Oracle announced they are acquiring Taleo , the cloud based Human Resource management company for $1.9 billion.

Oracle reported in the press release that Taleo’s SaaS services will become part of the Oracle public cloud.  The move comes just two months after rival SAP said it would acquire HR software provider SuccessFactors  for $3.4 billion.

So we know SAP paid a bigger premium for their aquisition but who made the better deal?

Taleo lends more cloud credibility and more vertical expertise to Oracle’s broadening applications portfolio.

Enterprise Human Resource Management software packages are particularly attractive to companies like Oracle and SAP because they fit well into their existing product line and in most cases are already integrated to run on top of an Oracle RDBMS.

While most enterprise customers will not switch their core financials or supply chain software to the cloud, they're much more willing to move to the cloud with HR software. The migration is less disruptive to operations.

Both Taleo and SuccessFactors deals demonstrate that Oracle and SAP  see the need to enhance both their cloud credentials and their vertical industry focus. 

The SaaS market is growing rapidly but the biggest opportunity is seen in applications in verticals for which vendors can charge a price premium. The Oracle deal may be a better deal than the Successfactors deal for SAP for the simple fact that when you include the underlying Oracle RDBMS license fee the pricing model for Taleo cloud services changes dramatically. The deal brings more cost efficiencies they can potentially  share with their customers while growing their margins.

The Taleo acquisition will create a comprehensive cloud offering for organizations to manage their Human Resource operations and employee careers. 

According to Oracle, the combination is expected to empower employees and managers to effectively manage careers throughout their entire employment, enable organizations to retain talent and optimize costs, and improve the employee experience through faster on boarding and better collaboration with team members via social media.

The move by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is a bit overdue as he has spoken numerous times about the movement of enterpriese to the public cloud. The fact that Oracle only paid a 14% share premium for Taleo does not factor in the 20% run up in their stock price since SAP announced the Successfactors acquisition.

Taleo brings new customers to Oracle leading to more upsale possiblities and more maintenance revenue and more stable online subscription revenues.

Oracle previously enhanced it's cloud offering with the RightNow purchase  at the end of 2011.

Published by myCIOview.com

Project management has too many acronyms.

 

PM, PPM, PMBOK, SCRUM, PMP, ACWP, BAC, BCWP, BOM, CPF, CFF, PDM, PMO, WBS, SWOT, TQM... you get the picture. We even have a unique way of using terms like "resource" or "resources" that doesn't make sense to many people outside of the profession. Is it any wonder people don't get what project managers do?

 

Whenever I speak with someone who isn't a "PM" or doesn't work in the "PMO" about what it is we do, I have to choose my words carefully or they will not have a chance of understanding what I am talking about. Take "resource management" for example. "What is resource management?" they might ask.

As I explain that we consider the people who work on project teams part of the "resources" associated with getting the work done. The response is usually something like, "So you call people resources? People aren't things."

They're right.

Confused? Well perhaps we can help. Some cloud based portfolio management tools such as those from Innotas can help to make your IT department more strategic and cost effective.

Some project managers will suggest that people can't be managed—only things can be managed.  According to Steven Covey, the greatest tragedy of our time is that many so-called business leaders confuse management with leadership. Business schools have been excellent at equipping would-be business leaders to completely manage costs, cash flows, stocks, machinery, and so on. This is very correct. Things lend themselves to management because they can be controlled. 'Things' do not have choices. Extending the principles of managing costs, cash flows and stocks to people yields disastrous results. That's why many so-called business leaders resort to 'turning people into things' so they can manage them."

As project leaders, I think it's important to remember that words have meanings, and how we use our words really does make a difference in how we are perceived, the words we use form the way we perceive the world around us and even how we perceive others. If we de-humanize the people we work with by the language we use, I think that has a subconscious effect on how we ultimately relate to them.

I'm not sure what term would be better than resource management, but I know that I try to avoid calling the members of my team "resources" as much as I can. In project environments (or any work environment for that matter) we rely on people to actually get things done. Empowering people to maximize their contribution to something worthwhile, to create and invent, should be our goal. I know that many of you might be saying, "What difference does it make if we call them resources?" 

Except for the fact that they are people, I guess it doesn't make any difference at all. Or does it?

 

Do you have the right tools to get the job done?

 

For more information please visit Innotas.