Saba Announces Learning Management Exchange Program for Plateau and SuccessFactors Customers…from Saba

December 7, 2011

 

Special Offer Provides Access to the Saba People Cloud to Leverage an Organization’s Most Valuable Competitive Advantage — Its People

HRchitect featured Saba in our 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 a learning management exchange program for qualified SuccessFactors learning customers (formerly Plateau). Available now, this offer is designed to give SuccessFactors customers the opportunity to switch, risk-free, to the Saba People Cloud platform, which includes its award-winning Saba Learning Management application. Saba delivers seamless blended learning in the industry’s only unified People Cloud platform to help organizations transform the way they work, thereby driving productivity to the extended enterprise, achieving greater compliance, mitigating risk, shortening time to productivity, and accelerating the pace of innovation.

Qualified SuccessFactors customers with active contracts will be entitled to a significant discount of Saba’s People Cloud platform, including equivalent subscription contracts at no charge for up to one year. Additionally, Saba will include Saba Centra Real-Time Collaboration and Saba Social with these exchanges at no additional charge for up to one year. Migration programs, tools, and special services packages will also be available to reduce the time, expense and risk of moving to the Saba People Cloud platform. With enterprise social networking, informal learning and real-time collaboration all in one unified platform, organizations can improve ROI, enhance engagement, and cultivate a true talent development culture. This exchange program is in effect and available immediately; qualified SuccessFactors customers will have until May 31, 2012 to take advantage of this special Saba offer.

“Saba continues to focus on delivering exceptional customer success, as well as an innovative and compelling product roadmap, which is aligned with our vision to enable organizations to transform the workplace for competitive advantage,” said Karen Steele, senior vice president corporate marketing, Saba. “Through this learning management exchange program, we are making it easy for organizations to improve how all of their people learn, grow and meet the challenges of a new world of work.”

The Saba People Cloud

The Saba People Cloud is a unified, people-centric and social platform designed to transform the way people work. Saba People Cloud Applications include Learning Management, Talent Management, Enterprise Social Networking and Real-Time Collaboration, all of which help organizations become more competitive through increased visibility, speed and agility. The Saba People Cloud is highly scalable and interoperable with HRIS, financial, and ERP systems. Additionally, the platform is built to help organizations and their people be more competitive by enabling:

  • Global and local scale to the level, reach and complexity customers need from a single, open platform
  • Prescriptive analyses of past behaviours, training and performance for actionable insights
  • Always on, always accessible collaborative environment designed to work across the entire people network to ensure access to everyone in the entire value chain anytime, anywhere and from any device.

 

Market Leading Learning Solution

Saba Learning Management provides unique capabilities to support sophisticated extended enterprise learning. With its mobile and social learning capabilities, it allows employees, customers and partners to rapidly connect, share, and retain the knowledge. Saba has received numerous accolades for its Learning Management Application, including:

 

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

To learn more about HRchitect’s expertise in HR technology strategy, selection and implementation services, please visit www.HRchitect.com

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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SAP to Accelerate Cloud Strategy with Acquisition of SuccessFactors…from SuccessFactors

December 3, 2011

 

Creates Global Cloud Leader with World-Class Applications, Technology and Expertise; Gains Immediate Scale and Momentum in Fast-Growing Cloud-based Human Capital Management Segment

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 and the Insights event in San Diego in Oct 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!

 

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and SuccessFactors, Inc. (NYSE: SFSF) today announced that SAP’s subsidiary, SAP America., Inc., has entered into a definitive merger agreement with SuccessFactors, the market-leading provider of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solutions, pursuant to which a subsidiary of SAP would offer to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of SuccessFactors for $40.00/per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of approximately $3.4 billion. The acquisition will add SuccessFactors’ widely respected team and technology to SAP’s powerful cloud assets, significantly accelerating SAP’s momentum as a provider of cloud applications, platforms and infrastructure.  The combination of SAP and SuccessFactors will establish an advanced end-to-end offering of cloud and on-premise solutions for managing all relevant business processes.

The SuccessFactors board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction. The per share purchase price represents a 52% premium both over the December 2nd closing price and the one month volume weighted average price per share. The transaction will be funded from SAP’s cash on hand and a €1 billion term loan facility.  The closing of the tender offer is conditioned on SuccessFactors stockholders tendering at least a majority of the outstanding shares of SuccessFactors common stock (on a fully diluted basis) and clearances by relevant regulatory authorities. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012 and be slightly dilutive to SAP’s Non-IFRS earnings per share in 2012 and accretive in subsequent years.

The acquisition marks another stride in SAP’s strategy of delivering solutions on premise, in the cloud and on mobile devices.  It builds on a series of strategic moves in SAP’s targeted growth areas to drive innovation in its core applications and analytics; introduce breakthrough in memory technology; establish leadership in enterprise mobility; and grow its cloud portfolio. SuccessFactors’ solutions are highly complementary to SAP’s core HCM offerings as well as SAP’s strong cloud assets: SAP Business ByDesign for the suite cloud market and SAP’s line of business cloud offerings for large enterprises such as SAP Sales on Demand.

“The cloud is a core of SAP’s future growth, and the combination of SuccessFactors’ leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse. The acquisition will help us address the top priority for CEOs globally – managing people and talent,” said Bill McDermott, Co-CEO, SAP.  ”Together, SAP and SuccessFactors will create tremendous business value for customers, with potent synergies to accelerate our growth in the cloud.”

“The depth and experience that SAP brings to customers via our cloud and on-premise portfolio fit elegantly with SuccessFactors’ world-class expertise in providing high-performing, low-cost, native cloud applications that customers are passionate about,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, Co-CEO, SAP.  “Together, we will lead the industry in providing end-to-end solutions consistently to meet any deployment preference, whether on premise, in the cloud or on device.”

“This is a revolutionary combination of proven capabilities that will allow SuccessFactors to accelerate our roadmap by 10 years, and bring the world’s leading application knowledge and intellectual property to our customers through the cloud, and the largest applications customer base instantly,” said Lars Dalgaard, Founder and CEO, SuccessFactors. “Expanding relationships with SAP’s 176,000 customers with our speed to value, friendly user interface, on mobile devices and the web, and seamlessly delivering more SAP solutions in the cloud will be legendary, as organizations adopt the cloud to improve their business. SuccessFactors has proven we have the technology and people to deliver the world’s biggest cloud deployments in terms of users and countries per customer, and also the most applications per customer from the same flexible scalable cloud platform. The business world is ready for enterprise-class cloud applications and together, we can deliver incredible new innovation for global businesses.”

SuccessFactors is believed to operate the largest scale of paying cloud users with 15 million subscription seats. With more than 3,500 customers in 168 countries, SuccessFactors is growing rapidly, recording 77 percent revenue growth year-over-year in the third quarter 2011 and 59 percent revenue growth year-over-year in the first nine months of 2011.   SuccessFactors’ scalable cloud application platform supports organizations of all sizes from dozens to millions of users.  With proven deployments in SAP environments at companies in diverse industries, the combination of SuccessFactors and SAP holds significant growth potential considering the more than 500 million employees of SAP customers and its 15,000 HCM deployments.

With headquarters in San Mateo, California, and more than 1,450 employees, the SuccessFactors team is widely regarded for creating innovative technology, generating more than 80 percent of new sales from applications that did not exist five years ago, and as one of the fastest growing leaders in cloud applications.  Upon completion of the transaction, the CEO of SuccessFactors, Lars Dalgaard, will lead the cloud business of SAP in addition to his responsibility as CEO of SuccessFactors. SuccessFactors will remain independent and be named “SuccessFactors, an SAP company”. The chairman of SAP’s supervisory board, Hasso Plattner, recommended that Lars Dalgaard be appointed to the executive board of SAP AG.

SAP and SuccessFactors Customers to Benefit from Combined Application and Technology Footprint

 

  • The combination of SuccessFactors and SAP will create a comprehensive HCM solution, marrying strength in enterprise applications with people-focused cloud applications.
  • SuccessFactors’ complementary solutions will be an attractive option for more than 500 million employees of SAP customers.
    • SuccessFactors’ applications are designed for businesses of all sizes, and offer easily adopted solutions for customers of SAP Business Suite, SAP Business ByDesign, SAP Business All-in-One, and SAP Business One.
    • SuccessFactors’ cloud expertise and know how, rapid cloud innovation and proven success running large scale cloud deployments will help SAP customers more rapidly adopt cloud applications.
    • SuccessFactors’ mobile applications combined with the mobile expertise of SAP and Sybase will offer customers a powerful business-to-employee mobility portfolio.
  • SuccessFactors’ focus on enabling business insight and execution fits well with SAP’s business analytics platform, promising new levels of real time decision making across the enterprise.

 

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

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SuccessFactors Delivers Learning as an Integrated Part of its Business Execution Suite…from SuccessFactors

October 18, 2011

 

Learning solution combines new social and analytics functionality with best-in-class LMS to create unmatched learning capabilities

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!

 

Today, SuccessFactors, Inc., (NYSE: SFSF), the global leader in cloud-based business execution software, announced that SuccessFactors has delivered on its commitment to make Learning an integral part of the SuccessFactors Business Execution Suite (BizX), providing customers a unified user experience with single sign-on and combined data and reporting. SuccessFactors now delivers an unmatched set of learning capabilities in the cloud, including: formal, social/informal, content management and analytics to help improve employee skills, ensure corporate compliance and align organizational objectives.

SuccessFactors Learning combines a best-in-class Learning Management System (LMS) with unmatched capabilities, including:

Powerful Learning Metrics & Analysis: SuccessFactors Learning provides customers with innovative and comprehensive reporting and analytics that help drive better business outcomes and give HR and learning leaders authoritative insight about the state of their talent and talent development initiatives. Beyond traditional learning metrics, such as course completions, SuccessFactors Learning Metrics & Analytics helps ensure corporate learning and development professionals can answer the tough questions such as:

What’s the performance of employees in learning programs versus those not enrolled?

Is there a correlation between the percent of all learning costs and firm profitability?

Innovative Social Learning powered by SuccessFactors Jam – The award-winning 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 online or on a mobile device. Social Learning can increase learning adoption, decrease time to performance and helps lower learning costs while increasing employee performance. Social Learning is directly integrated with the formal LMS allowing users to easily find content through one connected search across formal and informal content to find the best resources to sharpen their skills.

Unique ‘Content-as-a-Service’ (CaaS) – 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 provides learners with reliable, high-quality on-demand access to both off-the-shelf and custom content.

“Following the successful acquisition of Plateau, we’re excited and pleased to announce that we’ve delivered SuccessFactors Learning as part of the BizX suite, with integration that provides an integrated end user experience. But we didn’t stop there — we’ve also added powerful, unique capabilities to our learning solution such as Social Learning, powered by SuccessFactors Jam, and new Learning Metrics & Analytics,” said Jeff Kristick, vice president of global product marketing, SuccessFactors. “As we move forward, we’ll continue to add enhancements across the board, with new capabilities, and by improving the role of learning in the talent management processes within the BizX suite.”

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

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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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 Announces 52 Percent Revenue Growth In First Quarter Fiscal 2011…from SuccessFactors

May 1, 2011

 

– Q1 FY11 Non-GAAP revenue grows to a record $68.0 million, up 52 percent year-over-year.
– Q1 FY11 billings grows to $62.7 million, up 31 percent year-over-year.
– Raises Fiscal 2011 revenue guidance.
– Announces definitive agreement to acquire Plateau Systems Ltd., a leading learning management system (LMS), a Next Generation Portal technology, and CaaS – Content as a Service. Adds core LMS functionality to the existing social learning capabilities from recently acquired Jambok, and significantly enhances the SuccessFactors Business Execution (BizX) software suite.

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) recently announced results for its first quarter fiscal 2011 which ended March 31, 2011.

“Despite very strong compares, SuccessFactors delivered strong growth in Q1, while hiring aggressively for future growth and customer investment,” said Lars Dalgaard, founder and CEO of SuccessFactors. “SuccessFactors leads the very large market that we created in BizX cloud-computing. We continue to win market share while simultaneously expanding our total available market through new innovations and acquisitions. By acquiring Plateau Systems Ltd., which was eagerly requested by our sales reps and many customers, we will add learning to SuccessFactors’ scalable and secure platform and further expand our total available market. Plateau Systems Ltd. brings us a spectacular group of enterprise customers with one of the highest renewal rates in the industry at approximately 99%. By combining Plateau’s products with our Jambok social mobile video learning acquisition, we will be able to provide customers a truly unique offering, further solidifying SuccessFactors’ position as an innovator.”

Results for the First Quarter Fiscal 2011:

  • Q1 FY11 Non-GAAP Revenue: For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, non-GAAP revenue was $68.0 million, compared to the company’s prior guidance of $62.5 million to $63.5 million, and compared to $44.7 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2010, an increase of approximately 52 percent year-over-year and an increase of 10 percent sequentially from Q410.
  • Q1 FY11 Non-GAAP Operating Income: For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, the Company recognized non-GAAP operating income of $0.5 million and GAAP operating income from operations of $0.8 million. The non-GAAP operating income excludes $11.0 million in stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangibles, future cash consideration of acquisitions and deal related costs and a gain of approximately $11.7 million revaluation of contingent consideration for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.
  • Q1 FY11 Total Deferred Revenue: Total deferred revenue as of March 31, 2011 was $229.6 million, compared to $234.4 million at December 31, 2010 and up approximately 24 percent year-over-year from $184.9 million at March 31, 2010.
  • Q1 FY11 Cash Flow Generated from Operations: For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, cash flow generated from operating activities was $10.4 million, compared to $13.1 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2010.
  • Q1 FY11 Net Income per Common Share: For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, on a GAAP basis, net income per common share basic and diluted were $0.04 and $0.03, respectively. On a non-GAAP basis, net income per common share, basic and diluted, was $0.01. Non-GAAP net income per common share, both basic and diluted, excludes $11.0 million in stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangibles, future cash consideration of acquisitions and deal related costs, approximately $11.7 million revaluation gain of contingent consideration related to business combinations, $0.5 million unrealized foreign exchange gain on an intercompany acquisition loan related to Inform, and approximately $1.2 million tax benefit related to Jambok. This compares to non-GAAP net income per common share of $0.00 in the fourth quarter of 2010 which excluded approximately $9.1 million of stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangibles, future cash consideration of acquisitions and deal related costs, a $4.8 million revaluation gain of contingent consideration related to business combinations and $1.5 million unrealized foreign exchange gain on an intercompany acquisition loan related to Inform, and non-GAAP net income per common share of $0.02 in the first quarter of 2010 which excluded approximately $5.0 million of stock-based compensation. For the first quarter of 2011, GAAP net income per common share calculation assumed a weighted average share count of approximately 77.5 million for basic and 83.0 million for diluted. For the fourth quarter of 2010, GAAP net loss per common share calculation assumed a weighted average share count of approximately 76.4 million. For the first quarter of 2010, GAAP net loss per common share calculation assumed average weighted share count of approximately 72.0 million.

Plateau Systems Ltd. Acquisition:

Today, SuccessFactors announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Plateau Systems Ltd. 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.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, SuccessFactors will pay $145 million in cash plus $145 million in stock, of which $15 million is for employee stock options and RSUs, for Plateau Systems Ltd.. 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.

Guidance:

SuccessFactors is initiating guidance for its second quarter fiscal 2011 and updating its outlook for the full fiscal year 2011, as of April 26, 2011. 

  • Q2 FY11: Non-GAAP revenue for the company’s second fiscal quarter is projected to be in the range of approximately $69.0 million to $70.0 million. Note that non-GAAP revenue includes the effect of deferred revenue from acquired companies that is required to be written down for GAAP purposes under purchase accounting rules. Non-GAAP net income per common share, basic and diluted, is expected to be breakeven. This guidance does not take into account the proposed acquisition of Plateau Systems Ltd. Non-GAAP net income per common share estimates exclude the effects of estimated stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, future cash consideration of acquisitions, deal related costs and revaluation of contingent consideration related to business combinations and any unrealized foreign exchange gains/losses on an intercompany acquisition loan and assumes average weighted basic and diluted share counts of approximately 78.6 million shares and 85.4 million shares, respectively.
  • Full Year 2011: Non-GAAP revenue for the company’s full fiscal 2011 is now expected to be in the approximate range of $275 million to $280 million, which is an increase of approximately 30 percent when compared to fiscal 2010. The company expects non-GAAP net income per common share for fiscal 2011 to be approximately breakeven. This guidance does not take into account the proposed acquisition of Plateau Systems Ltd. Non-GAAP net income per common share estimates exclude the effects of estimated stock-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, future cash consideration of acquisitions, deal related costs and revaluation of contingent consideration related to business combinations and any unrealized foreign exchange gains/losses on an intercompany acquisition loan and assumes average weighted basic and diluted share counts of approximately 79.3 million shares and 85.7 million shares, respectively.

For more information on SuccessFactors, please visit www.successfactors.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’s iContent Continues Momentum with Addition of Six New Partners…from Plateau

December 17, 2009

 

Anderson-davis, Inc., Aterias, K Alliance, Safety Skills, Syntrio, Inc. and Wombat Security Technologies added to Popular Learning Content Solution

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 continued momentum with its iContent Content-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution with the addition of six new partners: Anderson-davis, Inc., Aterias, K Alliance, SafetySkills, Syntrio, Inc. and Wombat Security Technologies. These new partnerships expand the online content titles available through iContent, giving users access to an expanded catalogue of learning content to meet diverse and specialized training requirements.

iContent, the industry’s first and only Content-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution, alleviates online content management hassles by providing a single, centralized place for procuring and hosting third-party and custom developed content. This approach allows organizations to find, purchase and deliver relevant e-learning to their end-users quickly, easily and cost effectively. Today, more than 1.4 million users in 154 countries are using iContent to deliver and access e-learning content, spanning a wide range of users and industries including government, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and finance.

iContent is a fully managed service and portal that supports the delivery and management of online content, including hosting, testing, validation and updates. Currently, the iContent eCommerca Portal houses more than thousands of customer-created courses and supports an expansive library of pre-packaged titles from more than 30 leading content vendors. The latest companies to join Plateau’s robust community of online learning content providers include: 

  • Anderson-davis, Inc. – Regarded as an international leader in anti-harassment, ethics, diversity and leadership education, the partnership with Anderson-davis will make content titles on preventing sexual harassment, building respectful workplaces, conducting investigations and facilitating the healing process available through iContent.
  • Aterias – Known for its government-specific harassment and “NoFear” training, Aterias’ employment law compliance training content is designed to reduce the amount of discriminatory harassment in the workplace and encourage employees to disclose violations of the law and government waste without fear of retaliation.
  • K Alliance – iContent customers will have access to K Alliance’s on-demand IT training materials covering a wide variety of topics, including IT certifications, IT skills, government training, Department of Defense training, soft skills and desktop applications.
  • SafetySkills – Through the partnership, SafetySkills will make its best-in-class online safety training programs on a variety of topics available via iContent, including emergency response, human resource compliance, occupational health and safety, driver safety and hazmat transportation.
  • Syntrio, Inc. – Key business topics, including occupational health and safety, workers compensation, legal compliance, general business and management skills, Syntrio will make its library of more than 100 titles available through iContent.
  • Wombat Security Technologies – As provider of Anti-Phishing Phil, an online training game that focuses on cyber security awareness, Wombat Security Technologies’ has partnered with iContent to make its engaging and interactive gaming tool used to educate employees about harmful phishing scams that may endanger their computers and electronic data available on-demand.

”Since launching in 2006, iContent has experienced significant growth across our user base, partners and content library as organizations recognize the benefits of Content-as-a-Service offerings in terms of budget, time and resources,” said Lee Wright, Sr. Director of Services for iContent at Plateau Systems. “These new partnerships expand the iContent library and give our users access to third-party content offerings in HR, diversity, IT and cyber security training from some of the industry’s top learning content providers.”

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.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 Announces Keynote Speakers for Insights 2009…from Plateau

August 28, 2009

 

Leading Talent Management Analyst Josh Bersin Joins HR Leaders From DCP Midstream and Bio-Rad to Present at Plateau’s Premier Talent Management Event

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-based talent management software, solutions and services, today announced keynote speakers for Insights 2009, the company’s 14th annual user conference to be held September 21-24, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

Josh Bersin, CEO and president of Bersin & Associates, will kick off this year’s event, themed “Building Bridges to Talent Management: Leveraging Human Capital to Achieve a High Performing Workforce,” with a keynote titled, “Seven Strategies for Building a People-Performance Organization.” This presentation will focus on key strategies for building business value through talent and learning and will include specific examples of how organizations can implement similar strategies. During this keynote, Bersin will also discuss highlights from his recent research, including “The Talent Management Factbook” and “High-Impact Learning Practices.”

Additional Insights 2009 keynotes include:

“DCP Midstream energizes its workforce for success”
Jim Marchiori, DCP Midstream, Director, Organization Capability, Learning & Development, Organization Change Management

As one of the nation’s largest natural gas gatherers and processors and one of the largest natural gas liquids producer and marketers in the United States, part of DCP Midstream’s success is dependent on developing its employees to reach career goals and empowering them to manage their own professional growth. Marchiori will discuss how DCP Midstream motivates its employees by rewarding outstanding individual performance, rewarding outstanding corporate performance and rewarding personal growth, and how DCP Midstream uses Plateau’s Talent Management Suite to bring this philosophy together to manage everything from mandatory compliance training and career development training to tying performance to compensation.

“Building Bridges: From Learning Management to Integrated Talent Management“
Colleen Corey, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Corporate Human Resources Director

With more than 6500 employees, Bio-Rad Laboratories is a leading multinational manufacturer and distributor of life science research and clinical diagnostic products. During this keynote, Corey, corporate human resources director for Bio-Rad, will discuss how automating Learning Management in one of their businesses dovetailed with the company’s broader Talent Management strategy. Corey will discuss the importance of managing talent holistically and how automation is key to delivering a comprehensive strategy from a corporate priority standpoint.

Insights 2009 offers a wide range of sessions tailored to Plateau’s customers, partners and industry experts on talent management best practices, including the importance of constructing and implementing a comprehensive talent management strategy that focuses on linking employee skills with organizational goals and priorities. In addition to the customer keynotes, HR leaders from Plateau customer organizations, including Genzyme, Thomson Reuters, Rolls-Royce, Boston Scientific, Idaho Power, Southern Nuclear, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, National Science Foundation, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Department of Labor and Defense Logistics Agency, will present case studies demonstrating how their use of Plateau’s learning and talent management solutions is generating tangible business value for their organizations. Attendees are also encouraged to attend technical and business breakout sessions and hands-on educational labs to learn how they can maximize their current talent management investments to meet immediate and long-term business goals amid today’s challenging business conditions.

View the full agenda and register for the event at http://www.plateau.com/insights/. For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Launches Compensation Management Resource Center…Plateau

May 26, 2009

 

Leading Talent Management Provider’s Second Resource Center Offers Free Access to Interactive Tools, Educational Information and Events Focused on Compensation Management

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. Jeff Kristick, Senior VP of Marketing with Plateau participated in 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 launched its second informational microsite — the Plateau Compensation Resource Center. Similar to the Plateau Learning Resource Center unveiled in March, the Compensation Resource Center provides materials including whitepapers, podcasts, toolkits and worksheets to individuals and organizations interested in developing best practices around compensation management, justifying their compensation investments and linking their compensation initiatives with broader talent management goals.

“The Compensation Resource Center, the second free resource center Plateau has created, was developed in response to the positive feedback and web traffic generated by our recently launched Learning Resource Center,” said Jeff Kristick, SVP of Marketing at Plateau. “Learning Resource Center visitors are finding value in the quality, quantity and diversity of information available on the site, and have suggested that we create additional resource sites dedicated to other areas of talent management. With companies increasingly looking to integrate their employee compensation initiatives with broader talent management initiatives — from implementing pay for performance programs to leveraging non-monetary rewards to keep workers engaged and productive — we believed that a compensation management resource center would be timely, highly relevant and immediately valuable for talent management and business professionals.”

In addition to accessing whitepapers, news articles and reports, product demonstrations, best practices tips, datasheets and customer videos and case studies, visitors to Plateau’s Compensation Resource Center can register to attend online events, including an upcoming webinar on June 24 titled “Building the Business Case for Talent Management Application Investments.” During this free webinar, Gartner analyst Jim Holincheck will provide guidance on how organizations can build a compelling business case in the current economy for funding talent management application investments, and will discuss costs and actions that are impacted by talent management investments, such as aligning pay with performance.

Plateau’s Compensation Resource Center provides educational materials, information and interactive tools, including a compensation worksheet, to help visitors build a strong business case for compensation management.

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

 
Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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SumTotal Systems’ Customers Lead the Pack in Learning Program Satisfaction…from SumTotal Systems

March 11, 2009

 

SumTotal Systems’ Customers Lead the Pack in Learning Program Satisfaction, According to Aberdeen — Seventy-Five Percent of Surveyed SumTotal Customers Satisfied with Learning Program, Compared to Best-in-Class Average of 65 Percent

 

HRchitect featured SumTotal 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. SumTotal Systems also participated in the HRchitect Beauty Pageant on Employee Performance Management Systems in February 2009, where they were crowned the winner.

 

SumTotal Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMT), the market leader and global provider of talent development solutions, received the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any Learning Management System (LMS) vendor in a research study published by independent research firm Aberdeen Group, The Rise of Learning Management Systems in Talent Management. The report highlights SumTotal as the top LMS vendor with 75 percent of its surveyed customers citing satisfaction with their company’s learning program, beating out Plateau, Saba, SkillSoft and other industry vendors.

 

In August and September 2008, Aberdeen surveyed 718 HR, talent management, IT and line of business executives regarding learning and development at their respective organizations. Among the survey respondents were representative samples from customers of four leading LMS vendors: Plateau, Saba, SkillSoft and SumTotal. Seventy-five percent of SumTotal customers reported they were satisfied with their learning program, beating out the other big three firms named in the survey, while only 41 percent of customers who did not use any of these four vendors reported satisfaction with their learning programs.

 

“Our goal is to create a partnership that helps SumTotal customers see true business results from their learning and talent development initiatives,” said Arun Chandra, CEO, SumTotal Systems. “Coupled with our best-in-class software, integrated content and competencies, SumTotal also strives to build a comprehensive solution of best practices, organizational change and business processes that create the most value for our customers.”

 

According to Aberdeen, to address the role of learning with talent management, many of the leading LMS vendors have extended their solution offerings to include performance management, compensation and/or succession management. SumTotal Systems offers all of these solutions, both on-demand and installed, via the integrated SumTotal Talent Development Suite.

 

“Our research shows learning and development’s continued and growing impact across the talent management value chain – in both pre- and post-hire activities,” said Kevin Martin, VP and Principal Analyst, Human Capital Management at Aberdeen. “And, when it comes to learning management systems, our research revealed that organizations that utilize a LMS are not only 76% more likely to be satisfied with their learning program than those that do not use a LMS, but also they are more likely to experience year-over-year performance gains in key areas including compliance, workforce competence, and employee engagement.”

 

For more information on SumTotal Systems please visit www.sumtotalsystems.com

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Registration Now Open for Plateau’s Annual User Conference — Insights 2009…from Plateau Systems

February 11, 2009

 

Insights 2009 in San Francisco to Highlight Best Practices and Emerging Trends in Talent Management

 

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, today announced that registration is open for its 14th annual user conference, Insights 2009, September 21-24, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. Insights 2009 will provide a highly interactive forum where attendees can engage with industry experts and peers and share insights on the latest trends, technologies and best practices in talent management.

 

During the conference, themed: “Building Bridges to Talent Management: Leveraging Human Capital to Achieve a High Performing Workforce,” Plateau customers, partners and industry experts will discuss the importance of constructing and implementing a comprehensive talent management strategy that focuses on linking employee skills with organizational goals and priorities. Plateau executives will discuss the organizational benefits of connecting employees with internal and external peers, and share their views on how organizations can embrace collaboration and social networking to support their talent management objectives. Through technical and business breakout sessions and hands-on educational labs, attendees will learn how they can leverage their current talent management investments to meet immediate and long-term business goals amid today’s challenging business conditions.

 

Insights 2009 will also be a celebration of customer innovation, featuring the sixth annual Plateau Customer Excellence Awards. This program honors Plateau customers who have created outstanding value and addressed a variety of business challenges in their organizations through the use of Plateau’s product and service offerings. Awards will be recognized in four categories, including Best Overall Use of Product, Best Launch to Organization (organizations with more than 10,000 employees), Best Launch to Organization (organizations with less than 10,000 employees), and Best Business Solution. Winners will be announced during the evening event on Wednesday, September 23, 2009. For more information on applying for a Customer Excellence Award, visit http://plateau.com/insights/awards.htm.

 

“Given the unprecedented economic and business challenges affecting today’s organizations, Plateau’s Insights 2009 conference agenda will feature practical sessions designed to help organizations maximize their Plateau investment and develop talent management strategies to successfully navigate through these dynamic market conditions,” said Jeff Kristick, Plateau’s senior vice president of marketing. “Through both formal and informal information exchange and knowledge-sharing, Insights attendees can expect to leave this year’s conference with actionable ideas on how to effectively build out their organization’s talent management initiatives and optimize their use of Plateau solutions.”

 

Last year, more than 400 customers, prospects and industry experts converged in Arizona to attend Plateau’s sold-out Insights 2008 featuring customer keynote presentations from Mary Tilley, HR Leader, W.L. Gore and Associates, and Connie Linardakis, EVP and Chief Human Resource Officer, Zions Bancorporation. Mary Tilley’s presentation focused W.L. Gore’s use of Plateau to support its unique organizational structure and complex processes around managing, assessing and rewarding W.L. Gore associates. Connie Linardakis discussed how Utah-based Zions Bancorporation’s is leveraging Plateau’s integrated platform to unify and streamline the organization’s talent management applications and processes while maintaining autonomy for multiple subsidiaries. Click here to view highlights from Insights 2008.

 

Early bird registration and pricing will be available at http://plateau.com/insights/index.htm until May 1, 2009. Special discounts are also available for groups and government attendees.

 

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

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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Plateau Systems Launches Online Training Workshop Series…from Plateau

November 7, 2008

 

“Working Smarter with Plateau” Gives Users Access to Live, Instructor-Led Training on Plateau Learning from Anywhere in the World”

 

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 vendors that businesses should consider.

 

Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software content and services designed to maximize workforce productivity, today announced the launch of “Working Smarter with Plateau,” a new online training workshop series that will enable users to participate in intensive, hands-on workshops from anywhere in the world. Taught by expert instructors from Plateau’s Knowledge Services Organization, the new online training workshops offer added value and flexibility to meet the needs of individuals, corporations and government agencies as they extend the strategic value of their investment in talent management solutions. The new online training workshop series complements the comprehensive catalog of flexible, interactive and customizable online and classroom training options offered through Plateau Global University.

 

During the workshops, Plateau’s expert instructors will provide in-depth training that is focused on maximizing user investment in Plateau Learning and will answer specific participant questions. Plateau’s online training workshop series will be conducted via Cisco WebEx and will utilize a live training site for any hands-on activities.

 

For more information about the workshops, including pricing and schedules, or to register, visit www.plateau.com/workingsmarter.

 

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

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