There are many more, equally challenging questions we should be considering in the face of a possible dramatic downturn in our industry or company — and this has already been felt in housing, mortgage services, etc. — so that, just like with succession planning, we are prepared to survive because we’ve thought through how to handle the opposite of growth.

Smart companies realize that they need to be better prepared to compete on attracting and retaining talent. Recession or no recession, the winners will be the ones that can deliver quality service to their customers, and that can only be accomplished with quality people.

Besides, having an automated system not only helps a company focus on what matters, it helps to reduce administration and costs.

Sounds like a win-win to me!

There are really big companies operating out of the UK. 15K employees is modest. The largest represented on Tuesday was 525K. I sat next to HR managers of more modest shows of 200 employees or so.

Talent management is alive and well over here!

1) Firms remember the dotcom bust and 9/11 nightmare well and are preparing themselves for this one well in advance. Many firms are stalling external hires and prioritizing filling vacancies with internal staff. They are hoping to minimize layoffs at all costs;

2) The aftermath of 9/11 instilled a cost-containment mentality into many companies and there is less fat to trim these days in a lot of companies (especially in HR, with that massive wave of HRO deals in 2001-2005);

3) IT and Business Process Outsourcing are becoming the logical cost-cutting measures now - i.e. focusing on farming out tactical / routine processes and placing increased emphasis on designing retained organizations.

Hence, the focus inside firms is more directed at developing and retaining talent than ever before. I don’t profess to be an expert in all these talent suites - and software is only as good as the business processes to which it applies - but talent management is more critical than ever in these recessionary times, and if these vendors can deliver solutions to facilitate that, then there is every reason for optimism for further growth in this market. I do believe that these software vendors need to focus on partnering with the HR consulting shops, so will watch with interest as this space plays out over the next 18-24 months.

PF

Here’s just one data point, this year in 2008, the number of young adult workers, from 25 to 40 year olds, will DECLINE by 1.7 million. That’s 1.7 million less workers to replace the nearly 77 million baby boomers who will be eligible for retirement.

Raise the age to start collecting Social Security.

As Sean Connery said in The Untouchables, “Now yous can’t leave!”

OTH, I dont think the economic situation has yet hit non-financial, non-consumer firms, and talent shortages are real and ongoing. I read once upon a time that the best place to deploy funds in a deep stall would be human capital in North America- I hope that turns out to be true.