Framingham, Mass. - Feb. 15

IDC has released a new report profiling and ranking providers in the worldwide integrated talent management market. IDC MarketScape vendor analysis reports utilize a  scoring methodology that produces an assessment of each vendor’s current market capabilities and strategies for competing in the future.

"IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Integrated Talent Management 2010 Vendor Analysis," evaluates the offerings and prospects of 15 vendors' relative capabilities. These providers were evaluated using criteria that IDC identified as key factors contributing to vendor success in the worldwide integrated talent management market. The results were used to create a graphical representation of the market based on each service provider's current capabilities and future strategies. The vendors included in the analysis are Authoria, Cornerstone OnDemand, Halogen Software, Kenexa, Lawson Software, PeopleSoft and Oracle, Plateau, Saba, Salary.com, SAP, Softscape, Stepstone, SuccessFactors, SumTotal and Taleo.

The report found there was largely uniform progress made by the vendors covered in the analysis. While the race has been on to complete the portfolio to cover as many talent functions as possible, not all of the individual talent offerings are themselves as deep or able to stand alone, as are the core functions with which each vendor entered the market.

The IDC methodology placed Lawson, Success Factors and Taleo in the "Market Leaders" category with a number of vendors in hot pursuit as "Major Players." IDC sees the Lawson approach of enabling access where the individual user works as particularly noteworthy. SuccessFactors is a market leader in this analysis for the second year in part due to their strong market presence and positioning, continuous innovation and market momentum. Taleo has risen to be a market leader with strengths in many areas, including depth in capability, a robust partner ecosystem, strong brand recognition and a track record of innovative R&D.

"More consolidation in the talent management market is highly likely," says Lisa Rowan, program director, HR, talent and learning strategies for IDC. "The market is a crowded one with differentiation becoming harder to attain. As differentiation wanes and market penetration rises, it will be natural that stronger players will seek to grow client bases through acquisition.”