Most Users in the Cloud, SuccessFactors Completes Acquisition of Plateau…from SuccessFactors

June 30, 2011

 

Combining two clear market leaders to create the broadest SaaS HCM suite, with the largest R&D budget and go-to-market force in our market

HRchitect featured SuccessFactors in our release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Matt Lafata and Tiffany Appleby from HRchitect attended and sponsored the SuccessConnect event in San Francisco in May 2011.

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!

SuccessFactors, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFSF), the global leader in business execution software, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Plateau Systems, the leading learning management system (LMS) and Content-as-a-Service (CaaS) provider. Watch this video to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFS_vFedfjA

“We have seen tremendous, four times bigger than expected, immediate deal interest from existing and new customers since we announced the acquisition, reinforcing our belief that this combination is an important tipping point for the industry, and will drive great growth for SuccessFactors. Since the announcement, large Plateau customers have invited us to meet with them from the West Coast of the US to Northern Europe because they were impressed with our combined scale, exclusive cloud-offering, and passionate, experienced team,” said Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO, SuccessFactors.

“Now that Plateau and SuccessFactors are officially one, and what we believe to be the strongest cloud-HCM company, with what we believe is the largest R&D investment, the biggest cloud-operations, infrastructure, support, service and go-to-market force, our whole combined organization is ecstatic to accelerate delivery of products to our customers. Plateau’s people are such pros, we are grateful to be together, leading this combined once-in-a-lifetime platform, into one of the biggest remaining application markets, to accelerate the thrust to love work again, and to execute better on business strategies, through people,” Dalgaard continued.

Through its acquisitions and speed of innovation over the past 12 months, SuccessFactors has continued to build on its core Business Execution (BizX) solutions to revolutionize the market. Combining Plateau with SuccessFactors makes the company the only SaaS provider to offer a robust suite of recruiting, on-boarding, performance management, compensation, variable pay, 360 review, content-as-a-service, core HR as the employee system of record and foundation, workforce analytics and reporting, collaboration, and now with Jambok, and Plateau, formal, informal and social learning. This is a merger of two companies that are experts in serving large enterprise customers. From initial estimates, SuccessFactors and Plateau have combined subscription seats of approximately 15 million in the cloud, the most in our industry.

SuccessFactors Sets a New Standard in Learning

SuccessFactors Learning (formerly Plateau’s LMS) is a core part of SuccessFactors’ Business Execution (BizX) Suite, and it provides comprehensive learning solutions that uniquely combine formal and informal practices. SuccessFactors now delivers an unmatched set of formal, informal, social, collaboration, mobile, content management and analytics capabilities in the cloud to help business leaders advance the workforce by improving employee skills, ensuring compliance and aligning organizational objectives.

SuccessFactors Learning combines best-in-class LMS with: 

  • Social Learning and Collaboration – SuccessFactors Social Learning brings a Facebook- and YouTube-like experience to corporate learning, making it easy for anyone in the organization to share their expertise, connect with communities, and quickly find the information they need to get things done.
  • Content-as-a-Service – SuccessFactors iContent uniquely provides content distribution and management in the cloud as a service, taking the headache and hassle out of managing digital learning assets, from online courseware to on-demand presentations and video, and provide learners with reliable, high-quality on-demand access to both off-the-shelf and custom content.
  • Authoritative Insight – Comprehensive reporting and analytics gives HR and learning leaders authoritative insight about the state of their talent and talent development initiatives.

“I truly believe that we’re witnessing one of the most important changes in the HCM industry right now as Plateau is joining SuccessFactors,” said Paul Sparta, founder and CEO of Plateau Systems. “Never before have customers had the opportunity to completely integrate learning with talent management, recruiting and core HR, all in the cloud. I’m excited to be a part of this movement.”

SuccessFactors is a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management, while Plateau is a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems. Plateau is also the clear Learning Leader in the recent Forrester Wave for Integrated Talent Management.

For more information on SuccessFactors, please visit www.successfactors.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Earns Top Spot in Talent Management Systems Evaluation by Independent Research Firm…from Plateau

May 29, 2011

 

Cited as “The Learning Leader” in Comprehensive Analysis of Current Offerings

HRchitect featured Plateau in our release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems and Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Jeff Kristick, Sr. VP Marketing of Plateau Systems appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on April 3, 2009.  

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!

Plateau Systems has been positioned as a “Leader” in the The Forrester Wave™: Talent Management, Q2 2011, published this week (May 23, 2011) by Forrester Research, Inc. Plateau achieved positioning in the Leaders Waves across Performance, Learning and Integrated Performance and Learning, and was cited as “the Learning Leader” in the report.

The report states: “In Forrester’s 108-criteria evaluation of talent management vendors that offer suites for both learning and performance, we found that Plateau edged out [the other evaluated vendors] for the top spot. Plateau’s stellar core learning functionality, coupled with advancements in performance management, boosted it to the top of the Leader category.”

The Plateau Talent Management Suite allows HR leaders and managers to bring the best out of their people — by automating and improving key talent management processes, delivering ongoing learning and development, and providing critical insight about the workforce.

“Plateau has been recognized as a leader in talent management, and was cited as the learning leader, one of the most critical aspects of talent management,” said Paul Sparta, chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “I’m immensely proud of the technology innovation and customer support that are behind our position as a leader in the Forrester Wave.”

Plateau recently entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by SuccessFactors, the global leader in business execution cloud-based SaaS software, which is expected to close in summer 2011. Following the close of the acquisition, Plateau Learning and other products will be integrated with SuccessFactors’ BizX suite.

“The newest industry assessment of who is strongest in Learning brings tears to our eyes at SuccessFactors, and warrants our investment thesis. Reorganization that Plateau ‘edged out [the other evaluated vendors]‘ and words like ‘stellar core learning functionality’ shows that our acquisition combines the clear best-in-class in Learning, with SuccessFactors’ best-in-class Talent Management. No. 1 and no. 1 respectively joining hands to provide total cradle-to-grave people applications, including hiring and onboarding, the system of record for content, formal, informal and social learning, and all talent management, social and collaboration, and reporting and analytics — delivered in the cloud in every part of the world,” said Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors. “I’d like to congratulate Paul and his team for achieving this recognition as a Leader from Forrester Research, and I personally can’t wait to start working with them as part of the SuccessFactors team.”

Dalgaard continued, “That Plateau was also recognized as the leader in combined Performance and Learning shows us that their expertise extends beyond just learning to master the key integration points and data flows that encompass an end-to-end employee engagement platform, and that this problem has already been figured out in the best possible way for our customers to enjoy. In fact, the first integrated customers are live and we are excited about the many new customers that have called us already in anticipation of what is to come in combining Plateau and SuccessFactors.”

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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SuccessFactors to Acquire Enterprise Learning Leader Solidifies Position as the HCM cloud-based SaaS Market Leader…from SuccessFactors

April 26, 2011

 

Acquisition fills an urgent need requested by SuccessFactors customers

HRchitect featured SuccessFactors in our release of The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management and also includes them in our list of top Talent Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. HRchitect is proud to sponsor the 2011 SuccessConnect event in San Francisco.

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!

SuccessFactors, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFSF), the global leader in business execution cloud-based SaaS software, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Plateau, the leading learning management system (LMS), a Next Generation Portal technology, and CaaS- Content as a Service. This acquisition forms a symbiotic combination with SuccessFactors’ acquisition of social video mobile learning provider Jambok.

Customers will now have the ability to further increase employee development and business execution by implementing a comprehensive social and traditional learning strategy that includes evangelizing internal experts, utilizing easy-to-use video creation and sharing tools, as well as managing, developing, and deploying online, instructor-led and self-study training. 

“I first met Paul Sparta, CEO of Plateau, 8 years ago, and what struck me, and has stayed with me, more so than any founder or CEO whom I have met in our industry, was how seriously and incredibly committed he was to two key drivers: 1) his customers’ success through superior product and domain expertise; and 2) building a financially strong and profitable business,” said Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors. “With more than 15 million combined users, and the biggest R&D budget and largest domain expertise, in the HCM cloud-based SaaS industry, we can compete more effectively with some of the incumbent HCM vendors’ total suite, and continue to surprise and excite customers with the next decade of innovations.”

“Plateau will accelerate SuccessFactors’ strategy markedly. SuccessFactors’ game-plan’s four key drivers will all be strengthened substantially: 1) customers achieving better results through the SuccessFactors suite, expertise and commitment; 2) building for great cash profitability; 3) continuing to build towards one of the SaaS cloud-based HCM industry’s strongest global customer and sales field force; and 4) offering a leading comprehensive suite of relevant and proven Business Execution applications. Like SuccessFactors, Plateau has had success with the biggest and most complex customers, including Plateau’s long time customer General Electric, and this makes Plateau the best choice for SuccessFactors, and we believe an excellent choice for customers, and prospects,” Dalgaard continued.

“SuccessFactors approaches integrated talent management in an innovative way that really impacts our business,” said Carol Anderson Chief Learning Officer at Marriott International, Inc.   “With the additions of Plateau’s LMS and Jambok’s social learning technology, SuccessFactors is clearly changing the market and offering a unique advantage to its customers.”

“Plateau has a long history of delivering innovation and has consistently been recognized in the top 1 or 2 position as a leader in LMS from analysts during the last couple of years, including Forrester, Gartner, IDC and Bersin & Associates.  Plateau is also recognized for its industry-leading levels of customer satisfaction, and what made an acquisition of this size possible is that Plateau’s renewal rates are at approximately 99 percent. We have been overwhelmed by the number of customers globally who have requested LMS, specifically on SuccessFactors’ enterprise platform. We estimate 80 percent of our sales force has active opportunities, and customers have specifically identified having Plateau’s industry-leading LMS on SuccessFactors’ platform as particularly desirable, which has helped to reduce the financial risk,” Dalgaard continued.

“Plateau has been recognized for its traction in SaaS, and technologically.  SuccessFactors and Plateau are more alike than any other platforms. We think the fact that Plateau, like SuccessFactors, is built using Enterprise Java, J2EE, also reduces the execution risk and thus, helped make the case for this acquisition a lot more compelling. Since J2EE is delivered with a focus on interoperability, portability and true enterprise class scalability, both teams anticipate a cleaner and smoother code assimilation. SuccessFactors has set achievable, yet aggressive, timeframes to fully integrate Plateau’s LMS solution,” said Aaron Au, co-founder and CTO of SuccessFactors.

“Plateau has many great team-members who are excited to join forces with us to deliver a robust HCM SaaS offering to companies everywhere,” Dalgaard continued. “Their track record, customers, team members, recognition, recurring revenue stream, existing demand and real pipeline, and extraordinary smorgasbord of innovation were enough to do the acquisition. Add Plateau’s strong presence in the Federal business, and the pharmaceutical industry, the excitement and strength of the Plateau team and its new “Flex” UI that both companies see as innovative to the industry, and the acquisition became a lot more valuable.”

“Plateau’s solutions are designed to help companies improve organizations’ operations across the board by providing employees, executives, and the extended enterprise clear visibility and access to the information and learning needed to perform effectively.  In practice this includes managing learning, compliance, goals, positions, compensation and many other aspects of an organization,” said Paul Sparta, chairman and CEO, Plateau.  “Plateau’s strategy fits hand-in-glove with the broad strategy of SuccessFactors’ Business Execution.  Where SuccessFactors and Plateau have common approaches to many parts of the HCM lifecycle historically, we are now positioned exceptionally well to quickly unify what is common and more heavily invest in the kinds of innovation the market has yet to see in HCM.”

“In short, I am personally relishing the opportunity to work with some of the great minds that SuccessFactors has now assembled.  I very much look forward to sharing it with the world in the coming months,” Sparta continued.

Through its acquisitions over the past year, SuccessFactors has continued to build on its core BizX solution and revolutionize the market. This acquisition extends the company’s leadership by enhancing its current career and development planning offerings, integrating the entire employee lifecycle experience, as well as positioning the company as the leader in the HCM cloud-based SaaS market. Based on initial estimates, the combined companies will have more than 15 million users.

“Learning and development is an integral part of the entire employee lifecycle starting with the on-boarding process and how quickly new employees can be productive,” said Karie Willyerd, vice president of learning and social adoption, SuccessFactors, and founder and CEO of Jambok. “Historically the primary role of a learning management system was to reduce the cost of training and training administration, improve compliance, provide a platform to improve employee skills and time to competency, and to standardize processes and content.  At SuccessFactors, we are moving beyond these ‘core’ drivers of learning to now address business performance and aligning business goals and skill requirements with learning and development, using cutting-edge SaaS technologies.”

Plateau brings more than 350 customers to SuccessFactors. After the deal closes, Plateau’s SaaS based LMS will be integrated directly into SuccessFactors’ BizX suite providing deeper opportunities for companies to bridge the execution gap by more effectively on-boarding, training, certifying, and linking learning to overall performance, goals, and employee engagement.

“This is, in my opinion, a merger of true leaders. SuccessFactors and Plateau are both thought leaders, product leaders and service leaders,” says Lisa Rowan, program director, HR, Talent, and Learning Strategies for IDC. “Plateau emerged as a leader this year in IDC’s annual MarketScape on Integrated Talent Management joining SuccessFactors there. A big part of Plateau’s ascension is the satisfaction of the Plateau client base. “

“In today’s fast-paced business environment, organizations need to rapidly integrate their systems for employee hiring, management, and development into a strategic process,” said Josh Bersin, President and CEO of Bersin & Associates, a leading analyst firm in corporate learning and human resources.  “SuccessFactors’ acquisition of Plateau brings together the market share leader in talent management with one of the market leaders in learning management to create a global powerhouse in end-to-end talent management software.”

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, SuccessFactors will pay $145 million in cash plus $145 million in stock, approximately $15 million is for employee stock options and RSUs, for Plateau. The acquisition is subject to various closing conditions, including filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and the issuance of a permit from the California Department of Corporations, and is currently expected to close during summer 2011.

 For more information on SuccessFactors, please visit www.successfactors.com
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Positioned in “Leaders Quadrant” of Leading Industry Analyst Firm’s 2009 Corporate Learning Systems Magic Quadrant…from Plateau

September 23, 2009

 

Company’s Focus on Customer Success Makes Plateau Highly Attractive to Customers Deploying Global Learning and Talent Management Solutions

HRchitect featured Plateau 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 Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Plateau participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow2009 event. Jeff Kristick, Sr. VP Marketing of Plateau Systems appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on April 3, 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.

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of enterprise-class SaaS solutions for talent management, today announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned Plateau in the Leaders Quadrant of its recently released “Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems (CLS).” This year’s report evaluated 17 vendors in the corporate learning systems market based on Gartner‘s assessment of their “Ability to execute” and “Completeness of Vision.”

“We are pleased that Gartner recognizes Plateau, which we believe is for our market strength and leadership in consistently conceiving and delivering thoughtful, flexible learning and talent management solutions that allow customers to solve real workplace challenges,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “Our recent launch of Plateau Talent Gateway further demonstrates Plateau’s thought leadership and highlights our ability to understand how emerging technologies, like social networking, are relevant to learning and how they can translate into business value for our customers. As the first talent management solution to fuse a complete talent profile with a social networking and portal platform, and link it directly to Plateau’s Talent Management Suite, Plateau Talent Gateway has the potential to transform the learning industry and further bolster Plateau’s position in the market.”

Gartner identifies Leaders as those vendors who “not only meet the market’s current requirements, which are continually changing, but also anticipate future requirements. Vendors must also articulate how they will address these requirements as part of a vision for an expanded CLS. In addition, Leaders have a track record of financial performance and an established market presence. Their installed base gives them a strong presence in the CLS market, and they demonstrate continued growth in customers and revenue. The market perceives Leaders as thought leaders, with well articulated plans for product development, marketing and channel support. Leaders have the highest combined scores for Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. These strategic providers will continue to drive the market forward by broadening their CLS functions and integration. Buyers can expect that, as a group, Leaders will be considered as part of most new product purchases and will continue to have high success rates in winning new business.”

According to Gartner, “The CLS market has shifted from a relatively narrow software market focused on supporting training or e-learning to the creation of broader social learning platforms. These platforms make learning more integral to the actual work that people do. In particular, advanced learning and development (L&D) programs now focus on increasing business performance and creating communities of learners who teach each other, often on the job within the task that the learner needs to perform.”

Dovetailing with Gartner‘s views on how social networking is transforming learning, Plateau Talent Gateway brings the best of social networking, portal, and Web 2.0 technologies together in a single solution and provides 80 drag-and-drop tools including blogs, wikis, discussion groups, digital asset libraries, expert location and RSS feeds — made available through configurable, standards-based JSR 286 portlets. Organizations are deploying this collaborative solution to drive workforce productivity and innovation, facilitate information-sharing and employee collaboration and extend formal, informal and just-in-time learning activities inter- and intra- enterprise-wide.

Today, more than 10 million users across 250 organizations, including the largest corporate, non-profit and government learning institutions, have adopted Plateau’s learning and talent management solutions to optimize employee performance and increase workforce productivity.

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Talent Gateway Harness the Power of Social Media/Networking to Deliver Business Value…from Plateau

September 4, 2009

 

New Offering Provides a Broad Set of Collaboration Tools that Allow Customers to Maximize their Talent Management Investments and Initiatives

HRchitect featured Plateau 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 Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Plateau participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow2009 event. Jeff Kristick, Sr. VP Marketing of Plateau Systems appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on April 3, 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.

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of enterprise-class SaaS solutions for talent management, announced the availability of Plateau Talent Gateway, the industry’s first comprehensive set of flexible, portable web-based communication, social, and knowledge-sharing tools that customers can utilize to make talent management more accessible and available across the enterprise. By embedding the most current and relevant social networking, portal, content, and Web 2.0 tools and making them available to users directly from within the product, Plateau Talent Gateway allows organizations to drive workforce productivity and innovation, facilitate information-sharing and employee collaboration and extend formal, informal and just-in-time learning initiatives across the enterprise.

“Plateau Talent Gateway is a natural extension of our current product set and validates Plateau’s commitment to delivering thoughtful and practical solutions that allow our customers to extract maximum value from their existing talent management assets,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “Social networking technologies are significantly impacting the way people interact in the workplace, from creating online communities and sharing knowledge, to locating subject matter experts. With the Talent Gateway, we have introduced a solution that allows customers to easily transform those powerful tools into solutions that address real workforce issues like employee on-boarding, job transitioning, project collaboration, and informal learning. By making it possible for customers to harness the power of social networking in the workplace, we are increasing the value of their talent management investments.”

Tangible Benefits
Delivered as part of Plateau’s core Talent Management Suite, Plateau Talent Gateway provides a rich set of collaboration and social networking tools that customers can utilize to realize a number of direct benefits, including: 

  • Increased innovation – Plateau Talent Gateway provides a venue where employees and partners can find experts, share knowledge and connect on key topics. Dedicated sites can be easily created and configured to serve virtually any purpose – from employee on-boarding to new product launches and project team creation. All sites can all be configured, personalized and managed by end-users.
  • Improved productivity – Forrester Research estimates that: “Formal learning works for 20% of learning needs, while informal learning handles the other 80%.” Recognizing that the majority of learning occurs outside of formal learning programs, Plateau Talent Gateway provides an environment where user-driven content can be shared, enhanced, commented on and rated, with the goal of increasing workforce efficiency and productivity. Users can quickly post questions, documents, best practices, and easily locate experts and information to make them more productive. This comprehensive informal learning functionality complements and extends the powerful formal learning capabilities found in the Plateau Talent Management Suite.
  • Greater collaboration and knowledge transfer – With the economy slowing the hiring rate at many companies, employers are being required to do more with less and are having to cross-train employees to take on expanded responsibilities. Plateau Talent Gateway provides access to extensive collaboration and social networking tools that can be used to facilitate job transitioning and project collaboration. Its end-user driven environment is designed to capture all forms of best practices, facilitate discussion forums, create online communities and locate experts.

“When looking for a system to support social learning – or any other corporate community – it is important to select a system that can support an evolving strategy. With its underlying portal technology, open architecture, and generous set of out-of-the-box portlets and web services, Plateau’s new Talent Gateway is the very definition of flexibility,” said Josh Bersin, CEO and president of Bersin & Associates. “Plateau customers now have the option to build a true learning and talent portal – a friendly, one-stop face for their learning and talent platform. Or, they can bring learning and talent processes to any other platform in the organization’s infrastructure – closer to where work happens.”

Standards-based Portlets
End-users can quickly and easily organize the Plateau Talent Gateway by utilizing more than 80 drag-and-drop communication tools including blogs, message boards, wikis, discussion groups, digital asset libraries, document libraries, and RSS feeds made available through configurable portlets.

Plateau Talent Gateway is built to the JSR 268 specification, which allows users to deploy the portlets in the Plateau Talent Gateway and in any other Java-based portal that supports this standard. They can also embed JSR 268-compliant portals in the Talent Gateway. This standards-based approach simplifies development and promotes asset reuse, underscoring Plateau’s commitment to delivering flexible and open solutions that expedite time to market and reduce maintenance costs.

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Systems Unveils Latest Version of Industry Leading Talent Management Suite…from Plateau Systems

June 16, 2009

 

Plateau Talent Management Suite Version 6.1 Highlights Include New Organizational Dashboards, Enhanced Performance Review Capabilities and a Streamlined User Interface

HRchitect featured Plateau 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 Learning Management Systems vendors that businesses should consider. Plateau participated in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow2009 event. Jeff Kristick, Sr. VP Marketing of Plateau Systems appeared on the HRchitect WebMingle on April 3, 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.

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced the latest release of the company’s industry leading talent management suite. Featuring new, powerful and flexible talent planning capabilities, Plateau Talent Management Suite version 6.1 takes talent management to the next level by enabling organizations to implement an effective talent management strategy that will engage, develop and retain high performing workforces and create operational efficiencies that help organizations maximize their investment in talent management initiatives.

Plateau Talent Management Suite version 6.1 is an enterprise class on-demand application that consists of Plateau Learning, Plateau Performance, Plateau Compensation and Plateau Career and Succession Planning. Plateau OnDemand is in use by over 2.5 million users worldwide with some of the largest software-as-a-service deployments in the talent management space including six production customers with over 100,000 users each. This release introduces significant usability advancements and offers innovative tools for end users, managers, and organizational owners to better align individual development and performance with the achievement of corporate business goals. Specific product highlights include: 

  • Organizational Dashboards introduce key functionality that allows managers to have a finger on the pulse of the organization, enabling them to be proactive in providing the direction and actions required to meet company initiatives, maintain compliance, and meet goals and deadlines.
  • Enhanced Performance Review Capabilities that streamline processes and provide more efficient and effective navigation, simplifying the performance review process for both users and supervisors.
  • Streamlined User Interface provides a reorganized interface integrating the entire talent management application, effectively breaking down the barriers that exist between different areas of the application. The home page provides a launching pad for talent management processes, and includes new features that allow for easier access to common tasks, your to do list, and key performance indicators for important talent management processes.

“The talent management challenges facing today’s organizations are complex and rapidly changing,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. “The complexities of today’s economic environment necessitate organizations to better align the goals and development of individuals with the overall strategy and goals of the company. This alignment will maximize productivity gains while increasing operational efficiencies across the organization. Our latest release arms users with the information and enhancements they need to quickly address these challenges.”

According to recent research from Gartner , “Talent Management application investment can help, in the short term, to improve employee productivity and lower costs while reducing risks in critical roles. …Short-term investments in talent management applications build the foundation for longer-term benefits by enabling organizations to understand how talent-related investments drive specific business outcomes….Enterprises face significant talent challenges, yet HR organizations have difficulty building a strong business case for talent management application investments. The current economic challenges make it more important for HR organizations to focus more on short-term productivity improvement and cost and risk reduction, in addition to the longer-term strategic value.”

Availability
Plateau Talent Management Suite 6.1 will be generally available next month, and will be available on-demand or on-premise. Additional information on the features available in Plateau Talent Management Suite 6.1 is available online at http://www.plateau.com/6.1. For more information on Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Delivers Twelfth Consecutive Year of Growth in 2008…from Plateau

May 28, 2009

 

Despite Challenging Business Climate, Company Posts Double-Digit Revenue Growth, Increases Bookings, Expands Market Leadership and Market Share and Expands User-Base Across Talent Management and iContent Solution Lines

HRchitect featured Plateau 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. Jeff Kristick, Senior VP of Marketing with Plateau, participated in the HRchitect WebMingle on April 3, 2009. Plateau Systems is also a sponsor and will participate in the Learning Management Systems panel on June 10, 2009 as part of theHRshow2009 event. 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.

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced that the company has again posted a double digit revenue gain for its fiscal 2008, with recurring revenues again comprising more than half of the company’s total revenues. Despite the volatile business climate that overshadowed much of 2008, Plateau saw worldwide revenue and customer growth across all product lines, solutions, geographies, market sectors and industries.

“Over the past eighteen months, Plateau has significantly expanded our talent management suite and increased our global customer footprint. We continue to deliver increasing value to both existing and new customers,” said Paul Sparta, Plateau’s Chairman and CEO. “Our ability to execute, grow our customer base and achieve sustainable EBITDA and GAAP profitability in a challenging economic environment, coupled with our impressive 99 percent customer retention rate, reflects Plateau’s sound management philosophy and validates the strength of our business plan and investment strategies.”

In 2008, more than 100 new customers licensed Plateau’s talent management solutions, bringing its total number of users to more than 10 million. During the year, the company continued to enhance its core talent management solutions with the release of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 Service Pack 5 (SP5), which delivered powerful and flexible talent planning and succession management capabilities through the Plateau Talent Management Suite. Key enhancements of SP5 include improved talent management planning, enhanced real-time visibility into talent management operations and additional learning evaluation capabilities. These expanded features allow Plateau customers to better maximize their company’s talent, make informed decisions about their employees and workforce and more effectively and accurately measure the value of learning for both the individual and the company.

The company also saw increased demand for and customer adoption of its popular iContent solution. iContent, the industry’s first and only Content-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution, is a comprehensive solution for content management and administration, providing a single point of procurement, centralized management, hosting and an all-inclusive service-level guarantee. iContent ensures customers have one point of access, and a central repository for all third-party and in-house content.

For more information on Plateau Systems, please visit www.plateau.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Customers earn High Marks in 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey…from Plateau Systems

March 21, 2009

 

Plateau Congratulates Federal Agencies for Achieving Top Rankings Across All Survey Categories

 

HRchitect featured Plateau 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. Jeff Kristick from Plateau will be on the HRchitect WebMingle on April 3, 2009.

 

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that three of its customers – Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – have taken the top spots in the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey, according to results released by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) earlier this year. Conducted every two years, the 2008 survey gauged attitudes and impressions of more than 210,000 Federal employees from 57 agencies in four areas related to their overall work experience, including: Talent Management; Leadership and Knowledge Management; Results-Oriented Performance Culture; and Job Satisfaction. According to OPM, all agencies are accountable for ensuring the Federal Government has an effective workforce. The 2008 survey rankings reflect where agencies stand on meeting that expectation.

 

“Plateau is proud to be working closely with several Federal agencies to develop and deliver talent management solutions that directly support their agency-specific human capital initiatives as well as those defined in the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework (HCAAF),” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “We congratulate all of them, and especially NRC, NSF and NASA, for their leadership, innovation and success in setting and achieving aggressive human capital goals, and for their focus on developing, managing and retaining talented employees.”

 

In addition to ranking among the top five in each category in the survey, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the Talent Management Agency Rankings Index portion of the survey. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ranked first in the areas of Job Satisfaction and Leadership and Knowledge Management, with National Science Federation ranking first in Results-Oriented Performance Culture.

 

According to report, “The Federal Government depends on attracting, developing and retaining talented employees and ensuring they have the support and information to contribute to the mission of their agencies.” As a leading provider of talent management solutions for developing, managing and optimizing employee productivity, Plateau has become the learning, performance and succession management platform of choice for Federal government agencies.

 

For more information about how Plateau’s talent management solutions are assisting Federal agencies in addressing current Federal human capital mandates. For complete information about the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey report and results, click here.

 

For more information on Plateau, please visit www.plateau.com

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Systems Adds New Members to Customer Advisory Board…from Plateau Systems

February 13, 2009

 

Learning Experts Will Discuss Current Trends at Insights Conference

 

HRchitect featured Plateau Systems 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. Plateau also participated in the HRchitect Beauty Pageant on Talent Management Systems in November 2008 and Learning Management Systems in December 2008.

 

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, announced today that learning and talent management professionals from several leading global organizations, including W.L. Gore, Zions Bancorporation, Schering-Plough, and the U.S. Air Force Air Education Training Command, have recently joined Plateau’s customer advisory board. The board, comprised of senior level HR executives representing a wide range of industries and organizations, provides Plateau executives with real-world insight into industry trends and challenges and practical guidance on the development of Plateau’s products, solutions and services.

 

Currently, Plateau’s customer advisory board is comprised of learning and talent management professionals from 11 major global organizations, including:

 

  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • CA
  • Capital One Financial
  • GE
  • Schering-Plough Corporation
  • Thomson Reuters
  • U.S Air Force Air Education Training Command
  • W.L. Gore
  • Zions Bancorporation

 

“From our inception, Plateau has focused on differentiating from other software providers by fostering a customer-focused culture within our organization,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau. “A key part of doing this successfully centered on involving and communicating with customers directly, and by creating an active customer advisory board. Through their active participation, constructive feedback on strategic priorities and willingness to openly share their real-world perspectives, concerns and recommendations, Plateau’s customer advisory board has been instrumental in ensuring our ability to make customers successful, and we are grateful for (or “we appreciate”) their continued support.”

 

Advisory board members will meet at Insights 2009, Plateau’s 14th annual user conference in September to share their perspectives and exchange best practices around maximizing learning and talent management investments in a dynamic economy.

 

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Systems Debuts in Visionaries Quadrant in Employee Performance Management Software Magic Quadrant…from Plateau Systems

February 7, 2009

 

Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute

 

HRchitect featured Plateau Systems 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. Plateau Systems also participated in the HRchitect Beauty Pageant on Talent Management Systems in November 2008 and Learning Management Systems in December 2008.

 

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, announced today it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the visionaries quadrant in its “Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management Software” (EPM). According to Gartner, “visionaries have been advanced in promoting the latest trends (for example, user experience) driving EPM solutions.”

 

The report notes that “customers typically want to buy new EPM solutions to ‘automate their EPM processes, improve the linkage between pay and performance, help support the development of the next generation of leaders in the organization, and/or improve employee/associate retention (and engagement).’ As customers solve the challenges of automating EPM processes, improving the ability to link pay to performance and other issues, Gartner expects “the focus to shift to leveraging talent data to make better decisions about worker-related programs and investments.”

 

“As organizations of all sizes across virtually every industry continue to weather the current economic storm, business leaders are looking for every opportunity to minimize costs by maximizing resources,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “Right now, with people being an organization’s most valuable — and expensive — resource, employee skills and talents must be developed and utilized in way that directly supports the most critical and immediate goals of the business. Plateau is enabling organizations to do this by providing an integrated solution that allows users to link employee performance with development activities, synchronize goals across business units, and directly measure performance against those goals. We consider our positioning in Gartner’s recent Employee Performance Management Software Magic Quadrant to be further validation of Plateau’s ability to deliver the performance management capabilities organizations need to optimize their talent today.”

 

Plateau has expanded into performance management, succession management and compensation management (through the acquisition of Nuvosoft in February 2007). In June 2008, Gartner positioned Plateau in the Leaders Quadrant in its “Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems.” By integrating Plateau Performance with Plateau’s award-winning Learning Management System (LMS), customers can tie learning and development activities to individual employee performance and development plans and employees can take immediate action to achieve their performance targets by launching relevant training when and where they need it. Using the latest release of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 SP5, customers can leverage powerful and flexible talent planning capabilities, including enhanced real-time visibility into talent management operations and additional learning evaluation capabilities to make more informed decisions about their talent and better gauge the value of learning for both the individual and the company.

 

Today, more than 10 million employees and managers from some of the world’s most respected organizations rely on Plateau’s talent management solutions to engage, develop, manage, and retain high performing employees and workforces.

 

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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