SAP unveils SuccessFactors cloud computing roadmap as it squares up to Oracle
February 22, 2012
SAP has unveiled the roadmap for its human capital management (HCM) services that will integrate with the cloud-based tools it acquired with its $3.4bn purchase of SuccessFactors late last year.
Chief among these developments is SAP’s intention to offer all of its HCM products as cloud-based services, alongside its traditional on-premise offerings, to meet the growing demand for cloud services…
Secondly, the firm will integrate its own ERP HCM product with SuccessFactors’ Employee Central tool to combine the functionality of the two, so customers can benefit from the capabilities of both platforms.
Jeff Kristick, vice president of product marketing at SuccessFactors, told V3 the firms were able to work on these developments so soon after the acquisition as both had the same approach to HCM tools.
"We have worked quickly since the announcement of the acquisition was first made and there is a clear product direction between the SuccessFactors and SAP portfolio so we are able to accelerate the development of these products," he said.
Lastly, the firm is planning to integrate SAP’s analytics capabilities from its HANA and Business Objects platform into both its Workforce Analytics and Workforce planning tools.
"This will help firms ensure they have the right people in the right places within their organisations," Kristick explained, "by being able to analyse large amounts of data."
He added that the first products combining all these functionalities would likely be made available in May during SAP’s annual Sapphire conference.
The developments comes as SAP’s key rival Oracle is also pushing into the HCM market, after it made a $2bn purchase of Taleo earlier this month, but Kristick said the firms were confident its offerings would prove more enticing than those of its rival.
"The cloud is becoming the preferred deployment model for applications and SAP gets that and Oracle gets that, but the way we are setting up is around innovation and acceleration, which is different to Oracle’s approach, which is based more around consolidation," he added.