Analyst Perspectives

Hi; pleased to meet you!  I’m tremendously excited to be joining the team here at Ventana Research, and I’m looking forward to adding my experience, observations and opinions to this team of very talented industry analysts!  Let me start by telling you a little about my background, and then why a chose to come to work here and what I will be covering at Ventana Research.

For more than a decade I have worked for some of the industry’s leading human capital management software providers, helping them to execute many of their product marketing and product management functions. I’ve worked on most every phase of the lifecycle of human resources products, from gathering market requirements to launching and evolving products and supporting them across large user communities.  I’ve been associated with some of the most well-known and successful companies in this market space today, among them Kronos, Saba Software, Softscape, Unicru, Workstream and most recently SumTotal Systems.  Along the way I’ve gained important insights into both what customers should consider to ensure their important human capital management projects are successful and what roles software providers should play in helping these processes.  Relying on the market-leading research that Ventana Research provides – the benchmark research on Next Generation Workforce Management, Social Collaboration and HCM, Social Recruiting and Total Compensation Management, for example – I’ve been able to help businesses create solutions that helped many customers address their human capital needs in ways that delivered a competitive edge.

In my human capital management research practice here at Ventana Research I will be focusing on areas including: talent management, workforce management, payroll and human resources management.  I’ve already begun to develop research into how human capital management technology can improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of organizations, looking specifically at the use of mobile and social collaboration platforms for learning and performance, the rapidly evolving role of the cloud in human capital management, the development and application of advanced analytics in this space and the optimization of payroll and related HR processes.

I joined Ventana Research because in my view it is the best available source for unbiased market-driven research and insights in the human capital management market. I wanted to become a part of that developing legacy of helping an entire organization across business and IT find the full value from their people through the use of applications and technology.  Ventana Research offers what in my experience is a good balance of real-time advisory services and long-term, in-depth research and assessment services. It has proven to me that it is able to give customers a complete and multifaceted view of the market, enabling them to make better, more informed decisions about their business – which I think is the mission of any good analyst firm.

With recent changes and acquisitions, the universe of firms providing good independent research on human capital management has become smaller, making the role this company plays – and the role I potentially can play as an extension of it – even more important. In this environment of increased competition, shorter cycle times and diminishing sources of reliable market information, I believe I can help organizations navigate the business and technology challenges surrounding human capital management to arrive at the solutions best suited to their needs.

I look forward to discussing both the groundbreaking research we’re doing as well as evolving industry trends and my perspectives on market developments in my regular blog posts. I also invite you to join in the discussions by commenting on these postings so we can create a lively place to discuss human capital management strategy. You can find me on Twitter: @smillardvr or come find me on LinkedIn and collaborate in our Ventana Research LinkedIn group for further discussion.

Regards,

Stephan Millard

VP & Research Director