Analyst Perspectives

I am happy to share some insights on SumTotal Systems drawn from our latest Value Index research, which provides an analytic representation of our assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Ventana Research Value Index: Workforce Management 2019 is the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts by Ventana Research. We utilized a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect the breadth of the real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for workforce management. We evaluated SumTotal Systems and 12 other vendors in seven categories, five relevant to the product (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two related to the vendor (TCO/ROI and vendor validation). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each category to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on our experience and data derived from our benchmark research on workforce management.

SumTotal Systems placed ninth on the Value Index for Workforce management. It scored fourth in both Usability and Adaptability, the latter mostly due to easy product configurability and integration.

SumTotal, acquired by Skillsoft in 2014, offers a global, highly configurable workforce management product that is well integrated with the other talent management and on-boarding processes it supports. This includes a strong link between learning management, skills data and scheduling. Deployment options include software as a service or on-premises with a native mobile application powered with both AI and cognitive capabilities. The product is based on one underlying database, one security and workflow model, a common architecture and common user experience across absence and leave management, scheduling, project management and time and attendance. It includes support for social collaboration with communities, gamification, career planning, professional and personal development through the learning management module and an attractive, colorful touchscreen timeclock with rich self-service functionality. SumTotal also offers a flexible rules engine to allow compliance with the work rules of almost any country.

The vendor earned its lowest ranking of 10th in Manageability, Capability and TCO/ROI. It could improve on its technology administration and provide more clarity on its costs and associated tools and services for TCO/ROI. It could improve on Capability with more depth in scheduling, where it could do more to use algorithms or demand-side data and to improve the prioritization of bidding on shifts and also in task management and support of analyst and operations roles.

This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of workforce management software in the industry. You can learn more about our Value Index as an effective vendor selection and RFI/RFP tool here. Participating vendors can learn more about how to use the Value Index here.