Debating the Taleo-Vurv Acquisition

Let’s get the discussion started.  Go to the Knowledge Infusion Center of Excellence and get engaged in the discussion now…

• Is it good for customers?
• Does this change the market?
• Will consolidation accelerate among the vendors?
• How will the competitors like SuccessFactors, Kenexa, Authoria, Plateau, Cornerstone OnDemand, and others need to respond?

Go to http://www.knowledgeinfusion.com/coe/thread/1422 and share your thoughts and comments.

Breaking News: Taleo Acquires Vurv

As predicted last week, Taleo has announced this morning the definitive agreement to acquire Vurv.  I will write more about the acquisition later but this acquisition immediately changes the game and landscape in talent management.  The acquisition also changes the course of history for Taleo who has typically focused on the combination of organic development and smaller, more incremental acquisitions. 

At the risk of being called “pro-Taleo” (I consider myself pro-customer!) I think its a brilliant move.  We will get to see shareholders opinion on the deal shortly when the stock opens and Taleo shares the news publicly on their earnings call.

Have a Question for SAP CEO?

Next week is SAP’s annual Sapphire conference in Orlando, FL.  Mike Prosceno, SAP’s Vice President of Social Media Relations (such a cool title)  has graciously set up meetings for me with CEO Henning Kagermann, Peter Zencke, Doug Merritt and other notables on the HCM team.  I am truly excited to discuss HCM and talent management with SAP executives that typically don’t get in the trenches of discussion with their less notable applications.  

Please feel free to send on any questions and I will do my best to address.  If anyone is around and interested, I would enjoy catching up in Orlando.  Please feel free to email.

Has Vurv Been Acquired?

A lot of speculation began early last week that Vurv had been acquired and the deal would be announced as soon as May 1st.  As we all know, this space is always abound with speculation.  I have probably heard unsubstantiated rumors about every vendor when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. 

Last week, I would have sided with them raising additional capital instead of opting to sell.  I typically don’t like to feed speculation but, over the past few days, their have been a handful of indications that suggest it just might actually be true.  Frankly, I struggle to think of a vendor that would be a great fit with them today.  If the rumor is true, though, it would change the talent acquisition/talent management landscape overnight, with, in my opinion, Taleo receiving much of the benefit in the short term.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

The Future of Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO)

This week is the annual migration to New York for the HRO World Conference.  For the first time in 3 years, I have chosen to skip the conference and festivities (client work taking priority).  

With the increased chatter around HRO as a failed model, it should make for great conversation during and after the conference.  What is disappointing to me after 3 years is that HRO has failed to make any significant strides.  Providers have lacked dedication and standardization of process and service delivery and buyers have chosen to place all blame on their HR provider instead redesigning or reengineering their own structure.  All we tend to hear about are failed contracts (most recently  Starbucks and UBS).

From my viewpoint, the market is very quickly destructing itself and what will appear in 3 years will be very different than today.  So what need to happen to fix HRO?  A couple of thoughts…

1. Stop throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, into a HRO model.  It makes no sense to include areas such as talent management into an HRO model when most companies haven’t even put in place a talent management strategy (more than 50% of companies fall in that bucket based on our recent survey).   Talent management + HRO continues the recipe for disaster.

2. Get back to basics.  HRO needs to get the core right first.  That means payroll, benefits and personnel administration.  Focus on transactional excellence.  Sounds easy but I have yet to seen someone do it right in an HRO model. 

3. The market is desperate for a leader to emerge.  Leadership creates competition.  Hewitt had it for a blink of an eye but what we see today is alot of “me too” with zero innovation or standardization.  All of the providers have jumped into the deep end of the pool, forced to dogpaddle to stay afloat.  Yet, no one has proven they can actually swim.  A defined market leader will force the market to improve dramatically and competition to either step up or step out.

4. HRO needs to regain its favor.  HRO has become the internal cancer that no one want to touch.  Two years ago, HRO was nice to have on the buyer resume (just like “SAP implementation” was 10 years ago).  Due to HRO failures, HR buyers have moved on to focus on talent management.  That has (and will) continue to take favor unless HRO providers can, in the ironic words of IBM, “stop talking and start doing!”

I look forward to hearing the buzz at the conference.  Please add any thoughts or viewpoints to the comments of this post.

Why Professional Athletes Have Provisions in their Employee Contracts

Most professional athletes have iron-clad contracts that prevent them from activities considered “career threatening”.  This includes activities such as skydiving, motorcycle-riding or water-skiing.  I once knew a professional baseball player that went on the disabled list because he got tossed off one of those mechanical bulls you see at country-western bars and pulled his hamstring.  Of course he told his manager he pulled it while “training” to avoid any penalty that had been written in his contract around extra-curricular activities.

With all that said, I wonder if Kobe Bryant has anything in his contract that prevents him from jumping over moving cars…

The Importance of Critical Roles

On my drive to Boston this week, I was listening to a local radio show’s interview with the Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.  During the interview he was discussing his key objectives over the next year including a primary goal to increase the on-campus student population by 15%. 

As he discussed his goals, he also shared the key critical roles within the university that would “get him there”.  You’re probably thinking…get more professors and better qualified educators.  Nope.  Amazingly, one of key roles to achieving his goals was not better qualified professors but the head groundskeeper. Yes…groundskeeper.

See…when prospective students visit the campus, its not the professor that they see.  It’s the grounds — the flowers, the trees, the statues, the buildings.

Do you know your critical roles that will help you achieve your goals?

Softscape vs. SuccessFactors - Blame It On The Shoes

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, today SuccessFactors claimed new evidence that suggests “…Softscape representatives masqueraded as a prospective customer - New Millenium Shoe (www.newmilleniumshoe.com) purportedly operating out of Puerto Rico - in order to gain unauthorized access to SuccessFactors sales materials and SuccessFactors’ password-protected sales demonstration site.”  The claim was part of the grant of preliminary injunction in the lawsuit against Softscape.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen harsh competition being played out the public eye between the two talent management vendors.  SuccessFactors has proceeded quickly and aggressively against Softscape whom they consider cause irreparable damage (and illegal conduct) to them.  Softscape in return has aggressively countered SuccessFactors claims by referring to them as a “hostile industry predator”.

In response to today’s claims, though, Softscape has softened its stance  by simply saying, “Softscape is taking this matter very seriously as it continues its own investigation, and respects the Court’s careful consideration on this matter. Softscape does not condone the use of this type of tactic during the sales process, and the company has specifically instructed its sales force not to engage in any dissemination of the presentation.”  I would assume their new “California Lawyer of the Year” is advising them on their new public relations approach.

Today’s announcements by both companies further creates more fodder in an already complex and competitive market.  Both companies are also battling in  the court of public opinion which, right now, is just as important as the behind the scenes legal manuevering. 

Beyond the fodder, though, here are my outstanding questions I want answered…

1. How did Softscape get access to all of the the information in the presentation not obtained on the demo site?  I consider the information in the document so highly sensitive that it could not be gained by using traditional competitive intelligence techniques.  Plain and simple, the information in the presentation could be accessed through a demo, downloaded collateral or a corporate presentation.
2. Who is “John Anonymous”?  SuccessFactors has been granted permission from the courts to hunt down John Anonymous via internet tracking and IP communications by obtaining the records of the respective service providers.  I am confident Softscape is also turning the place upside down to see if John Anonymous also wears a Softscape badge.  If John Anonymous was smart enough to head to an Internet cafe far from his house, create a Gmail account and distribute the document from there, we will probably never find the source. If this document was distributed by a Softscape server, location or employee we are sure to find out.  What happens, though,  if John Anonymous turns out to be a SuccessFactors customers as many have suggested (I have never seen it but have been told customers do have such vengeance).  Or what about a SuccessFactors employee or ex-employee (I’m just throwing it out there)?  I would be surprised if Softscape requested the same subpoena to allow them to search SuccessFactors records.
3. How did John Anonymous get his hands on so many highly targeted email addresses?  How did John Anonymous get the email addresses of so many SuccessFactors customers, influencers, and prospects, some of which are in final evaluation?  Additionally, why were some vendors highly targeted (over 20 employees received the email from John Anonymous) and others vendors, I would consider “in the know” left off the distribution? 

I am confident all facts will be reviewed rigorously by both sides and hope this situation will get resolved quickly and prudently.  I do sense enterprise customers are watching with interest and view the situation as important for them.  As we know, the customer-vendor relationship can be challenging, complex, and frustrating at times.  But integrity of all is at the core and lack of integrity and credibility can be a kiss of death for a vendor and very hard to recover after its been perceived.

What’s Going on at Saba?

Crazy movement (price and volume) in the Saba stock over the past 72 hours (especially in a down market).  Could it be speculation by hedge funds or something else?

Talent Branding on Facebook

I logged onto Facebook this morning to see an embedded sponsor link from “James” with the title, Vocational school to V.P….

James’ teaser ad links to a page of McDonald’s opportunities.

Innovative yet cost-effective!  What are you doing to innovate with your talent brand?