The Forrester Wave™: Human Capital Management, Q2 2023

Human Capital Management Vendor Product Comparisons 2023

Key features and pros and cons of top Human Capital Management products:

Oracle - Leaders

Pros:

Unified platform delivered through highly personalized UX
Strong degree of flexibility well supported by intuitive UX and automation
Strong partner ecosystem and product support with 26% Fusion HCM growth
AI for analytics and 35 predefined connectors for data integration
Oracle ME (2022) and Journeys (2021) provide contextual employee experience
Robust workforce planning and analytics functionality

Cons:

Best fit primarily for large enterprise organizations
May be complex for smaller organizations

UKG - Leaders

Pros:

Strong focus on workforce management complexity
Excellent payroll and workforce management features for US and Canadian customers
Integration with Great Place To Work as driver of culture
Strong product support with specialized product specialist model
Emphasizes inclusiveness with UKG Talk and employee resource group development
Prescriptive analytics linked to sentiment
Ability to automate complexity for HR operational needs

Cons:

Late 2022 integration of UKG Dimensions into UKG Pro still in progress
Primary focus on North American market

Workday - Leaders

Pros:

Superior vision of creating the future of work with rapid adaptation
Strong collaboration with customer community and large R&D investment
Successful elevation of acquired solutions (VNDLY, Peakon) into cohesive suite
Skills Foundation defines talent journey with intuitive practitioner tools
Workday Extend reinforces organizational agility with PaaS capabilities
High marks for VIBE Index and Pay Equity Discovery Board
Strong AI/ML to reduce user friction

Cons:

UX can present as stale at times (improvement roadmapped for 2023)
Constant introduction of new functionality can be challenging to keep pace with

ADP - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong support for payroll complexity
More than 90,000 clients in North America and Canada
Recent UX rework and Intelligent Self-Service increase ease of use
Strong time to value with direct implementation management
ADP Marketplace demonstrates platform extensibility
Embedded Nayya for benefits guidance
Acquisition of IDI (2021) for construction industry vertical support

Cons:

Product roadmap needs acceleration for talent management and workforce planning
Current limitations in organizational agility
Missing PaaS capabilities may limit customization
Breadth of Intelligent Self-Service capabilities lags in category
Reference customers noted challenges with internal knowledge transfer and training

Ceridian - Strong Performers

Pros:

Global payroll leadership with localized payroll in 57 countries and solutions in 160 countries
Strong practitioner experience and complexity simplification
Dayforce People provides system intelligence for decision-making
Experience Hub allows content creation for employee guidance
Dayforce wallet innovation (2021)
Roadmap includes increased vertical capabilities in five target industries

Cons:

Few capabilities stand out beyond global payroll
Reference customers mentioned opportunities to strengthen post-live support
Extended learning curve when new support representatives come on
Workforce planning capabilities somewhat limited

isolved - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong vertical-based strategy with single-sourced code line
People Heroes University offers broad customization and self-guided journeys
Strong workforce management capabilities for midmarket clients
Focus on healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, and professional services
Conversational Virtual Assistant for service delivery
Predictive People Analytics capabilities

Cons:

Low R&D budget as percentage of revenue among vendors evaluated
May inhibit ability to penetrate enterprise market deeply
Pace of innovation in automation and system intelligence may be slower
HR service delivery not native (uses NetSuite for case/ticket management)
Focus on enterprise expansion may be challenging

SAP - Strong Performers

Pros:

Increased extensibility and open framework for customization
Differentiated ecosystem of partners
HXM focuses on bespoke experiences via guided and composable workflows
Strong organizational agility via service delivery capabilities and analytics
Talent acquisition well supported with conversational prescreening
Dynamic org chart visualizations for all worker types
Connectivity with broader SAP ecosystem

Cons:

Focus on midmarket growth may conflict with building deeper composability
Roadmap needs broader use of AI and expansion of low-code/no-code functionality
Required to maintain good usability for practitioners

Darwinbox - Strong Performers

Pros:

Composable platform offering agility for clients
Pricing transparency and modular architecture
Strong HR service delivery capabilities supporting employee experience
Configurability for custom operational needs
Expanding market presence in US, EU, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and North Africa
Darwinbox Marketplace launching in 2023

Cons:

Lacks native LMS (relies on LMS partners)
Generating automation for Total Rewards requires upfront effort
Reference customers desire faster product builds
Need for deeper module integration

Cegid - Contenders

Pros:

Strong talent acquisition and talent management capabilities
Talent support on par with larger organizations
New learning catalog released in 2022 for talent mobility and compliance
Analytics aligned to talent needs offer good functionality
Growing through acquisition strategy
Plans to release additional self-service features and hub integrations

Cons:

Market approach to acquisition and integration lacks continuity
Benefits module limited for US clients
Ability to support payroll complexity somewhat limited
Analytics and automation fail to extend seamlessly across full HCM suite
Deriving insights from HR and non-HR data is more manual
Forrester unable to contact provided reference customers

Infor - Contenders

Pros:

Good talent solutions augmented with AI for practitioner decision-making
Strong talent acquisition feature set
Employee Transaction Manager (ETM) for schedule monitoring and management
Vertical focus on healthcare, services, public sector, manufacturing, distribution, and retail
Global ERP solutions integration

Cons:

Slower pace of growth relative to others evaluated
EX management lags in listening and sentiment capabilities
Limited journey development inclusive of learning
Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process

Unit4 - Contenders

Pros:

Good functionality for organizational agility with workforce planning
Industry Mesh capabilities
Strength in professional services, public sector, nonprofit, and higher-education industries
Shifting partner ecosystem to sales-driven approach
UX refresh with more personalization on roadmap

Cons:

Talent acquisition and skills intelligence somewhat limited
Enhanced support for performance and learning still on roadmap
Limited number of HCM partner options currently
Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2023?

A: Oracle, UKG, Workday

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

A: Leaders in the Forrester Wave for Human Capital Management have adapted both their messaging and platform capabilities to utilize workforce data to surface prescriptive actions for practitioners and end users in the flow of work. They bolster organizational agility by supporting personas beyond the HR team to collaborate and utilize data and tools for extensibility in the platform. Leaders have elevated the cohesiveness in the user experience (UX) that enables seamless transition between channels and collaboration in the flow of work. They build cohesive end-user/HR practitioner experiences via automation and AI, demonstrating superior vision for creating the future of work by adapting HCM offerings rapidly and staying ahead of customer needs.

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

A: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

Report:

Top Vendor Products for Human Capital Management in 2023

Human Capital Management Vendor Product Comparisons 2023

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2023?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

Reference