Unit4 HCM debuts in the Fosway 9-grid for Cloud HR

Over the past 23+ years, the Fosway Group has been conducting a series of independent analysis of leading vendors and trends in the HR and learning market. This year, we are pleased to announce Unit4 HCM's debut in the 2020 edition of the Fosway 9-grid for Cloud HR as a "core challenger".

Fosway looks at a set of 5 criteria to see how vendors position on the market: Potential, performance, presence, the total cost of ownership and future trajectory. Our position on the grid is a statement of the customer impact we've made, our complete offer of HR and business solutions as an ecosystem of tools, and most importantly, our vision on HR & people practices as the backbone of our product.

This year, the report is centred on existing challenges in the HR space and the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Covering trends ranging from the growing importance of UX to employees, the pandemic’s shaping of both vendor roadmaps and customer demands, the importance of measuring and maintaining engagement as the cornerstone of all wellbeing initiatives, and HCM absorbing HR fully into its workflow.

It also highlights that in the newly turbulent talent market in which hiring skilled people at speed is a must and with the strategic decision as to which system should be the single source of truth about employee skills becoming one of the most important battlegrounds for HR tech vendors, many solutions are working hard to own the skills space.

Why a core challenger?

“Core Challenger” is the central zone in the 9-Grid, where TCO, market presence, current performance and future potential are relatively well balanced. We believe this reflects our current position well, and helps tell the story of what we strive to achieve with our HCM product.

2020 has been a year of change for us. Besides COVID-19, intuo has become part of Unit4, and we are now Unit4 intuo. Our offer for HR is more prominent: Human Capital Management. With the HCM suite, we can offer a more complete and blended experience to customers, from hire to retire. What sets us apart, and we feel proud of is our commitment to drive business value. Towards innovation, integration and product improvements, we aim to position HR as a strategic partner for the business. This means we can offer more than a rock-solid solution which ticks all the boxes - a more flexible product that reflects the diverse needs of people-focused organizations, and which constantly changes to meet the developing needs of our customers, the talent they seek, and the market.

Our product responds to our objective, that is why Unit4 HCM is not a centralised platform. It doesn't work in silos. The platform communicates perfectly with other business units such as payroll, core HR, talent management and learning. It's not static and rigid, but flexible and responsive to what people and businesses needs. This means it can just as easily equip customers to face the challenges of the present day as it can be reconfigured to help meet the challenges of the future.

The platform supports managers and employees with their career development. It also helps HR to work at the same speed the world and businesses work, agile. We believe that HR should act as a driver of business value instead of being a controlling institution. This means while we want to create a unified platform for employee engagement that creates a better people experience, we don’t want to create a platform that rigidly “lays down the law” of the entire organization.

Analyst reports such as Fosway group's 9-Grid are crucial for organizations and buyers. There are many vendors out there who are all claiming to have the best product in the market. Independent insights help the market understand the offers and their value. We’re very grateful to Fosway for placing us in the “Core Challenger” group because we believe it accurately describes the kind of model that vendors in the people-centric sectors should strive for.

The 9-Grid differentiates from other models because all 9 zones have value. Top right is not always the best – and may even be a bad pick for certain organizations when certain aspects of vendor selection, support, and TCO are accounted for. To determine which of the 9 zones will generate the  best partnership for you, look at the size of your organisation and its mission as well as your HR objectives. Identify your needs, estimate your budget, and then review vendor positions and capabilities. If your vision is to drive value for people and business, we should have a conversation!