Perceptive HR Technology

Well, in this case that’s probably not such a good idea.  Too many good things happened at CUE for the SHCM product — to stay quiet about it would be a tragedy.  In no particular order, here are some musings about CUE 2008:

1. Our strategy for talent management was validated enthusiastically by our customers.  They loved the functionality and were wowed by the quality of the user experience.
2. There are early signs of healthy market interest in the product.  At least two industry analysts didn’t ask me how we were going to sell it — they wanted to know how we were going to manage the (inevitable) demand.
3. Customers loved our announcement of extended availability and our sensitivity to making sure we didn’t bite off more than we could chew.  Let’s hope they are just as reasonable if some of them have to be patient in starting their implementation!
4. Customers got their key questions about the new products answered, and had good opportunities to learn more about it from people who knew what they were talking about.
5. We presented to over 500 people in a range of sessions during the conference plus numerous private demos and 1:1 sessions in the lounge.  It’s too soon to tell, but we anticipate healthy demand for the product that will help us build launch momentum.
6. Press and analysts came out in large numbers, and were enthusiastic about our vision.  The next few weeks will tell the tale as they all publish content about their experience at CUE.
7. My only regret:  On Wednesday, during my mainstage presentation, I didn’t get to interview our customers.  We were running over, there was all kinds of pressure to stay on time because of Tuesday’s overrun and I succumbed to the pressure.  I had control over the presentation, everyone was very engaged (there was no one walking out) and I should have just done the interviews anyway.  Perhaps our customers had seen enough of Marilyn Monroe the day before, but they definitely would have enjoyed hearing from their peers about SHCM.  Oh well, next time I’ll know better.

All in all, a great event!  And now that I’ve slept nearly 12 hours a night for a few days, I’m starting to feel like a human being again as well.  Thanks to everyone that helped to make CUE2008 and the SHCM launch a big success!

The second full day at CUE (this year it was Wednesday) is always about showcasing new products.  And this year, it was an opportunity to introduce Strategic Human Capital Management (SHCM) to our customer base.  Let me cut to the chase — for those of you that attended the mainstage demo Wednesday morning, it wasn’t without a glitch or two.

This is the second time I’ve done a live demo of SHCM in front of a large group.  The first time (at HR tech), it was a pretty low key affair.  Myself, my partner-in-crime (Anne Graham) and a single PC (ok, we had a second one with us in the event of a disaster) was the extent of our possy (with lots of moral support from our Lawson colleagues).  Then we hoped against hope that the event organizers would make sure the projection equipment worked.  It worked perfectly.

Cut to CUE, and it’s a production on the scale of a broadway musical.  A director (!), an AV and backstage staff of at least 10, and handlers everywhere.  So that should have ensured that there wouldn’t be any glitches.  Right?  Wrong.

It turns out that the network connection failed at some point during the presentation, before we went on stage for our portion of the demo.  The information we’d received was that it was only one of the ports, but it was the one that Anne was going to use for her portion of the demo.  So we were backstage frantically clipping slides into a powerpoint and then it dawned on me — buy the hotel wireless service (for the value price of $39.95 for four hours, by the way)! The other participant in the demo, Amy Ihlen was good — everyone said on her side of the stage, things were fine.  Wrong.

So the demo gets started and things are rolling along well until I look to Amy and that moment of hesitation crossed her face and I knew we had a problem.  But I said to myself, no big deal — Anne has powerpoints (and for split second congratulated myself for effective risk management)!  Little did I know that in some way, shape, or form (I still haven’t heard what feels like a full explanation) the failure also impacted the stage crew’s ability to display content from the computers on the big screen.  Go figure.

So in front of an audience of around 5000 I just say ‘please bring Anne’s PC to the monitor.’  (Remember: I had powerpoints!!) Nothing.  From there, it’s all a blur.  Add to this, by the way that just before going on stage I was told that we were 30 minutes behind schedule and that I had to hurry up.  Just what I wanted to hear as I am about to unveil the work of dozens of people two years in the making. 

It’s all good in the end — at least 50 people came up to me and said things like ‘customers loved it!’ and ‘it looked real’ (I loved that one) and ‘your message came through loud and clear.’  I must admit, though, the best comment came from Guenther Tolkmit (just minutes after the Barenaked Ladies finished a really great concert).  He said (and I’m paraphrasing) that the way people remember things isn’t always what you expect.  So the good news is that in the chaos, the most important messages will linger in their memory because of the imperfections in their presentation. 

The irony of the whole thing was that a few weeks ago, Anne and I made the decision to do the demo on the server because we wanted to demonstrate the full workflow processes running in real-time with complete Outlook integration.  We could have easily done that with only one PC, having Anne do all of the work herself on stage (ala HR tech).  So we gambled, and well, probably won anyway.

It was more about things not going the way we planned than it was good vs. bad.  I am told that when we showed the side-by-side talent profiles in Outlook the audience burst into spontaneous applause — but I have to admit I didn’t hear it.  And in a few days, maybe I’ll watch the footage for myself.  But for now, I’ll lick a wound or two and enjoy that fact that (with a few minor glitches) our customers now know what SHCM is all about and they seem to like what they’ve heard.

And by the way, I turned $15 into $70 at the Wheel of Fortune game just before I went to bed — that helped a bit too.

The first full day was full of press and analyst briefings — I just love the way those folks batter you with questions.  I often wonder how long a meeting would last if I just let them ask until they ran out them!  But they keep me on my toes — asking challenging questions about strategy, product vision and operations.  Sounds crazy, but I find them to be fun.

We also opened the SHCM Lounge where we started talking to customers en mass about SHCM.  The first full overview session had nearly 100 people - far more than we’d been expecting.  And every time I stop by, all of the demo stations seem to be full.  A good day overall.

If you’d like to see a short video blog of the lounge, click here.

We’re going to try a different medium today — video.  This clip does a pretty good job of summarizing what’s great about CUE — our customers (one in particular) and the tenor of the conference so far.  Talk to you tomorrow!

I made it to Las Vegas without incident, although thanks to spring break all over the USA, more than a few people missed their flights due to long security lines – thank goodness for elite frequent flier programs!  It’s great to have the conference in a single facility, where everyone (especially Lawson employees) can all stay in the same hotel.  But the Venetian is a gigantic place – you have to wonder how they make the logistics work so well.

Yesterday was for internal meetings – I had one with the product management team.  The details would probably bore you to death – but there was an evolving theme for the afternoon – the numbers 8 and 12.  After the two numbers came up a second time in less than an hour, I knew that I had to act – so I hit the roulette table, put $15 on 8 and 12 and hit the jackpot for $350!  I looked like a complete idiot, having never played roulette — I didn’t realize I’d won until the dealer started pushing chips my way.  But when I cashed them in (which I did immediately), those three $100 bills felt mighty good.  I gave about $100 back to the slot machine gods, but it’s all good.  Next stop should be a designer boutique – I’ll burn the cash one way or another.

Next up is the employee rehearsal this evening and more importantly, dry runs of the big SHCM demonstration for Wednesday with the team.  The conference really kicks into high gear tomorrow!

It’s 2:30 on Friday afternoon, and the Lawson offices are rapidly becoming a ghost town!  Even the cafeteria will be closed next week as a majority of employees in the St. Paul headquarters will be in Las Vegas.

We’re ready and excited about the week to come.  The big news of the week is all of the cocktail parties that our partners will be hosting — my e-mail has been loaded with invites, and I’ll be taking advantage of it!  I should start a nasty rumor that Paris Hilton is going to be at Tao (at the Venetian) on Tuesday night and Brittney is thinking about joining her!

Seriously, though — for those of you interested in the SHCM launch, check out the following:

• The SHCM lounge on the 4th floor of the Venetian (Delfino Rooms) will be loaded with opportunities to learn more about the product
• At 1pm on Wednesday, our customers will host a panel discussion on their experiences with the product and provide an opportunity for interested prospective customers to hear from the experts
• We’ll present a major live demo at the general session on Wednesday, hosted by Dean Hager (with yours truly taking a shot in the spotlight as well)

I’m off to Las Vegas in the morning — hope to see you there!

It’s a mere six days until the Lawson Conference and User Exchange convenes at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.  It’s always a huge confab, with thousands of Lawson users coming together to hear about the latest in product, service and support offerings from the company.  I was trying to figure out how many of these I’ve attended – and I think it’s my tenth.  They’re always a ton of work, but immensely gratifying.

And of course, everything is bigger in Las Vegas — and this year’s conference is no exception.  That’s especially true for those of us that work with Lawson’s HCM products, as it’s the BIG coming out party for Strategic Human Capital Management.  Back in the fall, Ed Frauenheim did a piece on the Lawson HCM strategy and wrote about my return to the company.  I commented that I felt like I was getting a second chance to do something big…..and now it’s time to find out if that’s true.  Yes, we presented much of what we’ve been doing at the HR Technology conference last October, and got some great press for the effort.  It was terrific validation of our strategy.  Now it’s time to show it in all of its glory to our customers, front and center. 

CUE is special this year because it’s the first time our customers will get an in-depth look at the new product.  At CUE, it’s all about our users and frankly, we’ve been making some of them wait.  So we’re pulling out all of the stops.  Add to the mix the recent announcement of our acquisition of VasTech, and we have big news for our customers at CUE.

Here’s an SHCM insider’s guide to CUE that you might find useful:

• We’ll be firing on all cylinders at CUE across every aspect of our new Strategic Human Capital Management suite:  Talent Management (aka Ordway), Human Resource Management (aka S3) and Workforce Management (aka VasTech);
• Customers that want to see all of the products will have an opportunity to do so in a variety of sessions, private demonstrations and mainstage events (we’re front-and-center at the big all-conference session on Wednesday);
• There is a dedicated space for SHCM in a separate area of the conference center at the Venetian hotel (on the 4^th floor) where you can come and meet with the entire Lawson team and some of the customers implementing the new products;
• A track of over 10 sessions has been dedicated just to the new solutions in talent and workforce management – so anyone that really wants to dig deep will get the opportunity to do so;

And perhaps to make just a tad more interesting, I am planning a daily blog post starting on Saturday when I arrive in Las Vegas….so if seeing it through my eyes holds any appeal, stay tuned.

Finally, and most importantly – I love getting the chance to meet customers at CUE, so stop me and say hi (and I will be especially delighted if you tell me you’re reading my blog!).

I recently read a research report authored by Nate Swanson at ThinkEquity research about the Talent Management space. He did a very nice job of articulating what he thought the ultimate winners in HCM will need in order to be successful in our market. He made four key points (and I’m virtually quoting him here):

• A vision of creating the system-of-record for all employee data
• Deployed in a pure on-demand software model
• With applications that were built organically (for the most part)
• That are scalable and can meet the needs of both large and small businesses
• Both globally and locally
• Created for mass consumption, as most HCM applications will be used by employees across the entire organization

I was delighted to read about his perspective on the market given how nicely aligned it is with what we’re doing at Lawson.  Specifically:

1. The system-of-record issues are central to delivering broad talent management solutions at low cost, and no best-of-breed vendors can come close to claiming the ability to address them.
2. Thanks to the Lawson Landmark platform 100% of our application has been built organically.  Oh ok: we are getting some help with parsing resumes from our friends at Talent Technology.
3. Our product will prove to be scalable and it was global from the first day we started it (and we’ve proven it by having one of our very first customers in France).
4. With our introduction of the notion of spaces, we are showing just how effectively we can tackle mass consumption — things like using Outlook for core manager self-service and Facebook to let companies virally market their job openings (never mind spaces within the Lawson UI for HR generalists, recruiters, etc).

Best of all, I can’t wait until next week when we can demonstrate it all, front-and-center at our user conference in Las Vegas.   For those of you attending, be sure to let me know if you think we’re delivering on Nate’s viewpoint!