A great post at ZDNet on the reasons why on-demand applications are truly different from traditional software. The models are so fundamentally different, it’s virtually genetic, as this quote explains:

The focus of a conventional software sale is getting the customer to buy the software. When conventional software executives talk about customer success, what they have in mind is helping customers install and run their software successfully.

The focus of an on-demand application sale is maximizing usage. When on-demand executives talk about customer success, they really do mean customers’ businesses operating more successfully — which, as I said earlier, is the real reason why businesses buy applications in the first place.

The lesson, really, is to buy the solution that lets you expend the majority of your energy on solving your business problem and not on the details involved in customizing, testing and deploying software.

This is really well written piece (as I’ve come to expect) from the Software as Services blog at ZDNet. I highly recommend a quick read. I’ve also written about this before, here.

and vice versa. From a quote found at the Fast Company blog:

“Nothing demotivates people like the equal treatment of unequals. When you hire a bozo and treat him the same as a rock star, it deflates the rock star.” –Joe Kraus, founder and CEO, JotSpot

Some good supporting logic for paying for performance if you ask me (not that you did, but this is my blog).

I came across this report from fidelity (PDF) while searching around. It provides the results of a survey on change in HR groups at large companies. Some interesting stats:

• 66% of large HR departments reported “providing only basic or low-level operations, administration and transaction support, but nothing more.”
• 33% reported “that they have now moved beyond basic administrative functionality and up the corporate value chain”
• 72% of companies “not currently playing a strategic business role indicated that they are moving in that direction.”
• 97% of respondents said they are “currently undertaking, or have recently completed, HR transformation initiatives designed to allow HR to shift its focus from routine maintenance to more valued added initiatives.”
• 82% of companies said they were planning to implement a talent planning initiative such as succession, retention or career development planning.
• 68% reported that talent planning initiatives provided a “solid return on investment.”

The article also has some change management best practices that make it worth a look.

Are you prepared for the boomer brain drain? The oldest baby boomers are now only a few years away from retirement. What happens to the knowledge they’ve accumulated over the years when they leave? CIO magazine has a new article on the topic with participation from Liviu Dedes from Pepboys (a customer) on the topic of succession planning.

This is the kind of cross-industry issue that’s going to make bigger and bigger headlines the closer we get to retirement day. I’ve even heard it described as the Y2K of the HR world, but this time, there’s real probability of impact.

From the article:

Some companies turn to software to help predict future departures and determine crucial knowledge. Succession planning or talent management software can give organizations a good picture of who is working for them, how they are performing and how long they’ll be around. With retirement on the horizon and new management positions to fill last year, automotive chain Pep Boys started using succession planning software from SuccessFactors to give it a clear picture of all employees at the company’s 584 retail and service centres. “The risk of knowledge loss will always be there because there will always be unexpected departures,” says Liviu Dedes, Pep Boys’ director of training and organizational development. “But if you have a solid process to map out who is in your leadership pipeline, you’ll be better prepared to fill job openings, retain top-performing employees and prepare for retirement.”

In case you were wondering if on-demand was really the future of software, we can now put that question to rest. SAP announced today that it is getting ready to offer an on-demand CRM product to counter the inroads made by on-demand rivals like salesforce.com. Even if you consider this a dip of the toe by the software behemoth, it’s nevertheless a sure sign that a revolution is afoot.

Gautam points to an article at HR Magazine discussing the next generation of HR leaders:

The upcoming generation of leaders strongly believes that HR can influence a company’s bottom line, especially in the knowledge economy, where talent is a key asset. Professionals from a wide range of backgrounds are now moving into HR, where they see exciting development potential, writes the author. Alongside business and financial skills, HR students are now learning to think strategically, he adds. Industry insiders expect future HR programs to cover globalization issues, regulation and technology.

Are you one of them?

Or, at least, so says Susan Heathfield. She also thinks HR should specifically NOT report to finance. 

Another article over at WPS mag to which I was pointed. Bausch & Lomb (a customer) via Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Privacy Officer Clay Osborne is talking about what performance management means to them as a growth focused company. Just a few years back, Bausch and Lomb was in a turnaround situation. Today, the turnaround is over and the company is again focused on growth – from a $2 billion enterprise to $5 billion.  Clay talks about how performance management is an important component of reaching that goal:

A growth culture requires entrepreneurial behavior—more innovative, more creative types of behaviors and attitudes that are reinforced. To get from a $2 billion company to a $5 billion dollar company in five years requires not only mergers and acquisitions, it requires tremendous growth in sales. From a performance management standpoint, we target every individual’s objectives to those broad goals, and to ensure that it’s done in an ethical way we embed in ‘the right way’ objectives, ethical integrity expectations and behavior.

I don’t talk a lot about recruiting software, but I was directed to this article at a site I’d never heard about before: Hrbrief.com. It’s a fairly in-depth, feature by feature comparison of some of the well known players in the recruiting space. There are some obvious exclusions, but an interesting read nonetheless.

You can also check out this rather puffy piece on web-based software for HR. They should really implement RSS feeds at this site to make it easier for us all to listen to what they have to say.

I’m told there are nearly 750 attendees already signed up to this webinar we’re doing with WPS magazine next week on talent management. May be worth a look – our customer Kimberly-Clark , in the human form of Gary Short, Senior Consultant of Talent Management, will be speaking. I’ve heard him speak before and he’s got some great insight and perspective on what’s going on in this space. Just FYI.