User:J. William Tincup

JPIE
I care if people tune in but really this entry is about me wandering thru an interesting landscape of human capital service / software providers. My personal belief is that corporate human capital initiatives are cooked in different ways: CEO has an idea, COO has a problem, VP HR wants to measure performance, CFO wants to cut cost, etc, etc, etc. As these initiatives get cooked by different people with differing levels of both pain and agendas - organizations both succeed and fail to recruit, retain and develop what we all call the most important asset: people. Here’s my take in multi-part form:

* Assumption: human capital problems are complex AND simple - simultaneously * Assumption: human capital solutions are complex AND simple - simultaneously * Assumption: confusion exist internally and externally as to human capital best practices, processes, models, integration, platforms, metrics, etc * Results: buyers don’t know what to buy, implement, not implement, integrate, not integrate, etc * Results: buyers don’t know what order to buy, implement, not implement, integrate, not integrate, etc * Results: buyers don’t know who to buy from, who to avoid, etc * Results: buyers don’t know how to buy the products and services they need * Results: vendors are confused as to who to market and sell to

In other words - mass confusion exists for both buyers of human capital software and services and sellers of these products and services. IMO, it will all shake out over the next decade. A clear winner will be decided and thus some of the confusion will be eradicated on both ends.

This blog is my odyssey to help myself understand the human capital vendor market and while doing so, explain what all I am learning to the greater world… be them who they may. I want to help myself, my firm and my understanding and learning of the space - how & why human capital services are purchased and who is best of breed in each category. I’ll be commenting/posting on four levels - 2 comment areas for the buyer: Observations & RFP Shortlists, and 2 comment areas for vendors: Firm Plot & Website Review.

My “Observations” posts are just that… as I wade thru different vendor websites, etc., I’ll see interesting convergence related items and post about them. I’ll provide all reference material within my post. I think we all see a blurring of the lines of products and features.

My “RFP Shortlists” posts are intended to help folks looking for a shortlist of cool vendors within a certain human capital category. This is mostly to help already stretched HR folks. I’m not going to rank vendors and I’m going to limit myself to 20 vendors for each shortlist. If you have recommendations - holla. I see these shortlists as fluid and will add and delete as I see fit.

My “Firm Plots” posts are where I try to determine positioning. I’ll review public documents and try to figure out offerings, market, geography, experience, and clients. This isn’t easy work and I’ll probably make all kinds of mistakes but I find the process interesting. With each of these posts, I’ll note if I would purchase from said vendor - the why’s and why not’s.

My “Website Review” posts are going to seem harsh. I’m actually going to grade human capital vendor websites and give actionable feedback. I’ve got probably around 400 web projects under my belt and I’m extremely opinionated as to what does and doesn’t work via the web. I’ll give out grades - A, B, C, D, and F. I’ll review coding, content, and creative as well as a whole host of other items. I’ll help the world sort out the innovators from the pretenders.

These are the four types of posts that I will make on this blog. I’ll try to keep it structured so folks can follow along and/or help me thru the process. Holla with questions.

Lastly, I welcome all comments. I’ll make a ton of mistakes during this journey - no doubt. Please contact me if I have something wrong. I’ll make my mistakes known to everyone - apologize and move on.

Be well and thank you for stopping in.