Services for Organizations

Using our research, best practices and expertise, we help you understand how to optimize your business processes using applications, information and technology. We provide advisory, education, and assessment services to rapidly identify and prioritize areas for improvement and perform vendor selection

Consulting & Strategy Sessions

Ventana On Demand

    Services for Investment Firms

    We provide guidance using our market research and expertise to significantly improve your marketing, sales and product efforts. We offer a portfolio of advisory, research, thought leadership and digital education services to help optimize market strategy, planning and execution.

    Consulting & Strategy Sessions

    Ventana On Demand

      Services for Technology Vendors

      We provide guidance using our market research and expertise to significantly improve your marketing, sales and product efforts. We offer a portfolio of advisory, research, thought leadership and digital education services to help optimize market strategy, planning and execution.

      Analyst Relations

      Demand Generation

      Product Marketing

      Market Coverage

      Request a Briefing


        ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

        << Back to Blog Index

        ADP Acquires Workscape to Consolidate Talent Management Market



        Consolidation activity increased in the market for applications in talent management or what I call workforce performance management as ADP announced and now has closed the acquisition of Workscape. ADP is a $9 billion outsourcing provider that is well known for providing employer and payroll services; the company has been expanding its breadth of services for employers by responding to demand for software as a service (SaaS), a deployment model that does not require significant involvement from the customer’s IT staff.

        Following the acquisition, ADP will need to rationalize its multiple offerings and partnerships for talent management. Recently it has been advancing its offerings in the midsize market and for large companies through a partnership with Cornerstone OnDemand. Workscape has products for performance management, compensation management and manager self-service that overlap with these, especially with the reselling of Cornerstone OnDemand. This partnership is clearly at risk; ADP could have moved to acquire Cornerstone, but its decision to acquire a different provider indicated challenges in the partnership – most likely Cornerstone’s demand for a larger payout than ADP was willing to give.

        ADP also will have to reconcile its market segmentation: It has approached small, midsize and large businesses while Workscape focused on the larger two markets. Actually Workscape primarily aimed its talent management suite – which I recently reviewed – at the largest of organizations and had been expanding into the midsize market. Workscape has been successful in recent years  and received the Hot Vendor award in the 2009 Ventana Research Value Index for Total Compensation Management because of its high ratings for products and customer assurance. The largest concern I see for customers of Workscape is that ADP will lump them into its product offerings for human resources and leave the former Workscape as just another marketing and sales page on its Web site and brochures. It is not clear yet how strategic a role Workscape will play in broadening the ADP portfolio, but over the next year if we do not see the Workscape Web site still existing and most of its current employees working for ADP then there is room for concern. On another front, ADP needs to address gaps in its offerings in learning, recruitment and even workforce analytics and planning capabilities. That’s what it will take to make it a full-service provider of software to HR organizations like its new competitors including Softscape, SuccessFactors, Taleo and others.

        This acquisition, Kenexa’s of salary.com that I assessed and Taleo’s acquisition of learning management system provider Learn.com, all in the last week, demonstrate the volatility of the software industry for HR applications. Also important is that HRMS and ERP providers such as Infor, Lawson, Oracle and SAP are no longer the center of focus for HR organizations as they were over five years ago. ADP is becoming a heavyweight in HR applications that could be the one for everyone to watch. The ability to provide simpler access for business through the cloud computing approach of renting software as a service is changing the way the software industry operates, and HR leaders, working with CFOs, should assess its efforts to make products cost-effective but also determine whether this is the best software to help them utilize their talent fully.

        Let me know your thoughts or come and collaborate with me on Facebook,LinkedIn and Twitter.

        Regards,

        Mark Smith – CEO & EVP Research

        Mark Smith
        Partner, Head of Software Research

        Mark Smith is the Partner, Head of Software Research at ISG, leading the global market agenda as a subject matter expert in digital business and enterprise software. Mark is a digital technology enthusiast using market research and insights to educate and inspire enterprises, software and service providers.

        JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

        Our Analyst Perspective Policy

        • Ventana Research’s Analyst Perspectives are fact-based analysis and guidance on business, industry and technology vendor trends. Each Analyst Perspective presents the view of the analyst who is an established subject matter expert on new developments, business and technology trends, findings from our research, or best practice insights.

          Each is prepared and reviewed in accordance with Ventana Research’s strict standards for accuracy and objectivity and reviewed to ensure it delivers reliable and actionable insights. It is reviewed and edited by research management and is approved by the Chief Research Officer; no individual or organization outside of Ventana Research reviews any Analyst Perspective before it is published. If you have any issue with an Analyst Perspective, please email them to ChiefResearchOfficer@ventanaresearch.com

        View Policy

        Subscribe to Email Updates

        Posts by Month

        see all

        Posts by Topic

        see all


        Analyst Perspectives Archive

        See All