What is our primary use case?
SAP SuccessFactors is a cloud-based HR solution. It used to be called HCM, which means "Human Capital Management," but SAP has since changed it to HXM, which is Human Experience Management. SAP SuccessFactors manages the journey of an employee from start to finish. Everything is managed within a single suite.
I have six clients using SuccessFactors: Happy Canyon, HSDS in Abuja, Manager Delta, Reinsurance, Reinsurance Capital, and ECOM, which is a cultural company.
What is most valuable?
All of SuccessFactors' features are useful, but there are several modules within SuccessFactors that I find handy. You have Employee Central, which manages employee records within the system. It manages all the information about an employee, including names, addresses, account numbers, positions, org charts, etc. It also handles performance reviews and KPIs for employees within an organization. Then you have succession planning and development as well.
There are several solutions built into it, like training and workforce analytics. From my own experience, I find the recruiting module to be fascinating because I've worked with it a lot. My company has deployed the recruiting module for a couple of organizations. For example, the African Union uses Human Capital and SuccessFactors. We deployed Employee Central and recruitment management for them. People can apply for a job, and you can track the applicant's progress within the same system, but you can't implement recruiting module as a standalone solution. You need to have Employee Central as part of the system as well.
What needs improvement?
I have raised change requests for some modules within SuccessFactors. For example, when you're using Recruiting Management, there's a feature called Interview Central you can use to reach the candidates you're interviewing. I wanted to add a writing assessment when I select the competency on that platform. It varies from consultant to consultant, depending on what module they use.
The tool that SAP uses to integrate SuccessFactors into other applications is quite expensive. When I deployed the solution for the African Union, we used the cloud platform integration tool. They're now using a tool now called BCP, but you also have the CPI inside it, too. The integration is seamless, but there are other ways to perform the integration. You want to use web services for integration and all of that. So regardless, you can always integrate into it. It's very easy to actually do that as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I first used SuccessFactors in 2017, so it has been five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SuccessFactors is a highly stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SuccessFactors is scalable because they have different data centers across the world. As your data grows, the instance also grows. There's no failure on the platform. At most, you'll have a few hours of downtime on the weekend as they upgrade the system.
How are customer service and support?
I rate SAP support 10 out of 10. They have different levels of support. The first is the customer, the second is partner support, and the third is SAP. Inside SAP SuccessFactors you have a lot of built-in support that you can leverage without calling anyone. A system admin can log into the system and chat with SAP directly if they are facing any challenges. Real-time support is available within the system.
How was the initial setup?
Generally speaking, setting up SuccessFactors is straightforward, but some clients have complicated requirements. The standard SAP configuration is easy for consultants because they have a rapid implementation tool to deploy the baseline solution, so a client can have the system running in days. It depends on the client's requirements, but it is much easier for the end user than the consultant.
The total deployment time also varies depending on the modules. Let's say, you want to implement Employee Central plus the performance assessment and recruiting modules. This might be tricky depending on the size of the organization. Implementing this solution for a large organization requires a lot of data work to gather employee information. If you have all the employee records in place, you can deploy the solution in three months. When you don't have the data, you need to gather it and create templates. It can take much longer to deploy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
SuccessFactors is expensive but it could be cheaper depending on the customer. My company is a large value-added reseller. We buy from SAP and sell to other clients. We also have the power to give clients discounts depending on the size of their budgets and how eager we are to win their business.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SAP SuccessFactors nine out of 10 because the improvements are underway. They also have a Customer Influence platform where customers suggest ideas about ways to improve the system. They release new features every quarter.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner