Saba Wraps Largest User Conference in Company’s History : @VMblog
virtualization vmware microsoft parallels xen virtual virtuozzo hypervisor virtualisation David Marshall storage networking hyperconverged IoT edge computing
David Marshall VMblog.com
Saba, the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) software and services provider, will conclude the largest and most successful user conference in its history. Held September 25-28 at the Westin Copley place in Boston, the conference gathered more than
/favicon.ico
Saba, the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) software and services provider, will conclude the largest and most successful user conference in its history. Held September 25-28 at the Westin Copley place in Boston, the conference gathered more than 600 Saba and Centra customers, partners and other members of the extended Saba community from around the world to discuss key HCM issues and best practices.

“We are energized by and appreciate the participation of our customers and partners at this year’s Summit,” said Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO, Saba. “This exceptional conference turnout illustrates the growing strategic nature of human capital and collaboration for organizations of all sizes. More and more of our customers are exploring how to adopt a more people-focused, disciplined approach to strategy and organizational execution to successfully navigate the evolving HCM landscape.”

At the conference, Saba introduced Saba OnDemand Enterprise and Saba OnDemand FastTrack, fully-integrated, subscription-based HCM services tailored specifically to reduce implementation time and speed time-to-benefit. The company also announced the availability of Saba Publisher Professional Edition 6.0, a powerful new solution for creating and assembling learning content to disseminate knowledge throughout the enterprise. The company is also extending its investment in the academic market with several enhancements to its Centra Live virtual classroom, training and collaboration software and launched a dedicated academic business to address this critical market.

Yazdani and chief operating officer, Mark Frost, also shared the company’s vision and product roadmap and previewed the next versions of Saba Enterprise 5 and Centra 7, which deepen integration between its Saba and Centra product offerings, improve users’ experience, drive greater collaboration, and more tightly integrate learning, performance and talent management capabilities.

A powerful line-up of keynote presenters included Nick van Dam Ph.D., global chief learning officer, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Robert Todd, senior director, Product Strategy for the Convergys Learning Solution, Convergys Corporation; Roger Edmonds, manager E-Schooling Services, South Australian Department of Education & Children's Services; and Bill Kutik, technology columnist, Human Resource Executive and co-chair, of the magazine’s HR Technology Conference. Kutik led a panel of some of the industry’s leading industry experts from AMR, IDC, Knowledge Infusion, and the Yankee Group.

More than 15 organizations, including sponsoring partners, Convergys, Deloitte, IBM, Mohive, rapidLD, and Surgient showcased their innovative solutions that complement Saba’s HCM solutions.

Exceptional Customer Achievement Honored

Saba also presented the 2006 Saba Excellence Award to Best Buy, Caterpillar, Contact North/Contact Nord, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Vignette, and Queensland Rail. The award honors those Saba customers who demonstrate superior achievement in their HCM deployments.

Award winners were honored for their achievements in the following categories:

Best Global Deployment: Caterpillar, Inc. – A Fortune 100 company, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. Based on Saba Learning, Caterpillar University improves the performance of over 85,000 employees and over 120,000 dealer employees in over 70 countries.

Best HCM Deployment: Best Buy – Best Buy is North America’s leading specialty retailers of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances. One of the first Saba customers to go live on Saba Enterprise Learning 5.3, Best Buy has deployed its learning solution to more than 100,000 users at its 800 Best Buy stores, corporate offices and distribution and service centers in the US.

Best Saba-Centra Deployment: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu – Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is an organization of member firms devoted to excellence in providing professional services in audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory. Deloitte uses Saba and Centra products to meet the company’s rigorous blended learning requirements, including support for over 15 languages, the ability to adapt to local business rules for different offices, and scalability to support 130 thousand users in 150 countries.

Best Innovative Use of Centra in a Corporate University: Vignette – The leading provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions, expanded the power of its corporate university by using Centra to accelerate its training capabilities. With Centra, Vignette increased its revenue and decreased costs for its external training division, eliminated all offshore enablement costs, captured IP for long term use, and created a backbone for its 2007 eLearning launch across all Vignette product lines.

Best Centra Deployment in an Academic Institution: Contact North/Contact Nord – The Northern Ontario-based distance education and training network, utilizes Centra 7 to better facilitate access to the e-learning and training programs offered by the region’s colleges, universities and school boards. Contact North/Contact Nord provides services to 67 communities, covering over 12,500 students taught by 280 instructors.

Best Performance Management Initiative: Queensland Rail – The primary rail network operator in Queensland, Australia, utilizes Saba Performance to achieve complete cross-functional alignment across the entire organization. The organization is in the process of rolling out the Saba solution to 6,000 users across the organization.

“The achievements of these six visionary organizations represent the pinnacle of excellence among our more than 1,100 customers,” added Yazdani. “These organizations have set new standards for advancing HCM as a business strategy and aligning employees, customers and partners with the goals and performance of their enterprises. We applaud these visionary organizations.”