:  We added 14 partners in the fourth quarter including Aon/Hewitt, Satyam, and British Telecom.   We have signed 36 new partners in fiscal year 2011 bringing our total number of partners to 107.  Our partners once again contributed over 50% of our new business in the quarter. 

Acquisitions:  We acquired Pedagogue Solutions and Comartis, two leading software companies in the testing and assessment market.  These companies provide the foundation of our new Testing and Assessment offerings.  “The ability to test and assess skill levels and learning effectiveness is an essential element of any learning management system,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba.  “Organizations need to understand how effectively their people are trained and whether the imparted knowledge and developed skills are being successfully applied.  In addition, our new testing and assessment offerings  broaden our market opportunities beyond the traditional talent management space.” 

Business Outlook           

The following statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this release. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially.  Saba does not undertake any obligations to update these forward-looking statements.

For fiscal year 2012, ending May 31, 2012, we are forecasting total GAAP revenues in the range of $130 million to $133 million. 

We are forecasting total bookings to grow approximately 16% to 18% in fiscal year 2012 over fiscal year 2011 with SaaS bookings growth in excess of 110% in fiscal year 2012 over fiscal year 2011. 

We expect our operating income in fiscal year 2012 to be impacted by our recent success in selling multi-hundred thousand subscribers on the Cloud.  As part of the adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Board standard for multiple-element revenue arrangements,  ASU 2009-13, for certain transactions, we are required to recognize a portion of the respective professional services revenue ratably over the life of the contract while incurring the professional services expense upfront.  We estimate this to negatively impact our earnings per share by $0.06 to $0.08 in fiscal year 2012. 

As such, we are forecasting GAAP net loss to range from $0.39 to $0.45 per share and non-GAAP net loss to range from $0.17 to $0.23 per share.

Fiscal year 2012 non-GAAP outlook excludes non-cash amortization of intangibles, charges related to stock-based compensation expenses and the impact to revenue for fair value adjustments to deferred revenue due to acquisitions.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba and Management Innovation eXchange Form Strategic Alliance to Power Up Gary Hamel Led Community of Leading Experts on Disruptive Management Practices…from Saba

May 12, 2011

 

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Matt Lafata with HRchitect attended the 2010 Saba Global Summit and Analyst Day in Boston, MA

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, don’t rely solely on “recommendations” or published reports. Do yourself a huge favor and talk to HRchitect first. After 14 years, HRchitect has unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is always available to help!

Saba (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier people cloud provider, today announced its strategic alliance with Management Innovation eXchange (MIX), a community of progressive management innovators architected by Gary Hamel and supported by thought leaders from leading academic institutions including Harvard Business School, Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, and The London Business School as well as business leaders from organizations such as McKinsey & Company, HCL Technologies, Dell, and the Human Capital Institute.

The MIX is an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. It is founded on the belief that to thrive in the 21st century, organizations must be adaptable, innovative, inspiring and socially accountable, which require a genuine revolution in management principles and practices. Saba whole-heartedly embraces the MIX’s revolutionary vision for the future of management and is proud to collaborate with MIX to accelerate the pace of management innovation by powering its collaborative platform.

As a part of this alliance, Saba’s People Cloud applications will power the MIX platform with collaboration, ideation and conversation capabilities amongst the community of thought leaders and experts dedicated to revolutionizing management principles and practices. As a partner and active participant in the MIX community, Saba will be able to exchange and gain insight into new management ideas and approaches that could better enable the company and its global customer base of 1,400 enterprises and 19 million users to implement leading-edge ideas and practices.

Supporting Quotes:

“Saba’s mission to provide solutions that enable enterprises to power up their people to boost performance and drive results aligns well with the MIX’s goal to reinvent the way enterprises organize resources to productive ends,” stated Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO of Saba. “We look forward to joining Gary and other world-renowned experts to share best practices and innovate management methods that help organizations be more effective.”

“Traditional hierarchical management structures inhibit creativity, collaboration and progress,” said Gary Hamel, founding member and architect of the MIX. “The MIX is a platform where trailblazers come to tackle these issues in order to create organizations that are inventive, adaptable and engaging. Saba’s passion for enabling people-driven enterprises makes it a perfect partner for the MIX.”

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Expands Presence in Asia with Opening of Beijing Office…from Saba

April 20, 2011

 

Regional Headquarters to Accelerate Growth and Serve Local Customers and Partners in Greater China

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Matt Lafata with HRchitect attended the 2010 Saba Global Summit and Analyst Day in Boston, MA

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, don’t rely solely on “recommendations” or published reports. Do yourself a huge favor and talk to HRchitect first. After 14 years, HRchitect has unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is always available to help!

Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), the premier people cloud provider, today announced the opening of its office in Beijing, China.  With 19 million users and 1,400 customers worldwide, including over half of the Fortune 100, Saba is a leader in the corporate learning, performance management and enterprise collaboration solutions areas.  As part of its commitment to the development of the growing Asia market, the Beijing office will serve as the regional headquarters for Saba’s sales, marketing and support efforts throughout Greater China.  The Beijing office will also serve as a strong local hub for Saba partners, including IBM, Hewlett Packard, Dingxun and Tangview, to help them achieve success.   Saba has operated in the China market for several years and customers include global organizations that operate in the region such as Intel, 3M and Smart Technologies as well as local customers including China Telecom, China Education TV, Haier, Sinograin, Shunde Bank and China Aerospace.

Today’s official launch of Saba China will take place at the St. Regis hotel and will be attended by key Saba executives, partners and customers as well as selected local press.  Saba executives Jeff Carr, President of Global Field Operations, Emily He, Vice President of Corporate Planning and Operations, and Olivier Ghezi, Senior Vice President, Global Channels & Alliances, will present Saba’s strategy for China and showcase how Saba’s solutions are helping enterprises increase performance, drive sales velocity and enable an empowered, engaged and collaborative workforce.  Specifically, Saba will be introducing its award-winning Saba People Learning and Saba People Performance management applications as well as its industry-leading enterprise collaboration application Saba Live, and the latest release of the world-class web conferencing solution Saba Centra.  

In addition, Saba partner Dingxun will participate and share the reasons behind why Sinograin chose Saba solutions to help them achieve their organizational objectives.

Supporting Quote

“China is a very significant business opportunity for Saba and by establishing a local office in Beijing, we will be strategically positioned to support our customers and partners as well as maximize growth opportunities in this fast developing market,” stated Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO of Saba. “With three offices in Asia, we now have a solid foothold in the region to help our customers and partners increase the performance of their people.”

“At Sinograin, safeguarding food safety is our highest priority and our obligation to the nation.  To ensure our safety standard, we need an enterprise-class learning solution that is functionally-rich, robust, and scalable. We selected Saba because of its leadership position in learning and its commitment to customer success,” added Saba customer Sinograin.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces Record Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2011 Results…from Saba

March 25, 2011

 

  • Record total bookings of $37.1 million, up 15% year-over-year
  • 351% increase in annual contract value of new SaaS bookings year-over-year
  • Subscription revenue up 17% year-over-year
  • Added 113 new enterprise customers year-to-date; 41 in the third quarter
  • Cash flow from operations grew 52% year-over-year

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Matt Lafata with HRchitect attended the 2010 Saba Global Summit and Analyst Day in Boston, MA

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. After 14 years, HRchitect has unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is always available to help!

Saba (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier provider of people systems, today reported financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2011.

“Saba delivered record total revenues, subscription revenue, bookings and deferred revenue in the quarter,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. “Exemplified by new enterprise wins at organizations such as Eli Lilly and John Deere, this quarter we once again experienced accelerating adoption of the Saba People Cloud. With our unified and complete set of cloud applications, Saba is well positioned for long-term growth.”

In the quarter, Saba achieved record total bookings of $37.1 million. The growth in total bookings was fueled by a four-fold increase year-over-year in the number of new SaaS transactions over $50,000. Our top 4 transactions in the quarter, and 9 of our 12 largest deals in the quarter, were for Saba People Cloud offerings. The growth in the Saba People Cloud business is driving increased recurring revenue, with year-over-year subscription revenue growth rates increasing from 7% in the first quarter to 10% in the second quarter and now 17% this quarter.

Results for the Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2011

Revenues: Total revenues increased 14% to a record $30.3 million in the third quarter ended February 28, 2011 from $26.7 million in the same period last year. Subscription revenue increased 17% to a record $16.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2011 over the same period last year.

Total revenues, deferred revenue, and earnings per share were impacted by the accounting changes described below.

Deferred Revenue: Deferred revenue increased 18% to a record $42.4 million at the end of the third fiscal quarter of 2011, from $36.0 million at the end of the same period last year.

Earnings per Share: GAAP earnings per share was breakeven in the third quarter of fiscal year 2011 compared to fully diluted earnings per share of $0.01 in the same period last year. Non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share was $0.05 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2011 compared to non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share of $0.07 in the third quarter of last year. These results reflect the acceleration toward Saba People Cloud offerings over traditional license transactions and our continued investment in sales and marketing in support of our strong bookings growth.

Our non-GAAP results are calculated by adjusting GAAP results for the impact of certain items including (i) non-cash amortization of intangibles, (ii) non-cash charges related to share-based compensation expenses and (iii) non-operating reorganization costs. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial statements accompanying this press release.

Share Repurchase: The Company repurchased 201,417 shares of common stock during the quarter for $1.3 million, bringing the total number of shares repurchased under its share repurchase program to 533,643 shares for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.1 million. The Company now has approximately $6.9 million remaining under the repurchase program.

Customers: We added 41 new enterprise customers in the quarter including: Eli Lilly, John Deere, Bloomberg, Boston Consulting Group, Infocomm International, Illumina, Mead Johnson, Pioneer Natural Resources, and Tele Tech.

In addition, we expanded our footprint with a number of our existing customers in the quarter including: Sanofi Aventis, Stanford University, Western Australia Department of Education, Saudi Aramco, Novartis, Allina Hospital, Guitar Center, Halliburton, and Chrysler.

Partners: We added 12 partners in the third quarter including Wipro, Pinneast, Dingxum in China and Kbizz in Brazil to join our existing partners IBM, HP, ACS, Comenius, and HCL among others. These partners helped us win a number of deals this quarter, including deals at Eli Lilly, Italian Ministry of Finance, Tim Cellular, and Falabella.

Business Outlook

The following statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this release. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. Saba does not undertake any obligations to update these forward-looking statements.

For fiscal year 2011, ending May 31, 2011, we are forecasting bookings to grow in the range of 14% to 16% over fiscal year 2010.

Total revenues are forecasted to be in the range of approximately $117 million to $119 million. We expect our license revenue contribution to account for approximately 16% of total revenues in fiscal year 2011. Due to the anticipated higher revenue contribution from our Saba People Cloud business, we expect GAAP net loss to range from $0.10 to $0.14 per share and non-GAAP fully diluted earnings to be in the range of $0.08 to $0.12 per share.

Fiscal year 2011 non-GAAP outlook excludes non-cash amortization of intangibles and charges related to stock-based compensation expenses.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces First Quarter Fiscal Year 2011 Results…from Saba

September 25, 2010

 

Subscription Revenue Increased 7% Year-Over-Year to $14.9 Million – First Quarter Total Revenues of $26.8 Million, Up 4% Year-Over-Year

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Saba participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation. Simply put, do not invest in any kind of HR technology without consulting with the experts first. HRchitect is here to help!

Saba, the premier provider of people systems, today reported financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended August 31, 2010.

“The first quarter increase in total revenues reflects solid growth in our subscription and professional services revenues,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. “Customers’ buying preferences in the quarter validated their enthusiasm for our advanced SaaS offerings and yielded an approximately three-fold increase in the annual contract value of new SaaS bookings over the same period last year.”

First Fiscal Quarter 2011 Results

Revenue. For the first quarter ended August 31, 2010, total revenues increased 3.9% to $26.8 million from $25.8 million in the same period of the prior year. Subscription revenue was $14.9 million, an increase of 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. License revenue was $4.5 million, a decline of 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Professional services revenue was $7.5 million, an increase of 22.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Gross Margin. Gross margin was 63.1% in the first quarter compared to 64.7% in the same period of the prior year. The gross margin reflects higher levels of subscription revenue and professional service revenue relative to license revenue.

Earnings per Share. First quarter GAAP net loss per share of $0.06 compares to fully diluted earnings per share of $0.03 in the same period of the prior year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings in the first quarter of breakeven compares to $0.07 per share in the first quarter of the prior year.

Non-GAAP results are computed by adjusting GAAP results to exclude the impact of certain items including (i) non-cash amortization of intangibles, (ii) non-cash charges related to share-based compensation expenses, and (iii) restructuring costs. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial statements accompanying this press release.

Cash. Cash generated from operations in the first quarter increased to $1.4 million from $0.7 million in the same period of the prior year. Total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter were $33.2 million, an increase of 53.8% from the end of the first quarter of the prior fiscal year.

Deferred Revenue. Deferred revenue at the end of the first fiscal quarter was $34.4 million, an increase of 11.6% from the end of the first quarter in the prior fiscal year.

Customers. Saba added 30 new customers during the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

Share Repurchase Program. In March 2010, Saba announced that its Board of Directors authorized the use of up to $5.0 million in the aggregate for the repurchase of shares of the company’s common stock. Under the share repurchase program, Saba repurchased 150,000 shares during the fiscal quarter ended August 31, 2010 and had $4.2 million available for future repurchases.

First Quarter Highlights

During the first quarter, Saba signed 30 new customers worldwide, including Cummins, Halliburton, France Telecome Espana Sa, Isuzu Australia, ITC Hotels, New Balance Athletic Shoe and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Saba also expanded existing relationships with a number of organizations worldwide, including: Baker Hughes, Bank of Tokyo, Hartford Financial Services, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Sydney Water, Six Continents Hotels, Saudi Aramco, and Solutia.

In addition, key announcements by Saba since the beginning of the first quarter include:

– Saba announced the general availability of Saba Live, its next-generation cloud-based enterprise business networking solution. Saba Live includes powerful Web 2.0 social tools integrated with Saba Centra Web Conferencing for real time collaboration. Saba Live provides users with rich personal profiles, competency-driven expertise, blended learning, secure groups and workplace analytics to deliver an unprecedented collaboration experience. Saba Live is another proof point that Saba is reinventing the collaborative Learning space.

– Saba announced its inclusion in Forbes Magazine’s ranking of “Most Trustworthy Companies” for 2010. Saba has been determined to exhibit transparent accounting and prudent management by Audit Integrity, an independent financial analytics company. The ranking is based upon more than 100 factors used to assess corporate accounting and management practices.

– Saba also announced People 2010 — Saba Global Summit. The annual meeting of Saba’s customers, partners and thought leaders will be held November 1st — 4th at the Westin Boston Waterfront. The event will feature seven conference tracks and over 70 interactive sessions, including 20 hands on workshops, and keynote speakers, including Gary Hamel, author of Leading the Revolution and Competing for the Future, professor at London Business School and “the world’s most influential business thinker” according to the Wall Street Journal. People 2010 — Saba Global Summit will be an opportunity for hundreds of participants to share best practices and coming developments in people systems.

Business Outlook

The following statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this release. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. Saba does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements in any way or for any reason.

For fiscal 2011, ending May 31, 2011, we confirm our prior guidance of total revenues between $121 million and $124 million, GAAP net earnings of $0.15 to $0.19 per share on a fully diluted basis and non-GAAP net earnings of $0.34 to $0.38 per share on a fully diluted basis. Due to customers’ seasonal spending patterns, Saba continues to expect that revenues, earnings and cash flows will be weighted more heavily towards the second half of the fiscal year.

The fiscal year 2011 non-GAAP outlook excludes non-cash amortization of intangibles and charges related to stock-based compensation expenses.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Delivers Innovative New Approach to Rewards Management with Saba Compensation …from Saba

February 6, 2010

 

Sophisticated Software Can Identify and Reward the Most Valued Employees, Not Just High Performers

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Saba participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation.

Saba, the premier people management software and services company, today announced the general availability of Saba Compensation, an easy-to-use software solution that drives more informed compensation decision-making by providing a comprehensive view of employee success. The sophisticated approach of Saba Compensation enables both compensation professionals and individual managers to make smarter spending decisions that improve performance, productivity, and talent retention rates. Among the innovations: direct access to multiple measures of success from within the compensation allocation tool, providing the ability to identify value beyond the performance review score.

Unlike today’s compensation solutions, Saba Compensation goes beyond simple pay-for-performance processes that focus only on formal review scores. Instead, Saba Compensation provides decision-makers with a rounded view of each individual by surfacing data from multiple people management processes. This helps identify employees in critical roles, high potentials, “team players,” and even those that contribute to knowledge sharing in today’s collaborative companies. The solution also includes ways to better engage employees by enabling them to surface their own reward preferences, which further boosts talent retention rates among valued employees. A number of Saba customers participated in early previews and user testing of these innovations, including Sydney Water and Graham Group, Ltd.

“Saba Compensation is very intuitive and easy to use,” said Paul Adams, reward and recognition manager at Sydney Water, Australia’s largest water and waste water utility, and a multi-award-winning employer. “We’re very pleased with Saba’s solution, which supports our know-how approach and our flexible and family-friendly work environment.”

“We need a compensation solution that not only helps us achieve compliance with our salary program guidelines, but can also help us link the accomplishments of work plans to bonus and pay increases,” said Laird Beatty, director of human resources at Graham Group, Ltd. “We want to directly motivate employees to align their work plans and performance with our compensation plans. That’s why we chose to add Saba Compensation to our existing Saba people management platform.”

“For our customers, a compensation offering that is merely a compensation worksheet for managers won’t do,” said Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO, Saba. “Saba Compensation incorporates elements of employees’ performance and value to the organization in a sophisticated way that no other compensation offering can.”

Saba Compensation is available now as part of Saba’s unified people management solutions, delivered either on-demand or on-premise.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Delivers Strong Second Quarter Fiscal 2010 Results…from Saba

January 9, 2010

 

Grows Non-GAAP EPS by 75% and Invoicing by 10% year-over-year; Increases cash balance by 77% year-over-year; Extends leadership with 30 new enterprise customers across learning, performance and talent management solutions

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Saba participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation.

Saba (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier provider of people management software and services, today reported financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2009.

“We continued to win major new customers while expanding relationships with the world’s leading global enterprises and governments. More and more enterprises are looking to Saba for unified people management solutions that drive business performance by aligning, engaging, developing, and mobilizing their people while fostering collaboration across their value chain,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. “Our record of profitable growth and momentum in winning new customers while expanding existing customer relationships underscores the validity of our growth strategy.”

Second Quarter Financial Results

  • Total revenues for the quarter ended November 30, 2009 were $27.5 million, up 6.4%, from $25.8 million in the same period of the prior year.
  • Saba Performance and Talent Management products achieved record high product bookings in the quarter, representing 12% of total product bookings in the quarter.
  • Gross margin for the quarter ended November 30, 2009 was 65.7% compared to 59.6% for the same period of the prior year.
  • GAAP net income for the quarter ended November 30, 2009 was $666,000, or $0.02 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to a loss of $355,000, or $0.01 per share, for the same period last year.
  • Non-GAAP net income for the quarter ended November 30, 2009 was $2.1 million, or $0.07 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to non-GAAP net income of $1.1 million, or $0.04 per share on a fully diluted basis, for the same period of the prior year. Non-GAAP net income excludes non-cash amortization of intangibles and charges related to stock-based compensation.
  • Cash balance for the quarter ended November 30, 2009 was $22.9 million compared to $12.9 million at the end of the same period in the prior fiscal year. Saba repurchased 1,384,920 outstanding shares of common stock for approximately $4.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
  • Saba invoiced $29.4 million in the quarter ended November 30, 2009, up 10%, compared to $26.7 million in the same period last year.

Second Quarter Business Highlights

Customers

  • Added 30 new enterprise customers bringing total new customers up to 50 during the first six months of Fiscal 2010, up from 39 new customers in first half fiscal 2009.
  • Strengthened leading base of Global 2000 customers during the quarter with wins at Baker Hughes, Bayer Healthcare, Banco Itau, McDonalds, Mars, Owens and Minor, Unicredit Group, Santander, and Saudi Aramco.
  • Expanded relationships with a number of existing large enterprise and public sector customers including 3M, Bose Corp, Synthes, Trillium Health Centre, UNUM Group, Varian Medical Systems, Kwik-Fit Group Limited, Les Hopitaux Universitaires, Blackbaud, Brinker International, Lincoln Electric Holdings, Westat, and Westinghouse Electric.
  • Saba OnDemand solutions reached a user base of over 3.6 million users, including such customers as Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT Knoxville).

Products

  • Announced major new platform release, Saba Enterprise 5.5, as the industry’s first truly unified people management platform. Saba 5.5 delivers an updated, engaging, and easy-to-use Web 2.0 user interface that visually unifies information so that, whether a user is trying to create a succession pool, start a performance review, or manage a team of employees, the view of the employee information is consistent. Users at all levels are able to make better decisions with more complete and consistent people intelligence.
  • Announced availability of Saba People Management Cloud, delivering Saba’s people management solutions on Amazon Web Services. The Saba People Management Cloud will give companies the elasticity to use as little or as many of Saba’s services as they need, while paying only for what they use, with no up-front expenses.

Awards & Recognitions

  • Recognized in Bersin & Associates Talent Management Systems 2010: Market Realities, Implementation Experiences, and Solution Provider Profiles as the market leader for enterprises with over 10,000 employees. The study touted Saba Enterprise’s extensive configurability, embedded collaboration for talent management adoption and its integrated, sophisticated, workforce planning application.
  • Recognized in the 2009 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace based on completeness of vision and ability to execute. Saba was the only vendor in the people management solutions market to receive recognition in this report.
  • Recognized for growing momentum in social software by Chief Learning Officer Magazine who bestowed a Learning in Practice Award for “Excellence in Social Networks” to the company. The Excellence in Social Networks Award recognizes providers that have deployed wikis, blogs, communities of practice, social networks and/or any other employee communication and collaboration platforms for a client in the past year.

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba People Management Cloud to Be Available on Amazon Web Services Platform…from Saba

October 22, 2009

 

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Saba participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation.

Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), the premier people management software and services provider, today announced Saba People Management Cloud, an edition of Saba’s people management solutions to be delivered on Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

By enabling Saba’s award-winning products for the Amazon cloud, large and mid-sized enterprises will be able to easily unify, engage, mobilize, and foster collaboration across their value chain while simultaneously reducing overall project implementation costs.  Amazon Web Services has become a leader in cloud computing services and provides a proven, trusted, robust, and highly scalable platform to support Saba’s On Premise and OnDemand services.

The Saba People Management Cloud will give companies the elasticity to use as few or as many of Saba’s services as they need, while paying only for what they use, with no up-front expenses. Both OnDemand and OnPremise customers will be able to take advantage of the Saba People Management Cloud as business needs dictate.

“Saba’s goal is to change the ROI equation for people management solutions by delivering a people management cloud that enables value-added services to reduce costs and increase efficiencies” said Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO of Saba. “The AWS cloud platform will allow customers to re-configure business processes to gain significant efficiencies in logistics, commerce, distribution, and other third-party services.”

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces Agenda for Its Upcoming Global Users Conference, People 2009 – Saba Global Summit…from Saba

August 27, 2009

 

80 Conference Sessions, Keynotes, Pre-Conference Training Workshops, and Daily Networking Events for Customers to Share Best Practices and Optimize Their Use of Saba Solutions

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Saba participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. Saba will compete in the HRchitect Beauty Pageant on Talent Management Systems on September 4, 2009.

If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation.

Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), the premier people management software and services provider, today announced a robust agenda for its upcoming global users conference — People 2009 – Saba Global Summit — including content-rich sessions, industry thought-leader keynotes, and hands-on training workshops. Saba’s annual gathering of customers, partners, and industry luminaries will be held October 19-22, 2009, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California. Saba customers and partners attending this event will receive valuable training and information that can help them optimize their existing Saba investments as well as implement best practices to enhance organizational performance through industry-leading people management.

During the event, attendees will have the opportunity to hear the latest market trends from industry thought leaders, interact with fellow executives from leading companies worldwide, and obtain valuable information and training on the latest Saba solutions. Customers will also have an opportunity to see and test-drive the new products that Saba plans to unveil at the event, along with the latest releases of its unified people platform, including learning, talent management, and collaboration innovations.

Latest Agenda Highlights at People 2009 – Saba Global Summit include:

Industry keynote speakers, including:

  • Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University and author or co-author of 13 management books, including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People and others.
  • Sundar Nagarathnam, Vice President of NetApp University at NetApp, which was ranked the number one best company to work for by Fortune Magazine.
  • Josh Bersin, CEO and President of Bersin & Associates, a leading resource for learning and HR decision makers seeking the latest trends and insights on enterprise learning and talent management.

80 educational breakout sessions, featuring a wide range of business and technology topics— which include more than 50 customers scheduled to share case-studies and insights about their Saba people platform implementations.

A special pre-conference training workshop, with nine new, hands-on training sessions conducted by Saba University. These popular training sessions are available to all People 2009 attendees at no extra charge.

Valuable conference networking opportunities, including Saba’s annual customer appreciation event that will offer a private viewing at San Francisco’s world-renowned Academy of Sciences. 

This year’s event also features the annual Saba Customer Excellence Awards, which recognize Saba customers who have delivered high-impact business results for their organization with Saba. Customers are encouraged to submit award nominations at Saba Customer Excellence Awards by Tuesday, September 22, 2009. Winners will be recognized during the conference in October.

“Saba’s global user conference is the premier forum for the Saba community to gather and learn how they can create the new, game-changing opportunities in people management for their organizations that will drive the next wave of innovation and business transformation,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO for Saba. “We look forward to empowering the Saba community with best-practices that will help them create a performance-driven culture that connects and engages teams to achieve organizational goals.”

For a complete People 2009 – Saba Global Summit agenda and to register, please visit http://www.sabapeople.com

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2009 Results…from Saba

July 21, 2009

 

Non-GAAP Earnings Grow 52% and Cash Increases 56% Over Prior Year

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Saba participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow. A.G. Lambert, the VP of Marketing with Saba will appear on the HRchitect WebMingle on August 14, 2009. If you are looking for a new Talent Management System, or any HR system, talk to HRchitect first. We have unparalleled knowledge of the HR and Talent Management vendor community and can save you time and money in selection and implementation.

Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), the premier provider of human capital management (HCM) solutions, today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended May 31, 2009.

“We are very pleased to report record annual non-GAAP earnings and cash generation while increasing deferred revenue and maintaining solid revenue results,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. “During the fiscal year, we achieved several key milestones as we strengthened our overall business model. We successfully streamlined our business to better match to our profitability objectives, signed a record number of new OnDemand customers, grew our total recurring revenues year over year and extended our partner relationships with the addition of IBM’s software group and Hewlett-Packard, as well as a number of regional alliance partners.”

Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2009 Results
Fiscal fourth quarter revenue was $25.6 million compared to $28.2 million in the same period of the prior year. For the year ended May 31, 2009, revenue was $102.8 million compared to $107.8 million in the prior year. Assuming constant foreign currency rates, revenue in both the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 would have remained substantially similar to the revenue in the comparable periods of the prior fiscal year.

On a GAAP basis, net loss for the fourth quarter was $1.1 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to a net loss of $310,000, or $0.01 per share, for the same period of the prior year. GAAP net loss for the year ended May 31, 2009 improved by $1.2 million to $2.4 million, or $0.08 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.12 per share, for the prior year. Fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 GAAP net loss included non-cash tax charges related to a prior acquisition of $1.2 million and $1.4 million, respectively.

On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the fourth quarter increased by $0.2 million to $2.2 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to $2.0 million, or $0.07 per share, for the same period of the prior year. Non-GAAP net income for the year ended May 31, 2009 improved by $2.2 million to $6.5 million, or $0.22 per share, from $4.3 million, or $0.15 per share, in the prior year.

Non-GAAP results are computed by adjusting GAAP results to exclude the impact of certain items including (i) non-cash amortization of intangibles, (ii) non-cash charges related to share-based compensation expenses, (iii) costs incurred related to potential strategic transactions that are no longer under consideration, (iv) restructuring costs, and (v) certain non-cash acquisition-related tax expenses. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial statements accompanying this press release.

Cash balances increased 56% year over year to $26.0 million at fiscal year end. Deferred revenue at May 31, 2009 increased 13% to $35.3 million from $31.3 million at the end of the prior fiscal year.

Fourth Quarter Highlights
During the fourth quarter, Saba signed new customer contracts and expanded existing relationships with a number of organizations worldwide, including Autofin, AXA, Brinker International, City of Houston, Deloitte, Finning International, Grupo Comercial Chedraui, Liebherr Worldwide, Telekom Malaysia, Petróleo Brasileiro, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, The Indian Hotels Company Limited, U.S. Army, and Unum Group.

In addition, key announcements by Saba in the fourth quarter included: 

  • An expanded relationship with IBM pursuant to which IBM will offer a new Learning Accelerator for WebSphere Portal that is based on Saba Learning. As part of this relationship, IBM announced that customers with active maintenance agreements for IBM Lotus Learning Management System or IBM Workplace Collaborative Learning will be entitled to Saba Learning licenses, provided they purchase support for Saba Learning from Saba.
  • The appointment of Jeff Carr as President of Global Field Operations, assuming responsibility for the company’s worldwide field operations, including sales, professional services, alliances and customer success. Carr’s extensive experience includes executive roles with PeopleSoft and Taleo.
  • Saba’s recognition as the provider with the most experience in large-scale implementations, according to the recently published Bersin & Associates study, LMS and Learning Platforms 2009: Facts, Practical Analysis, Trends, and Provider Profiles.

Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights
Saba signed 98 new enterprise customers, including Haier, Aircel, Vodafone Australia, Canada National Department of Defense, Media Saturn, Future Electronics, Sonic Automotive, Arvin Meritor, Sydney Water and BDO Stoy Hayward. 

  • Existing customers continued to standardize on Saba across the enterprise, including HP, Cisco, Intel, US Army, Ministerio De Defensa de España, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Petróleo Brasileiro. Approximately 50% of product bookings came from our existing customers as they continued to expand their use of Saba.
  • Saba OnDemand exceeded the three million user mark and continues to demonstrate superior scalability with 15 global deployments each having more than 50,000 users, seven of which have more than 100,000 users.
  • Saba shipped new releases of Saba Centra and Saba Enterprise. The latest release of Saba Enterprise advances the value of unified people management with new talent, learning and performance management innovations. Saba Centra has new features to better support enterprise expertise sharing, including RSS publishing, one-click knowledge capture and enhanced evaluation and learning event administration.
  • Saba also announced a number of industry accolades and awards garnered by its product offerings, including:
    • Saba was positioned in Leaders Quadrant of the Gartner 2008 Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems;
    • In the Bersin & Associates two part study, The Essential Guide to Performance Management Practices and The Essential Guide to Employee Performance Management Systems, Saba received the highest possible rating in all six core performance management areas;
    • Saba received the top award in the “Excellence in LMS” category of Chief Learning Offer Magazine’s Learning in Practice Awards; and
    • Saba received a Bersin & Associates Learning Leaders’ Award for vendor innovation, which recognized the Saba Knowledge Center for its ability to deliver Web 2.0 collaboration.

 For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Expands Relationship with IBM Around People Management…from Saba

May 12, 2009

 

HRchitect featured Saba in our May 2008 release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. A.G. Lambert, VP of Marketing with Saba also will participate in the HRchitect WebMingle in August 2009.

Saba Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: SABA) and IBM today announced that they are working together to help businesses harness and develop talent.

The companies are combining expertise to offer organizations a threefold approach to people management. This includes human capital management services and consulting from IBM and advanced enterprise learning solutions from Saba. In addition, IBM will offer a new Learning Accelerator for WebSphere Portal that is based on Saba Learning.

The combination of IBM and Saba can help businesses save time and money by reusing the same IT infrastructure for learning that is used for their corporate intranet and extranet. In addition, enterprises can capitalize on the many opportunities for informal and formal learning created by the “always on,” collaborative and social networking-focused culture of today’s businesses. By combining learning opportunities with portal-based collaboration, employees, customers and partners can participate in broader informal learning channels, making them more effective and productive.

“Effective human capital management strategies and tools are critical to improving the employee skill base and facilitating team collaboration, which ultimately helps an organization align workforce and business strategy to create high-performance people, while managing administrative costs,” said Tim Ringo, global leader,  IBM Human Capital Management practice.

“IBM’s approach of combining our industry-leading portal software and Human Capital Management consulting services with Saba’s world-class learning software is a winning combination for our customers,” added Larry Bowden, vice president of portals and mashups, IBM Lotus.

“Saba looks forward to expanding our relationship with IBM to offer our proven learning management solutions and expertise to the Lotus community,” said Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO for Saba. “With Saba, Lotus customers will have a robust platform to improve key business processes, increase revenues, and reduce costs.”

As part of Saba’s unified people management platform, Saba Learning is a comprehensive management system for formal and informal learning that enables organizations to identify, manage, develop, and measure the capabilities and knowledge of people throughout an enterprise, as well as empower them to connect and contribute their expertise. Saba Learning provides organizations with leading capabilities for catalog and curriculum management; compliance, continuing education, and competency management; for-profit training; content development and management; virtual learning; informal learning; and collaboration.

IBM Global Business Services’ worldwide human capital management practice provides advisory and implementation services to enable enterprise performance through improved workforce effectiveness. The IBM Workforce & Talent Solutions (WTS) offering integrates services from Human Capital Management practice with a wide range of tools, technologies, and IBM Research projects, including Saba’s learning and people management applications. WTS is the first holistic offering in the talent management marketplace that addresses the science of people management throughout the entire employee lifecycle.

Since Saba and IBM support open standards, Saba’s learning capabilities can be surfaced in context within WebSphere Portal. This combination can also be expanded to other IBM collaboration tools allowing people to easily locate experts, share information and participate in broader communities of interest.

When Saba’s learning capabilities are coupled with WebSphere Portal, businesses can empower employees to work smarter. The personalization capabilities of a portal can display customized views of the applications and information a person needs based on their job role. Surfacing formal learning opportunities within this context can help employees relate what they are learning to the task at hand. In addition, portals help make learning easier by putting content in a context where it is most meaningful to end users.

Customers with active maintenance agreements for IBM Lotus Learning Management System or IBM Workplace Collaborative Learning will be entitled to Saba Learning licenses at no charge. Participating clients will be required to purchase support for Saba Learning from Saba.

Customers with active maintenance agreements for IBM Lotus Learning Management System or IBM Workplace Collaborative Learning will be entitled to Saba Learning licenses at no charge provided they purchase support for Saba Learning from Saba.

For more information on IBM WebSphere Portal: www.ibm.com/software/lotus/portal/value
For more information on IBM Human Capital Management Services:
www.ibm.com/gbs/humancapital 

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Appoints Jeff Carr President of Global Field Operations…from Saba

April 13, 2009

 

HRchitect includes Saba in our list of top Learning Management Systems and top Talent Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider.

 

Saba Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:SABA), the premier people management software and services provider, today announced that it has appointed Jeff Carr as its new President of Global Field Operations. Reporting to Saba’s CEO and Chairman, Bobby Yazdani, Carr will assume responsibility for the company’s worldwide field operations, including sales, professional services, alliances and customer success.

 

A seasoned Human Capital Management (HCM) software executive, Carr brings to Saba more than 25 years of experience in global enterprise software and on-demand sales, marketing, services and global operations from a number of leading public and private companies. Prior to joining Saba, Carr served as Executive Vice President at Taleo where he had responsibility for global sales, alliances and customer success programs. During his tenure, Carr helped deliver record revenues and margins and served as a key driver behind the company’s strategy and corporate direction over the last four years.

 

“As worldwide demand for Saba’s solutions continues to grow, Jeff’s deep expertise in enterprise software, SaaS, and the human capital management industry, along with his proven track record of driving profitable growth, make him a great addition to our management team,” said Bobby Yazdani, CEO and chairman at Saba. “Jeff is a talented executive who brings a great balance of strategic experience and strong execution skills, and I look forward to working with him to drive the continued growth of Saba.”

 

Carr’s extensive HCM experience includes nine years with PeopleSoft, Inc., where he ran a number of sales teams and business units and later served as a Division President and then EVP, worldwide marketing, strategy and emerging markets. Carr has also served as CEO of Motiva, Inc., a leader in the Enterprise Incentive Management industry and as President and COO of RightWorks Corporation, a leading provider of B2B business applications. Carr began his enterprise software career in sales at human resource management pioneer Integral Systems.

 

“Saba has a great customer base and a new generation people management suite in the strategic human capital management market – with the ability to serve customers in either an on-demand or on-premise delivery model,” said Carr. “I’m really looking forward to working with Bobby and the team at Saba to further develop field operations and strategic partnerships to support the ongoing needs of our growing global customer base. It’s an exciting time to join the company as organizations of all sizes and industries are increasingly realizing how people management solutions and platforms can help them increase revenues, accelerate performance, reduce costs, mitigate risk and transform the way they compete in today’s global economy.”

 

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

  

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Saba Announces Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2009 Results…from Saba

April 5, 2009

 

HRchitect includes Saba in our list of top Talent Management Systems vendors and top Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider.

 

Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), the premier people management software and services provider, recently reported financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2009 ended February 28, 2009.

 

Third Quarter Results

Total revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 were $26.1 million compared to $27.4 million in the same quarter last year. OnDemand revenue increased to $5.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 from $4.6 million in the prior year while license revenue of $4.7 million was $1.3 million below the prior year, product support of $8.5 million approximated prior year levels and consulting revenue at $7.6 million was $0.7 million below the prior year.

 

On a GAAP basis, net earnings increased to $1.3 million, or $0.05 per share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 compared to net earnings of $158,000, or $0.01 per share, in the same quarter last year. On a non-GAAP basis, net income in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 increased to $3.2 million, or $0.11 per share, from net income of $1.7 million, or $0.06 per share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2008.

 

Non-GAAP results are computed by adjusting GAAP results to exclude the impact of certain restructuring activity and non-cash charges related to acquisition accounting and share-based compensation. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial statements accompanying this press release.

 

“During the third quarter, we continued to improve the overall profitability of the company as well as our operating cash flow,” said Bobby Yazdani, Chairman and CEO of Saba. “Our focus remains profitable growth, customer success and building our distribution channels worldwide.”

 

Third Quarter Highlights

During the third quarter of fiscal year 2009, Saba added or expanded relationships with a number of organizations worldwide, including: Allianz, Athens Technology Center, BDO Stoy Hayward, Canada School of Public Service, HP, Gwinnett County, L-3 Communications, McDonald’s, Medtronic, Ministerio De Defensa Spain, Nomura Research Institute and the Queensland Government Department of Education.

 

Saba also announced that Saba OnDemand now serves more than three million users globally and continues to demonstrate superior scalability through 15 global deployments with more than 50,000 users, seven of which have more than 100,000 users. Customers include Internal Revenue Service, AstraZeneca, Kaiser Permanente and Cisco.

 

Saba also received several accolades during the third quarter. The company received a Bersin & Associates Learning Leaders Award for vendor innovation, which recognized the Saba Knowledge Center for its ability to deliver Web 2.0 collaboration. Saba was also positioned in the Visionaries Quadrant of the 2009 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management Software.

 

Business Outlook

The following statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this release. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. Saba does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements in any way or for any reason.

 

For fiscal year 2009, prior GAAP net earnings guidance will be impacted by a restructuring charge estimated at $0.01 per share for fiscal 2009 and a charge to non-cash compensation of $0.02 per share in connection with an amendment to existing stock options to extend the term of the options from six years to ten years. GAAP guidance including these charges will range from a loss of $0.05 to $0.10 per share. Saba is maintaining its prior non-GAAP net earnings guidance range of $0.18 per share to $0.23 per share.

 

The fiscal year 2009 non-GAAP outlook excludes the estimated non-cash amortization of intangibles (approximately $3.7 million), estimated charges related to share-based compensation expenses including the impact of extending the life of underwater options (approximately $2.7 million), costs incurred related to potential strategic transactions that were not completed (approximately $0.7 million), costs incurred for a restructuring (approximately $0.4 million) and estimated non-cash acquisition-related tax expenses (approximately $0.6 million).

 

For more information on Saba, please visit www.saba.com

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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