It’s always good to talk to SuccessFactors. After all, like Kleenex and tissue paper, SuccessFactors has almost locked themselves and the brand most affiliated with talent management software. There is more hype than ever around talent management and implementations, but in the recent HR Technology show in Chicago, SuccessFactors seemed to lag in the hype department compared to major competitors. These guys have proven over several years that they can compete as well as market, and I certainly had questions around their current marketing.
With major competitors all around launching new Web 2.0 releases, I was shocked that SuccessFactors with some pretty minor press releases around recruiting. Their response was 3-fold:
1. There are lots of products out there making really pretty demos, but those products are not ready for release. Customers may be helping with prototyping (betas), but the key questions are whether the software is real, and whether a cool looking GUI front end is really going to correlate to customer success.
2. SuccessFactors does have Web 2.0, but has focused in a different area. Rather than the immediate bang that comes from a cool looking front end, they have been putting social media in place (for example, using wikis in the performance process to create new ways of approaching ongoing performance management).
3. SuccessFactors seemed to acknowledge the gap and are currently working on developing a Web 2.0 front end. While they didn’t seem to place strategic importance on this, they realize that it’s a necessity in today’s marketing reality. The best looking product often wins.
While I generally agree with point #1, If the UI is well executed, there are real opportunities to drive up user adoption rates as well as usability. Web 2.0 is theoretically all about usability. So while “cool looking” is not important, it often comes with all sorts of other benefits. (and as stated in point #3, SuccessFactors is definitely getting in the game).
When it comes to point #2, I’ve been writing for a long time about using social media in the talent processes. This is a really cool area and I don’t know where companies are really implementing this yet. However, it’s definitely up and coming functionality, and SuccessFactors might be ahead of the curve.
At the core of the product is philosophy. The core of talent to them is Performance Management. Everything starts there, and I think they make a good case that this is true. Rob’s comment to me that “Performance is the keystone” might not only apply to the talent management function, but to HR as a whole (or the enterprise, but defining performance starts to shift a bit at that level). To make this philosophy executable, they have really thought about integration points throughout their suite of products, and have created a product set that allows data to flow seamlessly regardless of whether they have the coolest UI or not.
