SuccessFactors Review - why 4 stars?

Shlomi Lavi / updated: Mar 09, 2022

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What is SuccessFactors?

SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management Suite is a cloud-based human capital management software that brings HR teams of businesses and organizations closer to their employees and encourages higher productivity and more engagement among the workforce. As a typical HCM software solution suite, SuccessFactors has the following features:

• Employee Experience Management: With this feature, SuccessFactors helps HR teams keep employees happy, engaged, respond to employee needs, understand the elements that drive engagements, identify experience gaps, and improve the employee experience.
• Core HR and Payroll: With the SuccessFactors HXM suite, HR departments can develop consistent and standardized HR processes, increase productivity, simplify regular transactions, effect process harmonization across the organization, and reduce risk by leveraging best practices.
• Talent Management: On SuccessFactors, recruiters and HR executives can streamline hiring actions, deliver individualized talent experiences, guide employees through their journey, and improve development, learning, and performance.
• HR Analytics and Workforce Planning: Organizations can make informed decisions, align HR with the corporate strategy for growth, observe risks and opportunities related to their workforce, and understand important people metrics with insights and analysis, courtesy of SuccessFactors.

SuccessFactors was launched in 2001, with the company headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA, had at least 1400 employees before SAP America acquired them, and became SAP SuccessFactors.

Who is it best for?

SuccessFactors is a cross industry system which supports scalability for all business sizes by offering three different software suits: Small Business for less than 200 employees, SMEs with 200-1500 employees, and Enterprise companies with larger employee bases. Additionally, a trial version is offered for small businesses for minimizing investment risk by ensuring that the solution meets their requirements befor ecommitting to it.

SuccessFactors is offered as a cloud based solution with a SaaS delivery model, which means minimal technology investment and no software maintenance. This is beneficial for companies looking for a cost effective solution with investment tied to utilization, rapid deployment, and third party software integration through its SuccessCloud module.

Finally, SuccessFactors is a division of SAP which offers customers access to the market leader in enterprise application software as well as its end-to-end business integration suite of tools.

Customers of Successfactors include AMD, ATOS, NASA, Amway, Kawasaki, Hilton Worldwide, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and New York Life.

Main features and functionalities

SuccessFactors includes an Employee Central module that incorporates all key employee, organizational and talent information into one central repository with integration to a fully fledged Payroll module. There is also a Talent Management module that covers recruitment, onboarding, performance management, compensation, succession and development planning, and learning for skill and competency training. The Workforce Planning module allows employee readiness reviews, resource forecasting, risk management, and benchmarking for optimizing resource utilization.

Successfactors allows social collaboration, content and knowledge sharing with video support through the SAP Jam platform. There are also built-in Data Analytics that support strategic HR policy development and provide the HR department with key insights regarding employee productivity, compensation requirements, and competency deficiencies. Successfactors is mobile access ready for easy remote review and update.

Another key area that SuccessFactors helps companies with is with its focus on Return on Execution which is concerned with Business alignment and People performance. In this way the product is designed to help companies achieve tangible measures of success that include improved cost savings from decreased turnover & increased recruitment, better strategic alignment by clearer focus on strategic priorities & communications, increased productivity & higher project completion rates, and finally better business results through higher profits.

What is the actual cost?

SAP SuccessFactors software pricing starts at $6.3 per user per month. The software comes with a free trial.

ITQlick pricing score is 7.4 out of 10 (10 is most expensive). Access ITQlick pricing guide for SuccessFactors. You can also find here pricing information from SuccessFactors's website.

Pros

• SuccessFactors is generally easy to use and reliable
• The software is a cloud solution, so it can be accessed from any location and on any device
• SuccessFactors is excellent at identifying experience gaps and recommending training for employees
• Excellent reporting capabilities
• Easy integration with third party applications

Cons

• The user interface on SuccessFactors is somewhat old-fashioned
• Software updates sometimes lead to the loss of some features
• SuccessFactors does not fully support user driven customization of the product
• The solution does not include behavioral predictive performance analysis
• Time & Attendance is not supported by SuccessFactors

How it stacks up?

Access a head to head analysis of SuccessFactors vs alternative software solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is SuccessFactors right for you or your business?

SAP SuccessFactors is a cloud-based human capital management software fit for human resources teams and executives of businesses and organizations of all sizes. SuccessFactors has a customer base that cuts across various industries like fashion, telecommunications, tech, etc. Kaspersky, Sephora, KMART Group, and Vetter Pharma are some of the notable clients that use SuccessFactors.