SuccessFactors has released what it's calling its biggest product update of the year in the form of SuccessFactors Business Performance Accelerators, five modules built on top of the SuccessFactors Web Component Engine.
The SuccessFactors Web Component Engine is the underlying technology platform upon which all SuccessFactors applications are built. It was built on a multi-tenant architecture with a single code base incorporating expertise the company says it has gained from working with more than 2300 customers around the world. The platform includes a set of reusable technology components such as a business process template designer, workflow engine and data permission model.
The Business Performance Accelerators are designed around key processes across the employee lifecycle, including:
On Boarding – Tools such as New Hire Checklists, Job Description Acknowledgement and New Hire Surveys accelerate the ramp to productivity for new hires by setting the right expectations and equipping them for immediate success;
Team Optimisation – Forms for One-on-One Meetings, Employee Feedback and Audits for Team Performance give managers tools to cultivate and drive alignment, creating high performing and efficient teams;
Compliance – Policy Review Confirmations for ensuring adherence of industry or government regulations help to mitigate risk and liability for organizations and ultimately drive down the likelihood and cost of potential enforcement action or litigation;
Corrective Action – Disciplinary Incident Tracking and Performance Improvement Plans address employee issues to root out low performers with nimble responsiveness, while cultivating a culture defined by fairness and meritocracy;
Off Boarding – Forms for Severance Approvals, Off-Boarding Checklists and Exit Interviews streamline the exiting process, create necessary documentation, and can capture key feedback for organisational improvement
Rob Bernshteyn, SuccessFactors’ global vice president of product marketing and management, said, “In offering the Business Performance Accelerators, SuccessFactors continues to out-innovate the industry, delivering relevant and customer driven solutions as part of our Performance and Talent Management suite. From effective on boarding to team optimization to off boarding and beyond, SuccessFactors is helping companies get the most out of their people during each and every daily interaction.”
While the Off Boarding functionality is likely to come in all too handy in the economic downturn, Bernshteyn argued that there was a good demand for the On Boarding capabilities as well. Even if companies aren't necessarily hiring new people, a large number are restructuring and moving existing employees into new roles, he suggested.
SuccessFactors cited Kirby Risk, a supplier of electrical products and services, as an early adopter of the new Accelerators, deploying “Performance Improvement Plan” (PIP) capabilities, now part of the “Corrective Action” package. PIP’s help address employee performance issues head on to root out low performers and cultivate a culture defined by fairness and meritocracy. This capability enables Kirby Risk to keep employees on the right track via clear expectation setting on objectives and performance, and where needed, explicit guidance on actionable improvement. “SuccessFactors Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) functionality enables Kirby to ensure high returns from the significant investment in training and education we make in our talent,” said Doug Gutridge, vice president of human resources. “With clear and documented corrective action, Kirby’s management believes it is as much their responsibility as it is the individual employees to help each team member actualize their full potential within the organization.”
“Talent management systems are becoming core enterprise platforms,” said Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise learning and talent management. “SuccessFactors’ new Business Process Accelerators provide high-value, easy-to-implement capabilities that automate many common management processes. In today’s economic environment, such value-add features will help organizations save money and improve the return on investments in talent management software.”
***SuccessFactors seems to have been doing a spot of Off Boarding itself with a round of job cuts just before Christmas. The exact number of staff laid off has not been confirmed, leading to speculation about the number of employees involved. According to an stimate by financial analyst Patrick Walravens of JMP Securities, the company may have cut up to 10% of its workforce in October/November, followed by another reduction in force of roughly 25% before Christmas. If confirmed, that would represent one third of the headcount taken out in the space of three months.***