Monthly Archives: June 2010

Saba EMEA RUG Conference reflections

The user community in EMEA and in particular, the UK, has always been a real community that likes to work together outside of the formal user group which means the RUG meetings become a meeting of friends, not just of fellow users. I have known some of these guys for 10 years now!

Due the the Volcano driven change of date, I was only able to attend the first day of this event – but it was well worth it.

First up was Thomas Otter of Gartner – some key takeaways from his slot were:

  • Big shift to SAAS (Software as a service)
  • Shift away from best of breed towards “suites”
  • Formalised learning is NOT going away!
  • Huge growth in volunteered data from users (does Linked in contain better data than your HRMS?)
  • Anchor your HCM Strategy with 2-3 key vendors
  • Think of Platforms, not just functionality
  • Work in your strategy for Social Software into your HCM strategy NOW!

These views were consistent with the experiences that Phil Richardson of Saba mentioned in his opening welcome.

Next up was Jeff Carr of Saba. His opening video was one of the now familiar “Shift happens” series:

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He had a lot of content which I didn’t get time to write down:

  • “Innovation & Creativity are the building blocks of the new economy”
  • Centralise your people data – integration is NOT unification!

Centrica were the first customer presentation of the day who shared their success and challenges with us and Media Saturn then talked about their rapid progress from being a failry new customer last time around – impressive!

Yvette Cameron then talked about the upcoming product enhancements in version 5.5. The new Saba Impressions product hits the spot for me with the ability to gain feedback on your performance instantly. I also liked the Dynamic Network  Analysis tool she showed which shows the connections around your network.

It was a shame to miss day 2 but a musical engagement at the South of England show got in the way of that. Next up: working out how to get to Saba people 2010 in Boston!