Category Archives: Talent management

HCM, Human Resources, Talent management, Ultimate

Ultimate Enhances Cloud People Management With Tablet, Smartphone Apps

Ultimate Software a cloud provider of people management solutions, today announced the delivery of global HCM enhancements, including new country localizations, and redesigned, multilingual tablet and smartphone solutions in its Fall/Winter 2012 release.

“Ultimate continues to extend its leadership for people management in the cloud for multinational businesses of all sizes. We’re increasing our commitment to serve global organizations by not only delivering additional global HCM enhancements, but also with an aggressive strategy to support country-specific requirements,” said Adam Rogers, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Ultimate Software. “As the largest cloud provider focused exclusively on HR, payroll, and talent management, Ultimate is committed to helping our customers manage their employee operations around the world with accurate employee master data in a single, comprehensive system of record.”

Appirio, Human Resources, Knowledge Infusion, M&A Activity, Talent management

Appiri Acquiring HCM Consultancy Knowledge Infusion

Appirio today announced its intent to acquire Knowledge Infusion, which will create the world’s largest cloud-powered Human Capital Management (HCM) consultancy. By marrying Appirio’s unmatched cloud expertise, technology innovation and global scale with Knowledge Infusion’s deep domain knowledge of HR, talent management and change management practices, enterprises finally have a partner that can help them prepare for and capitalize on the new way people work across all business domains.

“We have always considered cloud, social and mobile not just technology, but engines for business transformation,” said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio. “By combining forces with Knowledge Infusion, a recognized expert in people-focused processes, we can help business, HR and IT leaders develop the right strategy to ensure they engage employees as effectively as they would customers. That strategy, supported by the right technological innovation, can optimize how work gets done at a time when people’s expectations and motivations have drastically changed because of the consumerization of technology.”

Started in 2005, Knowledge Infusion has provided core HR, talent acquisition, talent management and social collaboration consulting services to more than 350 clients. This includes organizations like Amgen, Best Buy, Campbell’s, Dell, Hertz, Merck, Nationwide, Novo Nordisk, Starbucks and Target. The company’s end-to-end services model, on-demand subscription advisory services, and focus on customer success has made it one of the fastest growing HR technology consultancies in the world. In addition to its advisory work, Knowledge Infusion has become a trusted deployment partner of Workday, SuccessFactors, and Salesforce.com’s Work.com.

“McGraw-Hill is partnering with both Knowledge Infusion and Appirio to help us become a more nimble organization,” said John Berisford, Chief HR Officer at McGraw-Hill. “It is terrific to see their deep domain expertise, strategic thinking and creativity come together.”

“All organizations must take an outcomes-based approach when applying technology to transform and optimize their business,” said Naomi Bloom, Managing Partner of Bloom & Wallace. “When using a consulting partner to support these efforts, organizations need one that combines deep domain expertise and state-of-the-art technical knowledge, with a commitment to delivering rapid, cost-effective results. That’s why I couldn’t be more delighted that Knowledge Infusion and Appirio have decided to join forces. Together they will create a new and much-needed consultancy, sitting between the ‘big T’ process transformation shops and the product-based implementation mechanics. Their focus on business strategy, organizational design, and enterprise technology, all focused on business outcomes, will benefit their customers, partners and our entire industry.”

Appirio was started in 2006 with the mission to help enterprises power their business with the cloud, and has since helped more than 400 enterprises use cloud providers like Workday, Salesforce.com and Google to improve core business processes from HR and financials to sales, service and marketing.

Once the acquisition is final, expected in November 2012, the combined company will bring to bear nearly 600 strategy and technology experts on three continents, a global crowdsourcing developer community, and an integrated suite of applications, assets and analytics that ensure the best outcome for transformation initiatives.

“Like Appirio, we saw a fundamental shift happening in how companies did business, how the workforce was changing, and the inability for traditional service providers to help business leaders adapt to that shift,” said Jason Averbook, CEO and co-founder of Knowledge Infusion, who will become Appirio’s Chief Business Innovation Officer. “Appirio’s track record of innovation, their disruptive services model and culture make it a perfect home for Knowledge Infusion. We’re excited to work together to help organizations move beyond traditional HR and deliver on the full potential of people at work.”


Cornerstone OnDemand, Employee referral, Employment, Human Resources, Recruitment, Social, Social media, Social network, Talent management

Cornerstone OnDemand Enhances Social Sourcing for Cloud-based Recruiting

Cornerstone OnDemand today announced significant enhancements to its talent acquisition solution, the Cornerstone Recruiting Cloud, that make it easier and more efficient for organizations to tap into social networks, as well as their own employee base, and find the very best candidates for the right roles.

“Research shows that while organizations invest more in traditional recruiting methods, nearly half of positions are ultimately filled by other means such as internal candidates, employee referrals and social networking sites,” said Adam Miller, founder and CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand. “We believe these latest enhancements to the Recruiting Cloud will help companies expand their reach and significantly improve their ability to identify, attract and engage the right candidates. This includes sourcing both internal and external talent, as well as tapping into the personal networks of current employees, to find applicants with relevant skills and experience.”

New Recruiting Cloud features include:

  • Social sourcing, which allows recruiters, employees and
    candidates to share jobs across hundreds of social networks, online
    communities and job boards. Recruiters and hiring managers also are
    able to automate and track the publishing of jobs, as well as segment,
    target and reach specific audiences by the types of social media they
    prefer.
  • Job matching technology suggests contacts for specific jobs
    based on social profile information, significantly improving the
    ability to identify, attract and engage the most qualified candidates,
    especially passive job seekers.
  • Employee referral capabilities help to engage employees at
    every level of the organization in the recruiting process, making it
    easy for them to initiate referrals and use their social networks to
    spread the word. And automatic tracking of referrals ensure that
    employees can get recognized for their contributions.

The Recruiting Cloud integrates with Cornerstone’s comprehensive talent management software suite, giving talent acquisition teams and hiring managers better insight into internal candidates and existing talent pools. Cornerstone’s solution also is typically deployed across the entire workforce, making it even easier for companies to engage employees in the talent acquisition process.


eLearning, Human Resources, Learning Management System, Lumesse, Talent management

Lumesse Adds New Usability, Integration Features to Lumesse Learning Gateway

Lumesse today announced the latest version of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) learning management system, Lumesse Learning Gateway 5.7, with a wide range of new capabilities that include enhanced reporting, additional languages, improved navigation and full integration with Lumesse ETWeb talent management.

The integration (announced earlier this month) with Lumesse ETWeb, delivered using the new Lumesse ETWeb Exchange service-oriented architecture, offers users fast and easy access to learning from a wide range of e-learning vendors anywhere in the world. Personalized, relevant learning content can be selected and delivered directly from the cloud within the familiar, web-based user experience of Lumesse ETWeb.

“Lumesse Learning Gateway takes the pain out of managing learning,” said Lumesse CEO Matthew Parker. “This release helps both learners and learning managers to find and manage the training they need. Learners can identify and start training that is directly relevant to their career goals and their company objectives through a familiar talent management environment. Training managers can control the process, workflow and reporting of learning with less effort and greater oversight. Organizations get better trained, more motivated people with lower costs and less administrative overhead.”

Lumesse Learning Gateway is a powerful and affordable cloud-based learning management system that delivers and manages sophisticated blended learning programmes that can include mobile and social learning, tests and assessments, personalized e-learning, and instructor-led training. Lumesse Learning Gateway is delivered as a SaaS solution configurable to exact needs to encourage high completion rates, and scalable for any number of learners and any amount of learning.

Among the improvements in Lumesse Learning Gateway 5.7 are:

A new scalable reporting framework generates attractive reports –
from a standard, categorized library — that are easy to understand
and use.
Added language support for learners: Chinese and Japanese for a total
of 22 supported learner languages; and French and Italian for a total
of seven supported administrator languages.
A redesigned administrative portal offers simpler, more intuitive
navigation of the powerful learning management capabilities in Lumesse
Learning Gateway.

In addition, tight integration with Lumesse ETWeb talent management allows a learner-centric, consumerized user experience with single sign-on and a common look-and-feel that increases user adoption by making access and navigation simple and intuitive for all users. Users can quickly find best-match learning activities that support career development and objectives, start e-learning from within the talent management system, and easily identify recommended and mandatory training – supporting increased completion ratios. Direct access to development history and development plans from a Talent Profile give a clear overview of training taken and required, while integrated reporting measures and analyzes progress and completion against planned and mandatory learning, as well as cost breakdowns. Configurable workflows allow managers easy approval of learning activities.

Lumesse Learning Gateway 5.7 is available immediately.