Look, Learn and Listen!!
This morning we hear news of Taleo acquiring Vurv to create a combined company that will continue to be a major player in the talent management technology space now and into the future. This is a good move for the industry when it comes to innovation and customer satisfaction as we continue to watch vendors focus on "what is in the best interest of the customer - now and into the future."
Knowledge Infusion has many, many clients that have either Taleo or Vurv or both. This posting is directed at them but even more directed to the entire market at large. While market consolidation drives many acquisitions, this acquisition has the potential to create the worlds largest (if not already - depending on definition) and best talent management vendor in the space. What does this mean to you?
The combined company will have greater strengths than each of the companies standing on their own. This means that if you are a Taleo customer or a Vurv customer / or prospect; in the long term you will see great benefit from this move.
An acquisition of this size takes time to happen, think through, and create a unified set of products and services to take to market. Taleo has an excellent leadership team to make this happen, and we expect nothing less from them into the near future.
The products that you are already using will not change anytime soon. What this means is "DON'T PANIC" and start a bunch of vendor evaluations to leave the combined company. You are part of a new family and it will take a few months before you start to hear and see the combined synergies of the companies either become very positive or not to your liking. Either way, it is WAY TOO early to do anything such as think of switching vendors. That hurts our market and reputation as HR professionals more then anything.
The talent management marketplace is still VERY new in the world. There will be more consolidations such as this and many more new entrants into the space. What is important is that you look back TODAY at your HR and Talent Management technology strategy and realize that if created correctly, this move has zero impact and could in the long term have very positive impacts on truly being able to measure the value of human capital in your organization.
Nonetheless, acquisitions cause turmoil in the short term. From a Knowledge Infusion standpoint, we are here to help you understand the market, the choices and how to make the best choice for your organization long-term. If you have specific questions or just want to talk through the issues, please do not hesitate to call me directly and I will make sure you are directed to someone who can Look, Learn and Listen AND THEN help you make strategic, long term decisions and not short term, tactical decisions.
Jason Averbook (jason.averbook@knowledge-infusion.com)
Chief Executive Officer, Knowledge Infusion, (925-922-2266)
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