Ventana Research Analyst Perspectives

Here are some insights on SAP SuccessFactors drawn from our latest Value Index research, which provides an analytic assessment of how well total compensation management vendors’ offerings address buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research Value Index on Total Compensation Management 2020 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We evaluated SAP SuccessFactors and six other vendors in seven categories, five product-related (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two concerning the vendor (TCO/ROI and vendor validation). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each of the seven categories to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on data derived from our benchmark research on total compensation.

SAP SuccessFactors ranks sixth overall in this Value Index, though it achieves Value Index Leader status in four of the seven categories we evaluate— Usability, Reliability, Adaptability and Manageability. Thus, the vendor is also a Value Index Leader in our aggregate Product supercategory. The product allows customers to manage competitive compensation programs with capabilities to forecast and model base, bonus, and long-term incentive plans to find the optimal balance between competitive pay and affordability.

SAP ranks first in the Usability category due to the product’s highly engaging graphical displays of decision-support data and context. This includes compensation worksheets, profiles, budget allocations, forecasting and modeling, and its mobile just-in-time reward and recognition functionality. The product also provides strong compensation communications on bonus eligibility, potential payouts and the full value of rewards packages. Users can personalize rewards statements, project bonus payouts and manage global compensation budgets with central oversight while reflecting local market trends.

The vendor would have performed better in the TCO/ROI and Validation categories if it provided ample references, product-specific customer case studies and shared information on its level of business case and ROI support. In the Capability category, SAP SuccessFactors’ compensation product lags some other products evaluated in areas such as job matching and pricing against market benchmark data.

This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of total compensation management software in the industry. You can learn more about our Value Index as an effective vendor selection and RFI/RFP tool here. Participating vendors can learn more about how to use the Value Index here.