SuccessFactors integrates CubeTree, rolls out social collaboration for its fall update

SuccessFactors on Thursday said it completed the integration of its CubeTree acquisition and will layer social collaboration into its Business Execution Suite (BizX).

In a nutshell, SuccessFactors is hoping that its 8 million users will use its software as a service to collaborate by region, departments and geographies. The general idea is that workers will use SuccessFactors' new collaboration tools to work toward the goals and objectives the company tracks.

A basic collaboration version will be available for free with a premium version too.

Among the key features being added to SuccessFactors BizX, which was launched a year ago:

• Single sign-on for BizX and CubeTree features.
• Employee profiles from the BizX suite will be synchronized with the CubeTree collaboration tools.
• Those features along with other analytic tools will be released with SuccessFactors Fall 2010 update to the BizX suite.
• In addition, SuccessFactors' Fall release will have 429 new features and 85 percent of those were customer requests.

According to Brad Mattick, senior director of product marketing at SuccessFactors, his company sees collaboration opportunities around resumes and reviews. Should a company interview a candidate? How's his performance? Previously, email was the main collaboration vehicle for goals, objectives and reviews.

The big question is whether collaboration will matter. SuccessFactors will have collaboration. Salesforce.com has Chatter. Depending on the cloud provider there will be multiple collaboration options. Beth Styles, senior director of product management at SuccessFactors, acknowledged that there other collaboration options. However, since CubeTree is integrated for free collaboration will ride shotgun with human resources. "We think we can make a dent on how people are thinking about collaboration," said Styles.

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• Successfactors: Execute, Execute, Execute!
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