August 16th, 2009
Who's the fairest HR product of them all.......
Every year, I set aside some budget monies to attend a couple of events/shows. I’m fortunate that some software vendors waive some of the costs if I’m covering the event as a press/analyst person. Events are expensive to attend and hurt my chargeability at the same time. I choose carefully before attending.
A little over a decade ago, I got a call from Bill Kutik. He asked if I could moderate a panel of HR software company CEOs at a show he was doing at the Javits Center in NYC. I accepted and had a blast. I’ve probably caught 60% of those annual events ever since. That show is the HR Technology Conference and Exposition and it will again appear in Chicago 9/30-10/2.
The signature event at this show is a live shootout between four HR software vendors. Each vendor must show hundreds of attendees how they solve the same business problem LIVE. Attendees immediately see the contrast in approaches, functionality, usability, etc. My old organization at Accenture, the Software Intelligence unit did a similar shootout concept at its annual Software Spectacular shows throughout the 1990s. Software buyers loved it then and the crowd at Bill’s event is continuing proof that side-by-side comparisons are still wanted, desired and valued by software buyers.
This year, Bill has invited an interesting mix of players for the shootout. Two of them are old school, long-time ERP vendors, SAP and Lawson, and two are pure play HR vendors, Plateau and Salary.com. I know I’ve got an older Salary.com analyst report I produced and I’ll be updating it as a result of this shootout. I’m expecting the shootout and rest of the conference to show:
- increasing levels of product maturity in the pure-play HR/Human Capital vendor community
- more blurring between the talent management and full HRMS suite providers
- innovations beyond those of business model (e.g., SaaS) adaptations. For example, I suspect Workforce Software may announce some cool stuff in this vein
I think I’ll have to look a little harder to find some vendors that have adopted their products and product lines to the emerging new realities of a post-recession economy. My briefings with HR vendors lately have been scant on news of real innovation or in developments of new value propositions re: the changing business landscape we’re in today or will be in soon. I hope I’m wrong.
I’ll be at this show. While it’s a local show for me, it’s also one I attend for 2-3 days. If your firm is considering making a move with its ERP or HRMS software, you really need to block out your calendar and get over to the McCormick Center. It’s the easiest and most effective way to kick tires in the HR software space.
Hint: If you’d like to save a few bucks when registering, here’s a discount code that should work mightily for your budget: SAFARI. If it doesn’t work, my good friend Vinnie Mirchandani has one you can use as well: vinnie09. The registration site is: www.HRTechnologyConference.com
Finally, if you see me at the Exhibition Hall (being hit on by a software salesperson), please come rescue me! See you there…
This blog explores the intersection set between services and technology. If it impacts either space, it will be covered here. Brian Sommer is a former Accenture partner. He did an 18-year tour of duty there and ran three small practice units (Finance Center of Excellence, HR Center of Excellence and Software Intelligence). He’s sold service projects in almost every continent and remains just as current on both services and technology today as ever before. Brian is currently CEO of TechVentive, a strategy consultancy servicing technology providers, and a research analyst with Vital Analysis. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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