For the last three years, one of the more interesting projects I take on is co-writing the scripts with Bill Kutik for the “Shootout” at the HR Technology Conference^®.

In 2006, the Shootout focused on performance management integrated with learning. At last year’s conference, it addressed performance and recruiting. This year, I am thrilled that talent management systems market has matured enough to warrant the Industry's First Talent Management Shootout".

After an extensive review process and a lot of patience on Bill’s part, four solution providers were named as the contestants: Authoria, Cornerstone OnDemand, Salary.com and Softscape.

For those of you who have never attended a Shootout, here is how it works. The contestants are asked to demonstrate three custom scenarios from a standard script with time constraints. And let me tell you that this year the script contains very sophisticated scenarios. Not unnecessarily difficult, but truly reflective of what we see organizations need from technology providers to support their integrated talent management strategies.

This year’s script covers three scenarios designed to highlight the business user’s (employee, manager and business leader) experience with talent management practices, not the HR practitioner’s role. The first scenario, for example, asks that the solution provider show how an employee can be self-sufficient in identifying the best fit job opportunities within the organization and expressing interest. For this scenario, the solution providers must show how they can support talent profiles, job profiles, profile match-up, interest indicators, and internal candidate pools as well as the feedback loop to managers and Human Resources. In the second scenario, the solution providers are asked to demonstrate how a manager allocates funds from a bonus pool to her five direct reports including the top performers. The manager must also identify top performers with high potential to be included in a talent pool for succession planning activities. In the third and final scenario, the solution provider must show how a business leader can use analytic tools (i.e. dashboards) to monitor progress on performance goals across many business units and geographies. In addition, the business leader must be able to drill down to access information to diagnose problem areas or anomalies and be able to uncover talent information about specific employees or groups of employees.

Unlike in the Shootouts of the past two years, I do not believe the presenter (the solution provider’s CEO) or a flashy user interface will steal the show. After spending months reviewing these solutions in-depth (for our own research study of the market), I believe you are going to be able to clearly differentiate between the contestants. All four of the solution providers offer a very unique approach and capabilities. You will also see that the solution providers will “shine” on one or two of the three scenarios and will have a bit more difficulty on the other(s) based on the heritage of their product.

If you are headed to the conference (October 15 -17^th), this is a must attend session. Not only will you learn a lot about the four solutions, you will also see the possibilities for truly integrated talent management practices enabled by technology. If you are not signed up for the conference, I strongly encourage you to consider attending. It is not too late to sign-up! Personally, I always learn so much from the case study sessions and by talking with organizations about their HR and talent systems strategies. Rest assured, if I was not 39.5 weeks pregnant (expecting our 1^st child), I would love to meet you there! Only a baby would keep me away!

Chris Howard, our Vice President of Research is attending and presenting. His session, What You Still Need to Learn About Performance Management, will be on Thursday, October 16^th from 11:00 – 12:15 pm. Chris will unveil our latest research in performance management systems. Please introduce yourself to Chris following his session. We are always eager to meet our research members and extended community members in person.