Factors for ultra - success in HCM

I didn't post on Success Factors' recent IPO, but I noted the posts of many other blogs that did, for example, zdnet. I thought SF's success was well deserved and reflected HR's growing interest in the latest, integrated technologies.

Even though SF's share price hasn't performed that well recently (see the Human Capitalist's recent post on this), I still think SF, Taleo, Authoria etc will continue to benefit from this trend.

Knowledge Infusion did a good presentation on this at the initial HR.com VIEW last month - including this graphic on the types of integration desired by different organisations.

So I was pleased to have an opportunity to met online with SF last week. They took me through their new release called ULTRA, and I have to say it was very impressive.

This graphic illustrates the power of some of the potential integration (see also this and this) - here comparing performance management data (quality of employees) with recruitment data (sources these employees were recruited).

A key requirement for the success of these tools is clearly how well they engage line managers in their use, and I could see managers getting a real kick out of some of the new functionality. I particularly like the system's extension towards web 2.0 type functionality, for example, tagging. And also the extra humanisation and collaboration provided through the 'Faces' application (letting you search for people you may have met but whose names you don't know).

I also recommend reading SystematicHR's post on ULTRA.