Last month I attended Ceridian’s annual analyst forum, where members of the executive team shared their vision and strategies for the future. Ceridian HCM CEO David Ossip put an interesting spin on the role of HR in the future when he stated,
“The value of HR isn’t in becoming a strategic partner. The goal of HR should be to help the company create the most effective workforce.”
This sentiment reflects the pragmatism of a team committed to innovation with tangible value; a focus on the processes, tools and information needed to create and maximize the value of the workforce. Below are the highlights I took away from this most recent analyst briefing.
- Ceridian continues its pivot from an HRO service provider to SaaS technology provider. With the advent of cloud services and the ability to centralize the skills and knowledge needed for optimized compliance and support, it only makes sense that businesses would look to the cloud for specialized support of processes such as Payroll and global HR. With Dayforce HCM, Ceridian is helping its customers move from former “lift and shift’” HR Outsourcing (HRO) deals to the advanced benefits of software in the cloud coupled with centralized specialization and compliance support. The platform itself includes capabilities for messaging, analytics, workforce activities, mobile access via native iOS and Android support, and other foundational items necessary for comprehensive HCM support, with collaboration advances underway as described further below.
- Accelerating customer momentum validates the data-fueled platform. Available in the US and Canada, momentum is strong, with over 700 clients live on the Dayforce platform (of more than 1000 total clients), with roughly 30-50 clients going live each month. Approximately 15% of the live Dayforce HCM clients are those that have migrated from core Ceridian applications. One of the key benefits touted by the Dayforce clients is their ability to view and act on data BEFORE the time is worked, before payroll is processed, tackling potential problems before they happen. Other benefits include the ability to see fully burdened costs before the time is actually worked, and soon, to manage the rolling eligibility requirements of the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), all through a real-time engine designed to support compliance and information needs proactively, not reactively. Batch processes or after-the-fact alerts will eventually become the purview of “legacy” vendors unable to keep pace with the demands for instant data analysis and decision support.
- The unified, end-to-end HCM platform is emerging, but still a year or more away. Today the Dayforce HCM platform delivers core HR, Payroll, Workforce Management (Time & Labor, Absence, Leave Management) and Benefits functionality, targeted primarily to North American operations. Expanded global HR support is on the roadmap, but for global payroll, clients can immediately tap into payroll services across almost 60 countries via Ceridian’s international payroll solutions (IPS). Through this managed services offering, consolidated payroll results across global and local payroll providers can be fed back from the IPS aggregator to Dayforce payroll for global reporting. Support for more strategic talent management processes will begin with the launch of Dayforce Recruiting, targeted for Fall 2013. Ceridian today has a standalone recruiting offering, but that solution will be sunsetted as the next generation recruiting offering from Dayforce becomes available. The initial Dayforce recruiting solution will support managing the candidate’s status and progression through the recruiting lifecycle. (However, I also expect to see some innovations in scheduling and onboarding from this development team that demonstrates at every opportunity the advantages of a unified platform and real-time rules processing.) In 2012, the analyst community was advised that advanced compensation and performance management was slated for 2013, but recruiting has now taken top priority for the Dayforce HCM team. As a result, these and other investments in strategic talent management will be pushed out to 2014. There are no current plans for delivery of a learning offering (LMS) and we can expect partner solutions to fill this gap for the next few years.
- The experiential platform takes center stage over transactional systems. The Dayforce HCM team introduced Engage, its new social platform due later this year that will become the new front-end User Interface (UI) for its applications. Ceridian clearly understands that social enablement is more than just conversations, it’s about getting real work done. In fact, collaboration is viewed as such a fundamental component to today’s workforce processes that Engage will be included in all Dayforce HCM offerings at no additional cost. Clients not yet ready for such collaboration in their core workforce can simply turn it off, accessing it in the future as desired. Continued investment will be needed before it achieves competitor status in this space, as the current focus is largely engagement via activity streams, but the initial offering of Engage will be a good first step toward both augmenting and transforming traditional work processes through social collaboration. While I agree with David Ossip that the “mobile” hype is giving way to broader considerations of “accessibility,” I do not agree that “social” is giving way to “activity streams.” The term “social” often has a conversational, non-work-related connotation; however the idea of purposeful social – social collaboration that is contextual and event-support driven – is an entirely intuitive and evolutionary approach to getting work done. Activity stream integration is important (and the initial Engage offering will include single sign-on (SSO) to facilitate this with Salesforce Chatter and Microsoft Yammer), but collaboration should also happen at the transaction itself; at the point of need. It's too early to know the depth of social support planned by the Dayforce team or how it will integrate more deeply with broader social enterprise networking tools.
- Contextual content will increase in prominence. This is a continuing and interesting play for Ceridian: their EAP (employee assistance program) services via LifeWorks, acquired by Ceridian 1998. Usually we think about EAP services as a pool of resources available for employees to call when needed, or as a repository of research and information available through onsite and internet access. This market is transitioning, however, from SaaS-based solutions to a focus on more contextual content delivered to the end users (a push rather than a pull model). Ceridian has a vision to evolve its LifeWorks offering by embedding EAP content into talent-related events in the Dayforce platform, ensuring context-relevant information at the time of need. Such a move will begin to move Ceridian into the knowledge enablement space of vendors like Infor Enwisen and Peoplefluent (formerly Authoria), but they’ll have a network of EAP counselors driving much of that content development behind their offering. Ceridian’s social platform and context engine requires additional development to achieve its full potential. Regardless, it is good to hear that team thinking about enabling transactions with contextual content as they build out the future Dayforce HCM talent management offerings.
- Continuing core investments demonstrate customer commitment. Mindful of not disenfranchising its core customer base, Ceridian continues to invest in its current applications and other service lines including international payroll, pay cards, tax filing and others. It should also be noted that Ceridian not requiring a forced migration to the Dayforce platform, allowing clients to move as appropriate for their needs.
The Bottom Line
As I indicated in my write-up last year, Dayforce HCM is positioned to perform well in a market ready for process transformation. It has delivered a large amount of functionality in the single year since the acquisition, and net-new customer uptake validates its market readiness. Strong leadership, an unwavering commitment to customer success for new and install base clients, and innovative approaches to traditional processes make Ceridian a viable and disruptive force to watch in the HCM market.