ATD Blog
Wed Jun 13 2012
SuccessFactors buys Plateau. Taleo buys Learn.com. Lumesse buys Edvantage. SAP buys SuccessFactors. Oracle buys Taleo. Kenexa buys OutStart…. What is the impact of consolidation within the talent management systems market on corporate strategies and supply-side options?
Within little more than 12 months the talent management market has changed beyond recognition, and that’s just looking at the bigger guys. Recruiting software companies and performance management companies acquire and merge to become Talent Management companies. Talent companies acquire to become bigger talent companies. And the 800 pound gorillas, the HRMS/ERP providers called SAP and Oracle, finally wade into the ring and take out two of the biggest talent management companies with one swing for a cool $3.4 billion and $1.9 billion respectively.
What’s driving these big market changes and what do they mean for their customers?
What’s the likely impact on the market, on competition between the vendors, and the supply options available to corporates?
What will it mean for the specialist providers still standing in the market? What do you do if you’re a customer of one of the acquired companies, or have commited to products now owned by competing ERP vendors?
How are these changes going to impact talent system decision making in the future?
The in-depth Insights Report, from learning and talent analysts Elearnity, analyses the immediate aftermath of these and other acquisitions in the Talent Systems Market. It explores the underlying trends and drivers behind the acquisitions, the broader effects that consolidation is likely to have on the talent management market, and the impact on corporate customers and their HR systems strategy.
“Rather than just discussing the SAP and Oracle acquisitions in isolation, we feel it’s important to understand what’s driving these big market changes, and most critically, what they mean for corporate customers. But these big questions haven’t really been discussed in-depth until now”, explains David Wilson, managing director of Elearnity.
The report highlights that the market changes are as much driven by the potential opportunities of Cloud computing, as they are by the importance of Talent Management itself. Corporate HR, Talent Management and L&D teams still remain uncertain about the impact of these changes on their strategy and day to day operations, as well as their scope of choice when making purchasing or upgrade decisions.
“At one of our recent corporate roundtables, a number of large European corporate organizations have expressed confusion and real concern about the future of the HR and talent management systems market,” comments Wilson. “Many have abandoned their original vision of a single all-encompassing ERP/HRMS in favor of a best-of-breed approach for talent management, learning, and recruitment. Most attendees had reservations about the role of the ERP vendors in the talent market, and the potential negative impact on level of innovation and user experience.”
Wilson continues, “Historically these decisions were made at a specialist talent silo level within HR. There has been a definite shift towards hybridization of learning and talent platforms, but organizations are still largely a long way from a fully unified view of their talent processes. There is also little doubt that the market consolidation is already impacting corporate strategy and choices.”
The new report, entitled ‘Talent Market Consolidation: 2012 is freely available from Elearnity’s website.
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