Plateau News

Plateau Systems Unveils Latest Version of Industry Leading Talent Management Suite

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Plateau Talent Management Suite Version 6.1 Highlights Include New Organizational Dashboards, Enhanced Performance Review Capabilities and a Streamlined User Interface

Arlington, Va. - 16 June, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced the latest release of the company’s industry leading talent management suite. Featuring new, powerful and flexible talent planning capabilities, Plateau Talent Management Suite version 6.1 takes talent management to the next level by enabling organizations to implement an effective talent management strategy that will engage, develop and retain high performing workforces and create operational efficiencies that help organizations maximize their investment in talent management initiatives.

Plateau Talent Management Suite version 6.1 is an enterprise class on-demand application that consists of Plateau Learning, Plateau Performance, Plateau Compensation and Plateau Career and Succession Planning. Plateau OnDemand is in use by over 2.5 million users worldwide with some of the largest software-as-a-service deployments in the talent management space including six production customers with over 100,000 users each. This release introduces significant usability advancements and offers innovative tools for end users, managers, and organizational owners to better align individual development and performance with the achievement of corporate business goals. Specific product highlights include:

Organizational Dashboards introduce key functionality that allows managers to have a finger on the pulse of the organization, enabling them to be proactive in providing the direction and actions required to meet company initiatives, maintain compliance, and meet goals and deadlines.

Enhanced Performance Review Capabilities that streamline processes and provide more efficient and effective navigation, simplifying the performance review process for both users and supervisors.

Streamlined User Interface provides a reorganized interface integrating the entire talent management application, effectively breaking down the barriers that exist between different areas of the application. The home page provides a launching pad for talent management processes, and includes new features that allow for easier access to common tasks, your to do list, and key performance indicators for important talent management processes.

"The talent management challenges facing today's organizations are complex and rapidly changing," said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. "The complexities of today's economic environment necessitate organizations to better align the goals and development of individuals with the overall strategy and goals of the company. This alignment will maximize productivity gains while increasing operational efficiencies across the organization. Our latest release arms users with the information and enhancements they need to quickly address these challenges."

According to recent research from Gartner¹ , "Talent Management application investment can help, in the short term, to improve employee productivity and lower costs while reducing risks in critical roles. …Short-term investments in talent management applications build the foundation for longer-term benefits by enabling organizations to understand how talent-related investments drive specific business outcomes….Enterprises face significant talent challenges, yet HR organizations have difficulty building a strong business case for talent management application investments. The current economic challenges make it more important for HR organizations to focus more on short-term productivity improvement and cost and risk reduction, in addition to the longer-term strategic value."

Plateau Dashboards
Through interactive graphical charts, Plateau Dashboards deliver point-in-time analysis of key metrics that allow organizations to better manage their talent investments and monitor key outcomes. The charts are displayed in windows that allow the user to filter the data based on core attributes and to drill deeper into the data to uncover problems or opportunities. Flexible dashboard management allows administrators to assign ownership of the dashboard on a chart-by-chart basis, with the data secured at an organizational level. Dashboards in Plateau Talent Management Suite version 6.1 include:

Learning Item Completions: data on how many items and learning hours were completed by each organization within given time periods;

Learning Projections: data on how many items and learning hours are predicted for delivery within a given time period;

Curriculum Status: the current assigned curricula status of employees within a given organization;

Performance Review: the distribution of the overall scores for performance reviews in an organization; and

Goal Progress: the count of the Goals assigned to users in an organization for each status.

Enhanced Performance Reviews

Plateau Talent Management Suite version 6.1 introduces significant enhancements to Plateau Performance Reviews, including a redesigned performance review, enhanced control and transparency with user scoring, and improved employee and manager collaboration. Featuring simplified navigation and what-to-do-next instruction, Plateau Performance Reviews dramatically streamlines the performance review process and make it much easier for individuals and managers to better align their goals and review their results in the context of the overall organizational goals.

Availability

Plateau Talent Management Suite 6.1 will be generally available next month, and will be available on-demand or on-premise. Additional information on the features available in Plateau Talent Management Suite 6.1 is available online at http://www.plateau.com/6.1. For more information on Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

¹Gartner Inc., “Building the Business Case for Talent Management Application Investments,” James Holincheck, 18 December 2008.

About Plateau
Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the United States Air Force and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.Plateau.com.

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Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com

Plateau Systems and iLearn Solutions Announce the Release of the Performance-Based SkillBuilder CORE Learning System to iContent Customers

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Arlington, Va. - 11 June, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced the expansion of its iContent offering, adding the performance-based SkillBuilder CORE Learning System to its iContent solution to provide an integrated learning and assessment solution. iLearn Solutions’ competency-based "Test-to-Learn" content system now includes CORE transferable job competencies, objective assessments, and SkillBuilder ecourses. The result is an integrated learning offering designed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the employee learning process.

"At iLearn Solutions our core objective is to simplify the process of competency management and employee development by making it possible for organizations to objectively evaluate employee skills and performance, quickly identify targeted opportunities for individual development, and measure the effectiveness of specific employee development activities and initiatives," said Joel Wilkinson, Sr. V.P. of Business Development and Partnerships. "By making our SkillBuilder CORE Competency Learning System available within iContent, we are making it possible for organizations of all sizes and across all regions to increase employee effectiveness and productivity in a cost-effective manner. Plateau’s iContent solution provides a user-friendly, feature-rich, learning and talent management solution for customers looking to deploy the SkillBuilder CORE Competency Learning System to optimize their employee development processes."

With iContent, users can procure learning and training materials from a wide range of vendors; accelerate content integration to deliver custom and third-party content faster and with little to no administrative headaches; and securely manage all custom and off-the-shelf content in a central location. More than 60 customers across the globe and within every major industry – including government, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and finance – are using iContent to make custom and pre-packaged learning and training material available to their users. Major global organizations, including Royal Ahold, Mercury Marine and Deltek, are using iContent to support both internal and external training and development needs.

iLearn Solutions’ innovative SkillBuilder CORE Competency Learning System incorporates the cycle of assessment and learning to support the development of critical organizational competencies:

Pre-learning iTests identify CORE competency strengths and gaps

SkillBuilder ecourses develop competency in gap areas

Post-learning iTests provide objective measurement of learning attainment

iLearn Solution’s newly released SkillBuilder CORE Competency Learning system is designed to streamline and optimize the assessment and learning process for businesses and organizations around the globe.

"Employee development and competency management have become even more important in these tough economic times as companies re-evaluate their business strategies and the workforce they need to execute their strategies," said Lee Wright, Sr. Director of Services, iContent at Plateau Systems. "iLearn Solutions’ SkillBuilder CORE Learning System allows companies to streamline competency gap assessments, providing a direct path to prescribed courses and shortening the time it takes to address gaps. By making these assessments available through iContent, iLearn Solutions is expanding its global reach and enabling global organizations to more quickly close competency gaps that impact business results."

Companies worldwide are realizing substantial benefits from adopting iContent as the preferred solution for on-demand content. By providing organizations with a single place to buy, manage, and store third-party and custom developed content, iContent speeds the availability and delivery of content, while simultaneously decreasing the time and labor costs associated with managing and storing learning and talent management content.

View more information about iContent at http://www.plateau.com/icontent/.

About Plateau

Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the United States Air Force and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.Plateau.com.

About iLearn Solutions

iLearn Solutions is a leading provider of talent management consulting services and performance-based employee development content designed to maximize employee productivity. iLearn Solutions is known for their catalog of assessment and learning content which is easily integrated into any Learning and Talent Management System. iLearn Solutions innovative approach integrates objective competency assessment with elearning to facilitate focused and effective employee development. iLearn Solutions is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a network of operations, customers, and reseller partners in the United States, Europe, Canada, India, and the Middle East. Learn more at www.ilearnsolutions.com.

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Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com

Plateau Launches Compensation Management Resource Center

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Arlington, Va. - 26 May, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today launched its second informational microsite - the Plateau Compensation Resource Center. Similar to the Plateau Learning Resource Center, unveiled in March, the Compensation Resource Center provides materials including whitepapers, podcasts, toolkits and worksheets to individuals and organizations interested in developing best practices around compensation management, justifying their compensation investments and linking their compensation initiatives with broader talent management goals.

"The Compensation Resource Center, the second free resource center Plateau has created, was developed in response to the positive feedback and web traffic generated by our recently launched Learning Resource Center," said Jeff Kristick, SVP of Marketing at Plateau. "Learning Resource Center visitors are finding value in the quality, quantity and diversity of information available on the site, and have suggested that we create additional resource sites dedicated to other areas of talent management. With companies increasingly looking to integrate their employee compensation initiatives with broader talent management initiatives – from implementing pay for performance programs to leveraging non-monetary rewards to keep workers engaged and productive - we believed that a compensation management resource center would be timely, highly relevant and immediately valuable for talent management and business professionals."

In addition to accessing whitepapers, news articles and reports, product demonstrations, best practices tips, datasheets and customer videos and case studies, visitors to Plateau's Compensation Resource Center can register to attend online events, including an upcoming webinar on June 24 titled "Building the Business Case for Talent Management Application Investments." During this free webinar, Gartner analyst Jim Holincheck will provide guidance on how organizations can build a compelling business case in the current economy for funding talent management application investments, and will discuss costs and actions that are impacted by talent management investments, such as aligning pay with performance.

Plateau’s Compensation Resource Center provides educational materials, information and interactive tools, including a compensation worksheet, to help visitors build a strong business case for compensation management. To learn more about Plateau’s Compensation Solutions and the Compensation Resource Center, please visit Plateau’s booth #1232 at the Word at Work Total Rewards Conference later this month in Seattle. We welcome any comments and suggestions you might have. Click here to let us know what information you would like to see in the Compensation Resource Center.

About Plateau

Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the United States Air Force and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.Plateau.com.

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Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com

Plateau Delivers Twelfth Consecutive Year of Growth in 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Despite Challenging Business Climate, Company Posts Double-Digit Revenue Growth, Increases Bookings, Expands Market Leadership and Market Share and Expands User-Base Across Talent Management and iContent Solution Lines

2008Highlights:

Financial Growth

5-year organic revenue CAGR of 25 percent +
Profitable for FY2008, project increasing margins for 2009
SaaS revenue grew 31 percent year/year
Achieved GAAP profitability in Q4
45 percent growth in revenues outside North America

Customers

Added more than 1,000,000 new users
Increased SaaS customer-base by 100 percent
Expanded international user base by 40,000
Maintained 99 percent+ customer retention rate

iContent

Exceeded 1,000,000 users
Increased iContent annualized bookings by 235 percent
More than 8,000 custom course titles under management
Launched, on average, 200,000 course per month

Arlington, Va. - 17 February, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced that the company has again posted a double digit revenue gain for its fiscal 2008, with recurring revenues again comprising more than half of the company’s total revenues. Despite the volatile business climate that overshadowed much of 2008, Plateau saw worldwide revenue and customer growth across all product lines, solutions, geographies, market sectors and industries.

"Over the past eighteen months, Plateau has significantly expanded our talent management suite and increased our global customer footprint. We continue to deliver increasing value to both existing and new customers," said Paul Sparta, Plateau's Chairman and CEO. "Our ability to execute, grow our customer base and achieve sustainable EBITDA and GAAP profitability in a challenging economic environment, coupled with our impressive 99 percent customer retention rate, reflects Plateau’s sound management philosophy and validates the strength of our business plan and investment strategies."

In 2008, more than 100 new customers licensed Plateau's talent management solutions, bringing its total number of users to more than 10 million. During the year, the company continued to enhance its core talent management solutions with the release of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 Service Pack 5 (SP5), which delivered powerful and flexible talent planning and succession management capabilities through the Plateau Talent Management Suite. Key enhancements of SP5 include improved talent management planning, enhanced real-time visibility into talent management operations and additional learning evaluation capabilities. These expanded features allow Plateau customers to better maximize their company’s talent, make informed decisions about their employees and workforce and more effectively and accurately measure the value of learning for both the individual and the company.

The company also saw increased demand for and customer adoption of its popular iContent solution. iContent, the industry’s first and only Content-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution, is a comprehensive solution for content management and administration, providing a single point of procurement, centralized management, hosting and an all-inclusive service-level guarantee. iContent ensures customers have one point of access, and a central repository for all third-party and in-house content.

Customers
Over the past year, leading organizations including Monsanto, HEI Hotels and Resorts, Mercury Marine, Luxottica Retail, Cadence Design Systems, Technip USA and Cubist Pharmaceuticals, as well as government organizations and agencies including the United States Department of Homeland Security and Defense Logistics Agency have selected Plateau’s talent management solutions to support their internal and external learning, training, performance, compensation and/or career and succession management initiatives.

Plateau’s OnDemand revenues grew 31 percent during 2008, with more than 25 percent of Plateau’s customers now leveraging Plateau’s OnDemand talent management solutions.

iContent
Momentum for and adoption of Plateau’s iContent solution continued to soar throughout 2008. In addition to a 235 percent increase in annualized iContent bookings last year, Plateau tripled its iContent customer base, adding global organizations including Deltek Systems, Thomson Reuters, and Canon USA, to name a few. Released in October 2006, Plateau’s iContent solution has surpassed one million users in just two years.

Over the past year, the iContent library also continued to grow, with more than 40,000 third-party and custom courses now under management. The company broadened its third-party content and video offerings in retail sales training, business leadership development, competency assessments and IT training, with the addition of several new leading video and content partners including: iLearn Solutions, Martec International, StarQuest Online, NIIT and Fifty Lessons.

Market Leadership
Over the past year, Plateau continued to earn recognition and accolades for its vision, innovation, market leadership and customer satisfaction and success.

In July, the company was recognized as a Leader in Gartner's 2008 Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems (CLS)¹, marking the sixth consecutive time the company has achieved this distinction. The company was positioned as a Visionary in Gartner's inaugural Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management Software.²
In October, Bersin & Associates recognized Plateau as a market-leading provider of employee performance management software in its Essentials of Performance Management Practices: Part 1 and Part 2. Plateau was specifically commended for its ability to integrate sophisticated learning and development activities with performance and talent management processes and the company’s steadfast commitment to customer satisfaction and comprehensive global services.

In November, global analyst firm IDC recognized Plateau as a Strong Performer in its 2008 Integrated Talent Management Marketscape.

In addition to the company’s achievements and accolades, several Plateau customers were acknowledged for their innovative and strategic use of Plateau’s talent management solutions in driving their businesses forward.

Bersin & Associates recognized Plateau customers CA and Luxottica as 2008 Learning Leaders in the Operational Excellence and Initiative Excellence categories, respectively, for demonstrating excellence in training and development.
Customers BB&T Corporation, Perkins+Will and B&W Pantex were recognized as 2008 BEST Award recipients for achieving success with their enterprise-wide learning and development initiatives. According to ASTD, these companies are BEST at Building talent Enterprise-wide, Supported by the organization’s leaders fostering a Thorough learning culture.
In the Federal sector, three Plateau customers - the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – took the top spots in 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey.

International Operations
Outside of North America, Plateau’s revenues grew 45 percent as the company continued to increase its international footprint in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific regions. The company added several new high-profile customers including Caja Madrid, Spain’s fourth largest banking institution, and experienced significant growth in its international installed base, with several existing customers including Emirates Airlines and Thomson Reuters expanding their investments in Plateau’s talent management solutions. Plateau will continue to leverage investments in internal sales tools, methodology and technology to optimize sales execution across the organization in 2009.

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Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com

Deltek Deploys Plateau as Backbone for Deltek University's Internal and External Training Initiatives

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Arlington, Va. - 20 April, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that that Deltek, Inc. (NASDAQ: PROJ), the leading provider of enterprise applications software for project-focused businesses, has deployed Plateau Learning Management System (LMS) to support extended enterprise training initiatives. Using Plateau, Deltek is delivering training to its entire employee population as well as more than 5,000 external clients and partners via Deltek University through a single, consolidated system.

With more than 12,000 worldwide customers, Deltek is the market leader offering enterprise applications to project-focused businesses in numerous industries including government contracting, architecture and engineering, aerospace and defense, and consulting. Deltek has long been recognized for its focus on customer satisfaction and was recently awarded the 2008 ACE Award for Achievement in Customer Excellence. This is the second year in a row that Deltek has won this prestigious award. One of the core initiatives behind Deltek’s commitment to empowering users is Deltek University. Deltek University delivers training courses that educate customers on how to make the most of their Deltek applications, and offers users fast, cost-effective ways to keep pace with product and industry changes.

To meet the needs of its expanding internal and external user base while conserving IT resources and systems, Deltek sought an LMS system that would allow them to house, manage and administer both internal and external training on a single platform while integrating with the company’s existing back-office systems. Cost reduction through streamlining was also a critical factor in the selection process as the company looked to automate certain administrative functions.

According to Deltek, "We went through a lengthy evaluation process and found Plateau to be our selection due to the attractive implementation schedule, available training services and strong history of customer satisfaction. It was also important for us to have a system that could power the learning process for employees and clients. With Plateau, we purchased a world-class LMS that fully met our needs."

Deploying Plateau Learning Management System allows Deltek to achieve its goal of consolidating internal and external training in one solution, and accelerates the delivery of training across the extended enterprise through Deltek University. Providing anytime, anywhere access to recorded sessions, Deltek can make training available to the largest possible audiences. In order to further simplify the customer experience, Deltek has integrated Plateau’s LMS with PayPal’s PayFlowPro Gateway to provide a seamless way for customers to procure training.

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About Deltek
Deltek® (NASDAQ: PROJ) is the leading provider of enterprise applications software designed specifically for project-focused businesses. For more than two decades, our software applications have enabled organizations to automate mission-critical business processes around the engagement, execution and delivery of projects. More than 12,000 customers worldwide rely on Deltek to measure business results, optimize performance, streamline operations and win new business. Visit www.deltek.com.

About Plateau

Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the American Red Cross and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.Plateau.com.

Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com

Plateau Customers earn High Marks in 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Plateau Congratulates Federal Agencies for Achieving Top Rankings Across All Survey Categories

Arlington, Va. - 17 March, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that three of its customers - Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - have taken the top spots in the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey, according to results released by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) earlier this year. Conducted every two years, the 2008 survey gauged attitudes and impressions of more than 210,000 Federal employees from 57 agencies in four areas related to their overall work experience, including: Talent Management; Leadership and Knowledge Management; Results-Oriented Performance Culture; and Job Satisfaction. According to OPM, all agencies are accountable for ensuring the Federal Government has an effective workforce. The 2008 survey rankings reflect where agencies stand on meeting that expectation.

“Plateau is proud to be working closely with several Federal agencies to develop and deliver talent management solutions that directly support their agency-specific human capital initiatives as well as those defined in the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework (HCAAF),” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “We congratulate all of them, and especially NRC, NSF and NASA, for their leadership, innovation and success in setting and achieving aggressive human capital goals, and for their focus on developing, managing and retaining talented employees.”

In addition to ranking among the top five in each category in the survey, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the Talent Management Agency Rankings Index portion of the survey. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ranked first in the areas of Job Satisfaction and Leadership and Knowledge Management, with National Science Federation ranking first in Results-Oriented Performance Culture.

According to report, “The Federal Government depends on attracting, developing and retaining talented employees and ensuring they have the support and information to contribute to the mission of their agencies.” As a leading provider of talent management solutions for developing, managing and optimizing employee productivity, Plateau has become the learning, performance and succession management platform of choice for Federal government agencies.

For more information about how Plateau’s talent management solutions are assisting Federal agencies in addressing current Federal human capital mandates. For complete information about the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey report and results, click here.

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About Plateau
Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the American Red Cross and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.Plateau.com.

Media Contact:

Wendy Werve

Plateau Systems

703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com

Leading Industry Expert to Provide Insight Into How Organizations Can Protect Training and Development Budgets in Tough Economic Climates

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Upcoming Plateau Systems’ Webinar, Featuring Forrester Research Analyst Claire Schooley, will Focus on How Organizations Can Maximize their Investments in Training and Development to Weather the Current Economic Storm

Arlington, Va. - 17 February, 2009 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that registration is now open for its March 11, 2009 Webinar titled, “Top 5 Ways to Protect your Training and Development Budget in 2009,” featuring Claire Schooley, a senior analyst covering learning strategy and technology at Forrester Research.

In order to survive in today’s tough economic environment, organizations are being forced to cut valuable resources, skills and employees without having full visibility into the long-term impact these cuts will have on their business. In many cases, organizations are eliminating the very programs that can help them successfully navigate through the current downturn. Many will be tempted to cut leadership development programs, viewing them as “nice-to-haves,” rather than as critical business “must-haves.” Shortsighted approaches, however, will put organizations at a significant disadvantage when the economy does recover.

During this interactive Webinar, Schooley will discuss how organizations can leverage their training and development investments today to identify critical skills, positions, employees and initiatives within the organization. By aligning employee skills with the critical needs of the business, organizations can maximize employee productivity and performance and focus on achieving their immediate business goals.

Webinar attendees will learn how to:

Identify mission-critical training and development initiatives;

Translate training and development programs into revenue generating opportunities; and

Improve operations and maximize budgets.

WHO:	Claire Schooley, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
WHAT:	Top 5 Ways to Protect your Training and Development Budget in 2009
WHEN:	Wednesday, March 11, 2009; 1:00 p.m. EST
WHERE:	Click here to register

For more information about Plateau, visit http://www.plateau.com/.

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About Plateau

Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the American Red Cross and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.plateau.com/.

Registration Now Open for Plateau's Annual User Conference - Insights 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Insights 2009 in San Francisco to Highlight Best Practices and Emerging Trends in Talent Management

Arlington, Va. - 10 February, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that registration is open for its 14th annual user conference, Insights 2009, September 21-24, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. Insights 2009 will provide a highly interactive forum where attendees can engage with industry experts and peers and share insights on the latest trends, technologies and best practices in talent management.

During the conference, themed: “Building Bridges to Talent Management: Leveraging Human Capital to Achieve a High Performing Workforce,” Plateau customers, partners and industry experts will discuss the importance of constructing and implementing a comprehensive talent management strategy that focuses on linking employee skills with organizational goals and priorities. Plateau executives will discuss the organizational benefits of connecting employees with internal and external peers, and share their views on how organizations can embrace collaboration and social networking to support their talent management objectives. Through technical and business breakout sessions and hands-on educational labs, attendees will learn how they can leverage their current talent management investments to meet immediate and long-term business goals amid today’s challenging business conditions.

Insights 2009 will also be a celebration of customer innovation, featuring the sixth annual Plateau Customer Excellence Awards. This program honors Plateau customers who have created outstanding value and addressed a variety of business challenges in their organizations through the use of Plateau's product and service offerings. Awards will be recognized in four categories, including Best Overall Use of Product, Best Launch to Organization (organizations with more than 10,000 employees), Best Launch to Organization (organizations with less than 10,000 employees), and Best Business Solution. Winners will be announced during the evening event on Wednesday, September 23, 2009. For more information on applying for a Customer Excellence Award, visit http://plateau.com/insights/awards.htm.

“Given the unprecedented economic and business challenges affecting today’s organizations, Plateau’s Insights 2009 conference agenda will feature practical sessions designed to help organizations maximize their Plateau investment and develop talent management strategies to successfully navigate through these dynamic market conditions,” said Jeff Kristick, Plateau’s senior vice president of marketing. “Through both formal and informal information exchange and knowledge-sharing, Insights attendees can expect to leave this year’s conference with actionable ideas on how to effectively build out their organization’s talent management initiatives and optimize their use of Plateau solutions.”

Last year, more than 400 customers, prospects and industry experts converged in Arizona to attend Plateau’s sold-out Insights 2008 featuring customer keynote presentations from Mary Tilley, HR Leader, W.L. Gore and Associates, and Connie Linardakis, EVP and Chief Human Resource Officer, Zions Bancorporation. Mary Tilley’s presentation focused W.L. Gore’s use of Plateau to support its unique organizational structure and complex processes around managing, assessing and rewarding W.L Gore associates. Connie Linardakis discussed how Utah-based Zions Bancorporation’s is leveraging Plateau’s integrated platform to unify and streamline the organization’s talent management applications and processes while maintaining autonomy for multiple subsidiaries. Click here to view highlights of Insights 2008.

Early bird registration and pricing will available at http://plateau.com/insights/index.htm until May 1, 2009. Special discounts are also available for groups and government attendees.

For more information about Plateau, visit http://www.plateau.com/.

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About Plateau Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the American Red Cross and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.plateau.com/.

Plateau Systems Debutes in Visionaries Quadrant in Employee Performance Management Software Magic Quadrant

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute

Arlington, Va. - 6 February, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, announced today it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the visionaries quadrant in its “Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management Software”¹ (EPM). According to Gartner, “visionaries have been advanced in promoting the latest trends (for example, user experience) driving EPM solutions.”

The report notes that "customers typically want to buy new EPM solutions to “automate their EPM processes, improve the linkage between pay and performance, help support the development of the next generation of leaders in the organization, and/or improve employee/associate retention (and engagement).” As customers solve the challenges of automating EPM processes, improving the ability to link pay to performance and other issues, Gartner expects “the focus to shift to leveraging talent data to make better decisions about worker-related programs and investments.”

“As organizations of all sizes across virtually every industry continue to weather the current economic storm, business leaders are looking for every opportunity to minimize costs by maximizing resources,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. “Right now, with people being an organization’s most valuable - and expensive - resource, employee skills and talents must be developed and utilized in way that directly supports the most critical and immediate goals of the business. Plateau is enabling organizations to do this by providing an integrated solution that allows users to link employee performance with development activities, synchronize goals across business units, and directly measure performance against those goals. We consider our positioning in Gartner’s recent Employee Performance Management Software Magic Quadrant to be further validation of Plateau’s ability to deliver the performance management capabilities organizations need to optimize their talent today.”

Plateau has expanded into performance management, succession management and compensation management (through the acquisition of Nuvosoft in February 2007).” In June 2008, Gartner positioned Plateau in the Leaders Quadrant in its “Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems.”² By integrating Plateau Performance with Plateau's award- winning Learning Management System (LMS), customers can tie learning and development activities to individual employee performance and development plans and employees can take immediate action to achieve their performance targets by launching relevant training when and where they need it. Using the latest release of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 SP5, customers can leverage powerful and flexible talent planning capabilities, including enhanced real-time visibility into talent management operations and additional learning evaluation capabilities to make more informed decisions about their talent and better gauge the value of learning for both the individual and the company.

Today, more than 10 million employees and managers from some of the world's most respected organizations rely on Plateau's talent management solutions to engage, develop, manage, and retain high performing employees and workforces. For more information about Plateau, visit http://www.plateau.com/.

¹ Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management Software” by James Holincheck and Thomas Otter. February 3, 2009.
² Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems,” Carol Rozwell and James Lundy. June 30, 2008.

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About Magic Quadrant The Magic Quadrants are 208 and 2009, by Gartner, Inc. and are reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Plateau Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the American Red Cross and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.plateau.com/.

Plateau Adds New Members to Customer Advisory Board

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Learning Experts Will Discuss Current Trends at Insights Conference

Arlington, Va. - 27 January, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, announced today that learning and talent management professionals from several leading global organizations, including W.L. Gore, Zions Bancorporation, Schering-Plough, and the U.S. Air Force Air Education Training Command, have recently joined Plateau’s customer advisory board. The board, comprised of senior level HR executives representing a wide range of industries and organizations, provides Plateau executives with real-world insight into industry trends and challenges and practical guidance on the development of Plateau’s products, solutions and services.

Currently, Plateau's customer advisory board is comprised of learning and talent management professionals from 11 major global organizations, including:

Bristol-Myers Squibb
CA
Capital One Financial
GE
Schering-Plough Corporation
Thomson Reuters
U.S Air Force Air Education Training Command
W.L. Gore
Zions Bancorporation

"From our inception, Plateau has focused on differentiating from other software providers by fostering a customer-focused culture within our organization,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau. “A key part of doing this successfully centered on involving and communicating with customers directly, and by creating an active customer advisory board. Through their active participation, constructive feedback on strategic priorities and willingness to openly share their real-world perspectives, concerns and recommendations, Plateau’s customer advisory board has been instrumental in ensuring our ability to make customers successful, and we are grateful for (or "we appreciate") their continued support."

Advisory board members will meet at Insights 2009, Plateau’s 14th annual user conference in September to share their perspectives and exchange best practices around maximizing learning and talent management investments in a dynamic economy.

For more information about Plateau, visit http://www.plateau.com/.

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About Plateau Plateau led the charge in transforming corporate workforces in the mid-‘90s with its award-winning learning management system (LMS) platform, which streamlined the management and delivery of learning and training across some of the world’s most respected organizations, including General Electric, the American Red Cross and Capital One Services. Plateau expanded its LMS platform, and in early 2000 delivered the industry’s first fully integrated, J2EE-based talent management platform, which allowed organizations to link learning and training with employee performance to ensure that employee goals aligned with corporate objectives. Today, organizations around the world rely on Plateau’s software and solutions to drive innovation, facilitate collaboration and connect people in ways that support the organization’s most critical business objectives. Customers and industry analysts continue to recognize Plateau as a customer satisfaction leader and for its continued leadership, vision and technology innovation. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.plateau.com/.

AICC Certifies Plateau 5.8 Learning Management System

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:36:00 +0000

Fourth AICC Certification Validates Plateau's Longstanding Commitment to Open Standards and Software Interoperability

Arlington, Va. - 12 December, 2008 – The Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC) announced today that Plateau 5.8 Learning Management System (LMS) has been formally certified as compliant with the AICC's Web-Based Computer Managed Instruction Systems (CMI) Guideline (AGR-010). This guideline ensures that AICC-conforming Web-based learning content and courseware interoperates with AICC-conforming LMS systems.

Plateau LMS was originally certified by the AICC in June 2001, and again in 2003 and 2005. It was recertified last month when an independent testing lab validated the compliance of Plateau 5.8 with CMI guidelines. In addition to AICC, Plateau also complies with Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), the other major standard for ensuring interoperability between enterprise software and e-Learning content.

"With its fourth AICC certification, Plateau continues to demonstrate that it is an industry leader with a long- term commitment to interoperability," said William A. McDonald, AICC CMI Subcommittee chair and Learning Technology Architect at Alteon, Boeing's aviation training company.

For nearly a decade, Plateau Systems has been an active AICC member and a leader in the learning industry's effort to standardize communication between e-Learning content and enterprise software applications. Plateau’s Chief Technology Officer, Ed Cohen, has served as the chair of the AICC Training Infrastructure Subcommittee since 2004. As a subcommittee chair, Cohen has substantial input within the AICC's Executive subcommittee, which guides the organization's strategic direction and administration.

“We have worked collaboratively and consistently with the AICC and other leading standards bodies for the past several years to promote open standards that facilitate software interoperability in the e-Learning industry,” Cohen said. “This most recent certification of Plateau 5.8 LMS reinforces our commitment to creating a global standard for learning technology not only for our major aviation customers, but the entire industry.”

The AICC is an international association of technology-based training professionals. While its mission is to create open standards for computer-based training in the aviation industry, AICC guidelines are being used by software vendors across a variety of industries, and are paving the way for the global standardization of learning technologies.

Standards such as those set by the AICC and SCORM allow courseware and learning management systems to seamlessly convey and exchange information. They also ensure that the content and the learning management system will work together to provide not just learning material, but data that can be used to meet an organization's strategic goals.

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About the AICC
The AICC's mission is to provide and promote information, guidelines and standards that result in the effective creation and implementation of CBT and WBT. The AICC has long been an advocate of interoperable learning technology. More information is available at the organization's Web site at http://www.aicc.org/.
For more information about Plateau, visit http://www.plateau.com/.

About Plateau
Plateau is a leading provider of talent management software, content and services designed to increase workforce productivity and drive business success. Plateau’s award-winning software is powering talent management initiatives across some of the world’s most successful organizations, including the American Red Cross, General Electric, the Internal Revenue Service, Capital One Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Industry analysts at Bersin & Associates, Forrester Research and other leading information and technology research and advisory firms continue to recognize Plateau’s leadership in delivering best-in-class functionality, technology and customer satisfaction. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.plateau.com/.

Plateau Congratulates Winners of ASTD Best Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:20:00 +0000

ASTD Recognizes Plateau Customers BB&T Corporation, Perkins+Will and B&W Pantex with BEST Awards for Demonstrating Excellence in Learning

Arlington, Va. - 14 October, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced three of the company’s current customers have been honored by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) with a 2008 BEST Award. BB&T Corporation, Perkins+Will and B&W Pantex were among 40 organizations recently recognized by ASTD for achieving success with their enterprise-wide learning and development initiatives. According to ASTD, these companies are BEST at Building talent Enterprise-wide, Supported by the organization’s leaders fostering a Thorough learning culture.

The Plateau customers who earned BEST Awards this year are using Plateau’s Talent Management solutions in innovative ways to drive critical human capital initiatives across their enterprises. They include:

BB&T Corporation – Ranked number two on the ASTD BEST Award rankings, BB&T uses Plateau Learning and Plateau Analytics to deliver, manage and track enterprise-wide learning activities.

Perkins+Will – Ranked number seven on the 2008 ASTD BEST Award rankings, Perkins+Will has integrated Plateau Learning with the company’s internal HR solution and Plateau Virtual Learning System with Microsoft® Office Live Meeting to deliver live instruction quickly and cost effectively.

B&W Pantex – Ranked number 22 on the ASTD BEST Award rankings, B&W Pantex has deployed Plateau’s Learning Management System (LMS) to support its comprehensive learning strategy.

“BB&T, Perkins+Will and B&W Pantex have all achieved tremendous success with their learning and development initiatives, and they all appreciate the role learning plays in individual and organizational performance,” said Shelly Heiden, EVP Global Operations at Plateau. “Plateau is proud to be providing the tools these organizations depend on to support their critical human capital initiatives. We congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition from ASTD.”

Established in 2003, the BEST Awards Winner’s Circle is comprised of diverse organizations that span a broad range of global organizations and industries, including small and large private, public, and not-for-profit organizations. The Awards recognize organizations that create, support, and champion learning opportunities for results and a learning culture. The 2008 ASTD BEST Award winners are featured in the October issue of Training + Development (T+D), ASTD’s monthly magazine, and were honored during a reception on October 2 in Washington, D.C.

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Cadence Design Systems Selects Plateau to Power Talent Management Initiatives Across Extended Enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:05:00 +0000

Leader in Global Electronic Design Innovation to use Plateau Learning Management System, Virtual Learning System and iContent to Deploy and Track Training for Thousands of Internal and External Global Users

Arlington, Va. - 2 October, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), the leader in global electronic design innovation, selected Plateau’s talent management solutions to deliver and manage training throughout its extended enterprise. By selecting Plateau’s talent management solutions for inter- and intra-enterprise use, Cadence’s 5,100 global employees and more than 13,000 external users - including partners and customers - can access training anytime, anywhere. This expanded investment in delivering 24/7 training to employees, partners and customers underscores Cadence’s commitment to making its customers successful by maximizing design team productivity and helping users reduce time-to-market.

Cadence Design Systems is a leader in the highly competitive electronic design automation (EDA) industry, where customer engineers depend on the quality of their industry-leading technologies and engineering services and their ability to constantly innovate to meet consumer demand for smaller and sleeker electronic devices. To meet this demand, Cadence maintains offices distributed worldwide – including China, India, Europe, Russia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and North America – and one of the electronics industry’s most robust partner and alliance programs. As a leader in EDA and sponsor of several significant initiatives across the electronics industry, Cadence is committed to ensuring that its design teams, alliance members and customers are up to date on the latest technology, techniques and methodologies required for achieving design success and remaining at the forefront of technological innovation.

Through Plateau Learning Management, Cadence will be able to deploy training across its extended enterprise and track its completion. Plateau will provide hosting for the solution, enabling Cadence to deliver its Internet Learning Series (iLS) self-paced Cadence Education classes to users who want to complete training at their own pace, anytime and anywhere. Cadence decided to migrate its previously disparate LMS solutions to Plateau in order to consolidate its internal learning services and external education services onto a single platform.

“Consolidating our internal and external LMS solutions through Plateau enables us to significantly reduce the administrative time we spent on the LMS and content solutions, and keep the focus on providing the training our employees, partners and customers need to maintain highly productive design teams,” said Ellen Tam, Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations, Cadence Design Systems. “In our review, we found that Plateau provided the industry’s leading talent management solutions for deploying and managing training within the extended enterprise.”

Cadence will also use Plateau to register its customers for instructor led training as well as Virtual Classroom Learning, a new innovative method of delivery where customers can remotely attend training classes-taking advantage of live instructions through a conference call - and perform hands on exercises using virtual lab environment with the instructor monitoring and answering their questions. Virtual Classroom and iLS offerings provide Cadence customers a unique opportunity to receive training more cost effectively and efficiently.

“Cadence is one of a growing number of leading organizations who recognize that delivering training to extended user communities is as critical to the company’s success as training and development of their internal employees,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. “Employee, partner and customer productivity is directly tied to Cadence’s ability to deploy knowledge across their extended enterprise, rapidly and efficiently. Using Plateau, Cadence can deploy, manage and track ongoing training throughout its extended enterprise to create tighter partner relationships and expand its competitive advantage.”

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Plateau's Annual Insights 2008 User Conference Hits all the Right Notes with Global Customers

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Industry Experts, Visionaries and Leading Organizations Converge at Annual User Conference to Discuss the State of Talent Management and Share Industry Best Practices; Zion’s Bancorporation, Capital One, The U.S. Department of Agriculture and The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Recognized for Talent Management Innovation as Plateau Customer Excellence Award Winners

Arlington, Va. - 18 September, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced the successful conclusion of its 13th annual Insights user conference. With more than 450 attendees from 160 global customer organizations, this year’s conference - held earlier this week in Phoenix, Arizona – marked the largest user conference in Plateau’s history.

Aptly themed “Blazing the Talent Trail,” this year’s conference was hotter than ever as Plateau customers and event-goers from around the world joined with colleagues and peers to exchange best practices, share success stories and lessons learned and network with fellow Plateau users. This year’s multi-track agenda featured keynote presentations delivered by Plateau executives, customers and guest speaker Dr. Robert Ballard, customer and partner breakout sessions, an interactive Buzz Panel, hands-on learning labs and Plateau product and services tracks, providing attendees with a broad range of opportunities to learn and engage with industry experts and other Plateau users.

Customers were also invited and encouraged to schedule one-on-one meetings with Plateau experts to discuss strategies and specific best practices around deploying and leveraging Plateau’s industry-leading products and services to drive increased business performance. Additional highlights from Insights 2008 included:

The release of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 Service Pack 5, Plateau’s flagship talent management suite that delivers powerful and flexible talent planning and succession management capabilities through the Plateau Talent Management Suite. The release arms Plateau customers with innovative ways to achieve their business goals through managing and developing talent, fostering employee growth and retention, and measuring the effectiveness of their talent management initiatives.

Renowned ocean explorer and guest keynoter, Dr. Robert Ballard, received a standing ovation after an awe-inspiring presentation highlighting the symbiotic relationship between technology and people. During his presentation, Dr. Ballard discussed the impact technology has had on exploration, and showed how technology is bringing important discoveries to schools, desktops and living rooms around the world, enabling others to connect and learn in real time. Dr. Ballard is most famous for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998. Most recently he discovered the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2003.

Customer keynote presentations from Mary Tilley, HR Leader, W.L. Gore and Associates and Connie Linardakis, VP and Chief Human Resource Officer, Zions Bancorporation. Mary Tilley’s presentation focused on how W.L. Gore is using Plateau to its unique organizational structure and complex processes around managing, assessing and rewarding W.L Gore associates. Connie Linardakis discussed how Zions Bancorporation’s is leveraging Plateau’s integrated platform to unify and streamline the organization’s talent management applications and processes while maintaining autonomy for multiple subsidiaries.

Plateau’s inaugural Buzz Panel, a lively discussion about current trends and perceptions in talent management, software-as-a-service, and the economy’s impact on talent management. The panel featured well-known talent management experts and personalities including Human Resource Executive Magazine technology columnist Bill Kutik, Josh Bersin from Bersin & Associates, Accenture’s David Smith, and Nathan Swanson from ThinkPanmure.

“The record attendance at this year’s Insights conference demonstrates that talent management has become a strategic corporate imperative and competitive advantage for virtually all organizations,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO of Plateau. “By bringing our customers together at Plateau’s annual user conference, we are providing a forum where they can openly exchange information with their peers, engage with industry experts on business trends, and meet one-on-one with Plateau executives and experts to discuss strategies and best practices around using Plateau’s solutions to meet their corporate goals. This interactive dialogue inspires innovation and generates ideas that our customers can apply within their organizations, and it provides us with valuable feedback we can leverage to extend Plateau’s talent management offerings and industry leadership.”

Plateau also hosted its second annual Customer Advisory Board meeting comprised of Plateau customers representing a wide range of industries. During the meeting, members from global organizations met with Plateau executives to discuss the state of talent management and provided expert insight into how talent management is perceived within their organizations, how they are using Plateau’s solutions to drive business value within their organizations and how Plateau can continue to support their talent management initiatives.

Customer Excellence Award Recognition

Insights 2008 also served as the backdrop for Plateau’s Fifth Annual Customer Excellence Awards honoring customers who have demonstrated innovation and success in leveraging Plateau's software to meet business challenges. Conference attendees selected the final winners from a competitive field. Winners were announced at the Insights Evening Gala sponsored by Satyam. This year’s Customer Excellence Awards winners include:

Capital One for Best Business Solution

U.S Department of Agriculture for Best Overall Use of Product

Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for Best Launch to an Organization Under 10,000 Employees

Zion’s Bancorporation for Best Launch to an Organization with Over 10,000 Employees

“Our customers continue to impress us with the innovation they demonstrate and enthusiasm they exude around their talent management initiatives,” said Shelly Heiden, Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Plateau. “With so many companies using our talent management solutions in ways we never imagined, it has become increasingly difficult to pick a few that stand out from the pack. This year’s winners have each demonstrated creativity and ingenuity in leveraging Plateau’s solutions to create value and achieve their corporate goals. We are pleased to recognize them as this year’s Customer Excellence Award winners.”

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Plateau Systems Introduces Next Generation of Flagship Talent Management Suite

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:21:00 +0000

Expanded Features in Plateau Talent Management Enhance Planning Capabilities and Real-time Visibility into Talent Management Operations

Arlington, Va. - 15 September, 2008 – Plateau Systems, leading provider of talent management softwaresoftware, services and solutions, today announced the latest release of its flagship talent management suite, delivering powerful and flexible talent planning and succession management capabilities through the Plateau Talent Management Suite. The release arms Plateau customers with innovative ways to achieve their business goals through managing and developing talent, fostering employee growth and retention, and measuring the effectiveness of their talent management initiatives.

Plateau Talent Management 5.8 Service Pack 5 (SP5) provides key enhancements in several areas of the suite including improved talent management planning, enhanced real-time visibility into talent management operations and additional learning evaluation capabilities. With these expanded features, Plateau customers can better maximize their company’s talent, make more informed decisions and more effectively and accurately measure the value of learning for both the individual and the company. Highlights of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 SP5 include:

An expanded Talent Profile that includes additional information from Plateau Talent Management and employee social interests and communities, giving you a more complete picture of your company’s talent.
Dynamic Talent Pools that broaden succession planning capabilities to enable talent identification, risk assessment, team building, internal recruiting and bench strength development.
Plateau Report Designer – a fully integrated robust reporting tool that allows for interactive reports to be built using a visual design environment, giving you greater control over the layout and content of your reports with full application security and without third-party reporting software
Enhanced survey features and additional reports that complement exam functionality in Plateau Learning, allowing a more comprehensive understanding of training effectiveness.
Enhanced global commerce capabilities with full support for multiple currencies, which allows companies to manage content pricing and costs in a global deployment.

According to a recent Bersin & Associates research bulletin, The Economic Benefits of an Integrated Talent Management Suite, those organizations with integrated talent management suites had returns on investment up to 250 percent higher than those with standalone systems for performance management, learning management, and recruiting. This bulletin also includes a review of Plateau Talent Management 5.8 SP5 and states, “These features clearly position Plateau for the ’next generation’ of talent management system applications, which integrate the HR-driven needs for management and planning with the employee’s need for social networking, collaboration and expertise location.” To read the Bersin & Associates bulletin, click here.

“The talent challenges plaguing today’s global economy require an integrated approach to talent management that enable organizations to align talent management efforts with their business objectives,” said Paul Sparta, chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. “The expanded features and enhanced user experience we’re delivering in this latest release of the Plateau Talent Management Suite directly address these growing talent demands, and provide the relevant features our customers need in order to make integrated talent management a reality.”

Dynamic Talent Pools

Successful talent management and succession planning initiatives require an understanding of the characteristics, potential and areas of risk in your workforce and your ability to develop strategies on how to grow and retain talent or mitigate the effects of talent losses. With the expanded Talent Pools functionality in Plateau Talent Management, organizations can use pool-based planning to enhance succession management capabilities and to address broader talent management problems associated with talent identification, risk assessment, team building, internal recruiting and bench strength development.

Talent Pools are created using flexible, multi-dimensional searches of employee talent profiles. Once groups of employees are defined, organizations can manage, track, analyze and associate activities or succession plans with the pool members over time. Managers can use the resulting talent pools as a workbench when considering candidates for new positions and use the Talent Pool’s personalized display capabilities to enhance the decision-making process. Because Plateau Talent Pools are dynamic, additional candidates can automatically be added to the pool as soon as they meet the pool’s criteria. Pools also serve as a launching pad for additional information on each pool member or group of members. Managers can use Talent Pools to review individual members’ talent profiles or group several members together to compare relative competency gaps and compare qualifications. With Talent Pools, managers can group high potential and critical employees based upon performance data from Plateau Performance, placing the focus on tracking, developing and retaining critical employees. To facilitate employee development, managers can assign training and learning activities directly from Talent Pools.

According to the Bersin & Associates research bulletin, “Plateau’s product has now reached the level of maturity and richness that any Plateau LMS customer should strongly consider implementing Plateau’s talent management features before selecting another product.”

The report further states, “Plateau LMS customers who implement Plateau’s talent management software can quickly leverage all of the employee training history, demographic information, employee hierarchy data, and security and domain information in their talent management solution.”

Plateau Report Designer

Plateau Report Designer is an integrated enterprise-class report development platform that allows users to address unique customer reporting requirements. Plateau Report Designer frees customers from the additional expense and provisioning associated with the deployment and integration of third-party reporting tools. The reports provide real-time visibility into talent management operations and help address key questions regarding learning adoption and costs, performance review compliance and a broad range of other operational questions. Plateau Report Designer provides a flexible means to modify standard reports, produce ad hoc reports based on existing reports, create new reports and build completely new reports using a variety of chart styles.

Availability

Plateau Talent Management 5.8 SP5 will be generally available later this month. Additional information on the features available in Plateau Talent Management 5.8 SP5 is available online at www.plateau.com/SP5. For more information on Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

¹Bersin & Associates, “The Economic Benefits of an Integrated Talent Management Suite,” Aug. 21, 2008, http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?Docid=10337574.

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Plateau Systems Joins Red Hat Ready Partner Program, Certifies Plateau Talent Management on JBoss Application Server

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:16:00 +0000

Support for Open Source Application Server Increases Customer Platform Choice, Lowers Total Cost of Ownership

Arlington, Va. - 13 August, 2008 – Plateau Systems, leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that the company has joined the Red Hat ISV Partner Program as a Red Hat Ready Partner. Additionally, Plateau announced that its industry-leading talent management solutions are now certified for use with JBoss Application Server 4.2.1.

The Red Hat ISV Program provides Plateau with easy access to the tools and resources necessary to develop and test its industry-leading talent management solutions on JBoss Enterprise Middleware. By joining the Red Hat ISV Partner Program and the Red Hat Ready Partner Program, Plateau will take advantage of the program’s co-marketing and co-branding offerings to expand the footprint of its talent management solutions within the global community of Red Hat customers.

As enterprises increasingly adopt open source and open standards, Red Hat’s JBoss Enterprise Middleware has become the leading choice for enterprise open source middleware. As the industry’s most widely deployed application server, JBoss Application Server has proven itself to be a reliable and scalable solution for users seeking a flexible architecture and simple development experience. By certifying Plateau Talent Management on JBoss Application Server, Plateau offers J2EE talent management solutions that extend the performance and availability, change and configuration, and code quality and optimization capabilities found in the JBoss Application Server.

“Plateau is committed to choice, and offering cost-effective options for companies who are investing in talent management solutions,” said Joe Herman, SVP, Product Management at Plateau. “This certification assures our customers that Plateau’s talent management solutions can readily be run on JBoss and offers an additional application server choice for deploying Plateau’s for flexible and scalable talent management solutions.”

“Joining the Red Hat Ready Partner Program gives us an opportunity to leverage Red Hat’s brand and expertise in the enterprise open source market, and allows us to access additional Red Hat resources related to the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform,” continued Herman. “As a result, customers know that they can receive the highest level of support and service from both Plateau and Red Hat.”

The support for JBoss Application Server extends Plateau’s commitment to building the most advanced architecture in the talent management industry. Plateau provides the only integrated performance and learning management software delivered on a proven J2EE Web-based architecture currently being used by some of the largest, most successful companies in the world. The Plateau Product Architecture provides the best stability, scalability, extensibility and tools customer need to run talent management solutions and extend those solutions as their business evolves.

For more information on Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

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Plateau Partners to Showcase Talent Management Solutions and Services at Insights 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Partner Round-Up Expo Highlights Solutions from Leading Business and technology partners including Satyam, General Physics, Verizon Business, BIRT Exchange and UKS

Arlington, Va. - 11 August, 2008 – Plateau Systems, leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced the Partner Round-Up Expo, which will take place during this year’s annual Insights user conference “Blazing the Talent Trail” September 14-17 in Phoenix. During the Expo, featuring the latest in talent management and IT solutions from Plateau's partners, conference attendees will have an opportunity to view new, industry-leading solutions and services offered by Plateau’s application, content, technology and integration partners.

“Because partners are critical to our business and our ability to make Plateau customers successful, we invest heavily in cultivating relationships with proven application, content, technology and integration providers who share our commitment to delivering real customer value,” said Jeff Kristick, SVP Marketing at Plateau. “By leveraging the knowledge, expertise and technology of our partners, Plateau is able to provide customers with practical, progressive solutions that deliver real value by enabling them to reach across their entire enterprise to employees, customers, partners and vendors.”

Satyam, a leading global consulting and IT services company, heads the expansive list of partners scheduled to participate in this year’s Expo. As a Diamond sponsor, Satyam will be a featured speaker at the conference and will also sponsor the “Denim and Diamond’s” Gala where Plateau’s annual Customer Excellence Award winners will be announced. Additional Plateau partners scheduled to exhibit include General Physics, Verizon Business, Adobe, BIRT Exchange, UKS and Vertex Solutions. For a complete list of sponsors and exhibitors, please visit http://www.plateau.com/insights/expo.htm.

The Partner Round-Up Expo will open Sunday evening during the Welcome Reception, and continue through the conclusion of the conference on Wednesday. For complete event details and registration information, please visit the Plateau Insights 2008 Web site at http://plateau.com/insights.

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Plateau Systems Extends iContent Offerings with Three New Content Partners

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:37:00 +0000

Perpetual Demand for Talent Management Solutions that Expedite Training and Reduce Administrative Burden Drives iContent Expansion

Arlington, Va. - 7 August, 2008 – Plateau Systems, leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced the expansion of its iContent solution offerings, adding three new partners: Martec International, StarQuest Online and NIIT. These partners bring new retail, sales, customer service, leadership and information technology titles to the iContent catalog and enable the creation of specialized custom-content for unique training needs. With these new partnerships, iContent now offers more than 30,000 talent management assets that span a broad range of business, technology and leadership development topics as well as custom content.

With iContent, users can procure talent management materials from a wide range of vendors; accelerate content integration to deliver custom and third-party content faster and with little to no administrative headaches; and securely manage all custom and off-the-shelf content in a central location. By providing organizations with a single place to buy, manage, and store third-party and custom developed content, iContent speeds the availability and delivery of the content while simultaneously decreasing the time and labor costs associated with managing and storing it. More than 40 customers across the globe and within every major industry – including government, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and finance – are using iContent to make custom and pre-packaged learning and training material available to their users. Major global organizations, including Royal Ahold, Mercury Marine and CA, are using iContent to support both internal and external training and development needs.

Martec International is a leading consulting and training practice specializing in retail sales training, including buying and merchandising, supply chain and store operations. In the United States, Martec markets pre-developed e-learning programs in conjunction with the National Retail Foundation’s (NRF) University, Wired. Martec’s training materials leverage the expertise of consultants who are former retailers and the courses they develop are based on real-world experience in retailing and retail technology. Delivering this content through iContent will make Martec’s courses accessible to a broader user base and will enable those in the retail industry to strengthen sales techniques and extend market knowledge to increase sales. For a limited time, organizations can register for a free 30-day trial of the iContent/Martec solution. During this trial, users can access a variety of training titles including Solution Selling, Buying and Merchandising and Understanding Retail. For more information about the trial or to sign up, contact Kevin Mosher at 703-678-0312 or kevin.mosher@plateau.com.

StarQuest Online, a division of StarQuest Learning Systems, Inc., provides blended e-Learning solutions that develop people in the areas of leadership and management development, sales effectiveness, and customer service. The StarQuest blended design combines the latest educational technology with robust reinforcement guides and tools for managers and trainers to facilitate discussions with their team members. This blend results in more learning, faster, with better retention of knowledge and greater returns on investment. Through the partnership, iContent users from across industries will have access to StarQuest’s course offerings ranging from change management and business strategy and leadership, to customer service and team development.

NIIT is a multinational IT learning solutions company which specializes in IT education and training through cutting edge instructional design methodologies and curricula development. Through their iContent partnership, Plateau will collaborate with NIIT to help iContent users with their custom content development needs. With more than 20 years of experience developing custom courses in various subjects for global customers in a wide range of industries, including IT, sales, insurance, medicine and concrete construction, NIIT will work with iContent users to design and create specialized content for their unique learning environments.

“With the creation and consumption of custom and pre-packaged content increasing and becoming more ubiquitous, integrating and managing that content continues to be one of the largest challenges for both learning and IT departments across organizations of all sizes,” said Lee Wright, Sr. Director of Services for iContent, at Plateau. “iContent is offloading this significant administrative burden by assuming the end-to-end management of the entire content procurement and administration process. Alleviating this headache and reducing the time and cost organizations are spending managing what amounts to content chaos allows organizations to shift their focus, time and budgets to other strategic initiatives within their organization.”

Spurred by corporate imperatives increasingly highlighting talent management as a strategic priority in today’s market, more than 300 Plateau customers are expected to attend this year’s conference. A record number of customers have already submitted Plateau Customer Excellence Awards entries, which will be announced at the Insights Gala.

View more information about iContent at http://www.plateau.com/icontent/.

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Plateau Announces Keynote Speakers and Agenda for Insights 2008, Extends Early Bird Pricing

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:13:00 +0000

Legendary Explorer and Oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, Heads Impressive List of Speakers and Presenters; Offers Personal Perspective on Managing, Developing and Rewarding Talent

Arlington, Va. - 1 August, 2008 – Plateau Systems, leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced the agenda and speakers for its 13th annual Insights user conference, “Blazing the Talent Trail.” The conference, which runs from September 14-17, at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix, features an action-packed agenda and star-studded line-up of speakers and presenters including industry pioneers and visionaries, talent mavericks and mavens and innovative, trend-setting customers, as well as interactive educational tracks.

This year, conference-goers are invited to attend Plateau’s inaugural Buzz Panel, moderated by Plateau CEO, Paul Sparta. Plateau has lassoed in talent management experts Bill Kutik, Technology Columnist, Human Resource Executive Magazine; Josh Bersin, CEO & President, Bersin & Associates; David Smith, Managing Director, Talent & Organization Performance, Accenture and Nathan Swanson, Partner, Human Capital Management Research, ThinkPanmure to discuss current trends in talent management, software-as-a-service, and the economy’s impact on talent management. During this session, panelists will also field real-time questions from the audience.

Featured Speakers and Presenters

Renowned oceanographer and explorer Dr. Robert Ballard, who made several amazing discoveries, including the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998, will discuss his philosophy on identifying and training high-performing individuals and building successful teams. During his presentation, Dr. Ballard will share his insight on the importance of developing and rewarding team members and how retaining strong performers is critical for sustaining successful business ventures.
Mary Tilley, HR Leader at W.L. Gore, will discuss her organization’s extensive and inclusive process for managing its employee talent. W.L. Gore utilizes an annual multi-rater assessment approach to ensure that all employees are ranked and commented on by their peers regarding their contribution to the organization. Through a series of meetings and feedback discussions, this input is reconciled and used in making compensation recommendations.
Carol Rozwell, VP Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, will lead an interactive workshop on how Web 2.0 and social software are affecting organizations’ traditional approaches to learning. Attendees will learn how embracing a social learning culture can benefit their organizations by enabling more informal, collaborative learning, how social learning platforms can help bridge learning styles across multi-generations, and how organizations can effectively govern social learning behavior and content.
Connie Linardarkis, Chief Human Resources Officer at Zions Bancorporation will present real-world best practices for consolidating and centralizing HR systems and transactional operations in a post-acquisition environment. She will discuss how this streamlined approach has enabled Zions Bancorporation to maximize HR alignment with local business outcomes and continue its growth.

Industry thought leaders and Plateau customers from leading global organizations including A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Deltek, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Qualcomm Inc., Yahoo, and Zions Bancorporation and government agencies including the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will present case studies and best practices that highlight Plateau’s role in helping them create high performance workplaces. During the conference, Plateau’s SVP Product Management, Joe Herman, will present Plateau’s vision and product roadmap and Ed Cohen, CTO, will discuss the evolution of content and trend towards Content-as–a-Service (CaaS), content’s corollary to the popular software-as a-service (SaaS) paradigm.

Throughout the conference, attendees will have an opportunity to participate in more than 45 additional customer and Plateau-led sessions focused on various aspects of Talent Management, including learning, performance, talent management, competencies and development, training, technology integration. Conference sessions are aligned across four tracks – Learning, Performance, and Products and Services and will feature real-world customer case studies presented by HR and learning practitioners and hands-on Learning Labs and Open Demos led by Plateau experts.

Sessions will include the following topics:

Performance Management Trends and Systems
Global Expansion of a Learning Management System (LMS)
Successful Implementations of Talent Management Systems
Connecting with a Virtual Audience
Best Practices for Leveraging Learning and Performance
Talent Management in the Public Sector

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Sponsors & Partners
Plateau consistently leverages its alliances with leading business partners to deliver best-in-class solutions to its customers. Throughout the conference, attendees will have access to the Insights Partner Expo, featuring the latest in learning and IT solutions from Plateau's alliance partners.

For complete event details or to register, please visit the Plateau Insights 2008 at http://www.plateau.com/insights/index.htm.

Plateau Launches "Roadmap to Performance Management" Seminars

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:12:00 +0000

Educational Breakfast Seminars in Washington, DC, Northern Virginia and Atlanta to highlight relationship between performance management and talent management strategies

Arlington, Va. - 22 July, 2008 – Plateau Systems, leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced its “Roadmap to Performance Management,” series of East Coast breakfast seminars to be held in August in Washington DC, Tyson’s Corner, Va., and Atlanta. During these free seminars, talent management experts from Human Capital Institute (HCI), will join Plateau customers including W.L Gore and the United States Department of Labor and Plateau partner PriceWaterhouse Coopers to present best practices and discuss the critical role performance management plays in helping organizations achieve a successful talent management strategy.

In today’s challenging business environment, organizations must align employee performance with the goals of the organization, and effectively reward top talent for their individual and collective contributions to the organization. Designed for HR leaders, Plateau’s “Roadmap to Performance Management” seminars will provide attendees with an action plan for building and executing a talent management strategy through a combination of case studies, research-based presentations and real-world insight and discussions.

"With workforce productivity and retention remaining top priorities for executives across the board, performance management is no longer an organizational option, it’s a must,” said Jeff Kristick, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Plateau. “Plateau’s road show will offer attendees a unique opportunity to interact with industry experts and other HR professionals and gain greater insight into best practices for not only developing and managing talent, but also aligning training with organizational goals.”

WHAT:	Plateau’s Roadmap to Performance Management
WHEN / WHERE:	For each location, breakfast and registration will open at 8:00 a.m.; program will run from 9:00 a.m to 11:45 a.m. Washington, DC: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Marriott at Metro Center 775 12th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20005 Northern Virginia:Thursday, August 14, 2008 Marriott Tyson’s Corner 8028 Leesburg Pike Vienna, Va. 22182 Atlanta: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 JW Marriott Hotel Buckhead Atlanta 3300 Lenox Road Atlanta, Ga, 30326
WHO:	Allan Schweyer, Human Capital Institute’s Executive Director and Senior Vice President, Research, has been confirmed to speak during the Northern Virginia and Atlanta breakfast seminars. Nigel Leeming, Human Capital Institute’s Senior Vice President, Public Sector, has been confirmed to speak during the Washington, D.C. seminar. Plateau customer James L. Roe, Global HR Information Systems Leader, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. will present at the Northern Virginia seminar; Plateau partner Renee Romulus, Director, Advisory Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers will present in Atlanta; and customer Michael Gerwitz from the United States Department of Labor will present in Washington, DC.
REISTRATION:	http://plateau.com/roadshow/2008/registration.html

“Plateau’s Roadmap to Performance Management” breakfast seminars, are free to attend. For more information, please visit http://plateau.com/roadshow/2008/index.html.

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Plateau Delivers Enhanced Talent Management Analytics Offering

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:51:00 +0000

Latest Version of Plateau Analytics offers on-demand, actionable information to track and improve talent management effectiveness

Arlington, Va. - 16 July, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today released the latest version on Plateau Analytics, a pre-configured solution for performing analysis on learning and performance data captured and managed in Plateau’s Talent Management suite. By monitoring critical learning and performance processes, this enhanced version of Plateau Analytics delivers relevant, actionable information organizations need to more effectively manage, organize and optimize their workforce.

"One can think of different talent management capabilities as levers that managers and executives can use to affect business results. Managers and executives need to decide what levers (or combination of levers) they should pull to achieve the desired business outcome. Once you decide which levers to pull, that should drive how you configure and use the talent management applications,” said Jim Holincheck, Managing Vice President at Gartner, Inc..* “Talent management applications implemented by themselves do not provide the insight necessary to determine which levers to pull; they are the levers.” Moreover, “to unlock the strategic value, customers need a well-integrated set of talent management applications that provides the data foundation for workforce analytics to help users understand what levers they need to pull to address specific business issues or to drive specific business outcomes."

Plateau Analytics enables companies to more effectively align talent management initiatives with business objectives, and analyze data in various combinations to uncover trends and exceptions related to the impact of specific talent management initiatives on business performance. For example, with Plateau Analytics, organizations can easily ascertain the status of employee certification required by a regulatory change, what competency gaps exist in critical job positions, the total cost of training, employee progress against development plans, and the impact of talent management efforts on employee competency assessments over a specific period of time. Plateau Analytics aggregates this data and consolidates it into high-level snapshots that give executives a big picture view and enables them to maximize the value of their organization’s talent management investment.

Comprised of four major components, Plateau Analytics includes a Data Warehouse that stores a copy of all Plateau Talent Management learning and performance data; an Extract and Load (ETL) process that connects to Plateau Talent Management and populates the Data Warehouse; an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) framework for report creation and management; and more than 35 pre-defined reports. Unlike competitor offerings that pull information directly from the operational databases behind their Talent Management Suite, Plateau Analytics pulls its information from a Data Warehouse, giving it increased ability to display and analyze trends – including the vital ability to compare and contrast current and past performance, which is only possible through a Data Warehouse. Additionally, by offering pre-built Data Warehousing, ETL, OLAP and reports, Plateau Analytics eliminates costs and time investments associated with custom development and integration, enabling users to achieve faster ROI.

Plateau Analytics offers a number of new features, including:

Performance enhancements, including an updated Data Warehouse and ETL, which has been fully tested with large, complex data sets;
Two categories of performance-related reports, including Plans and Goal Completion and Succession Planning;
Measure thresholds and custom number formatting, which allows administrators to identify values within one or more measures of particular interest and specify the most appropriate level of precision;
An 'All Users' Measure, which provides insight into the total population of users and allows easy comparison within the population that meets the reporting criteria;
An ad hoc reporting feature, which allows administrators to create new analysis directly against a Data Warehouse cube; and
The ability to save and publish custom reports for other administrators to use and run.

“An explicit link exists between talent management, improved productivity and business operations performance,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. “By harnessing their talent data and using comprehensive analytics, all levels of the organization have the ability to make more informed management decisions and truly understand the business impact of their organization’s talent management initiatives.”

For more information about Plateau Analytics, visit www.plateau.com.

* Gartner, Inc. “Unlocking the Strategic Value from Talent Management Application Investments,” James Holincheck, Dec. 26, 2007.

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Plateau and Accenture Deliver Flexible Learning Management Solutions to 14,000 Employees Across Caja Madrid's 2,000 Branches

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

Spain’s Fourth Largest Retail Bank to Deploy Plateau Learning Management System for enterprise-wide compliance training and online learning

Arlington, Va. - 15 July, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced that Spain’s oldest financial entity and fourth-largest financial group, Caja Madrid, has selected Plateau Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver compliance training and online courses to the bank’s entire employee population. During a competitive evaluation process, Accenture, which will host the solution, recommended Plateau as the best technical fit for Caja Madrid’s needs.

As Spain’s fourth largest banking institution, Caja Madrid provides a full range of retail, corporate and private banking products and services, serving 6.7 million customers in all segments from families and SMEs, through to major corporations and public and private institutions. With more than 75 regional offices and an extensive network of branch offices, ensuring high levels of employee productivity and efficiency is critical to Caja Madrid’s continued success and growth. Understanding the critical role talent management plays in its ability to meet customer needs and maintain business growth, Caja Madrid decided to transform its current learning management system. After significant evaluation, Caja Madrid chose Plateau and Accenture to update the bank’s learning management systems.

“Caja Madrid’s growth and expanding business have determined the need to evolve from a highly customized solution to a new learning management system that enables faster and more flexible accommodation to the new challenges,” said Diego Sánchez de Leon, Accenture EALA Talent & Organization Performance Lead Partner. “At this point, Caja Madrid has engaged Accenture to help them select a state-of-the-art, SCORM 2004-compliant platform that is aligned with the capabilities required for their growth strategy and that supports the high standards of service they provide. After evaluating several vendors against detailed technical criteria, Plateau was determined to be the best platform for Caja Madrid, largely due to its scalability, extensibility, and ease of use – all of which will be critical as Caja Madrid continues its growth and expansion.”

Hosted by Accenture in Spain, Plateau LMS provides a centralized application that will allow Caja Madrid to deliver and manage on-demand workforce training across all of its 14,000 employees. They will be able identify training requirements, deploy learning across all 2,000 branches and track course completion. Plateau LMS maintains records of training delivered for compliance purposes, enabling Caja Madrid to measure and track learning and certification-related activities. Using Accenture to host the solution will provide Caja Madrid with high levels of reliability and security, access to experienced system administrators and performance assurance.

“Caja Madrid’s modernization efforts reflect what we’re hearing from customers around the world regarding their talent management initiatives,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. “In order to stay competitive and deliver the level of customer service expected of one of Spain’s largest retail banks, they must have an enterprise learning strategy that enables them to develop their talent to its fullest potential. In addition to giving Caja Madrid the competitive edge they need to develop their workforce, deploying Plateau LMS provides the flexibility that allows them to keep key custom processes and functionality developed on their previous platform intact."

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About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With 178,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Plateau Positioned in Leaders Quadrant for Leading Industry Analyst Firm's Corporate Learning Systems Magic Quadrant

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Leading Analyst Firm Evaluates Plateau’s Talent Management Solutions for Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision

Arlington, Va. - 2 July, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned Plateau in the Leaders Quadrant of its recently released “Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems (CLS), which evaluated 14 vendors in the corporate learning systems market.¹

The Gartner Magic Quadrant represents Gartner's judgment of vendors' ability to execute and the completeness of their vision in a technology market. Gartner identifies Leaders as those vendors who “must not only meet the market's current requirements, which are continually changing, but also anticipate future requirements. Also fundamental is the ability to articulate how they will address these requirements as part of a vision for an expanded CLS. In addition, Leaders have a proven track record of financial performance and an established market presence. Their installed base gives them a strong presence in the CLS market, and they demonstrate continued growth in customers and revenue. In terms of vision, they are perceived as thought leaders, with well-articulated plans for product development, marketing and channel support. Leaders have the highest combined scores for Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. These strategic providers will continue to drive the market forward by broadening their CLS functionality and integration. Buyers can expect that, as a group, Leaders will be considered as part of most new product purchases and will continue to have high success rates in winning new business.”

“Over the past several years, Plateau has demonstrated a consistent ability to deliver products, solutions and services that solve our customers’ growing workforce and corporate learning challenges,” said Paul Sparta, Chairman and CEO, Plateau Systems. “We view Plateau’s positioning in Gartner’s Leader’s Quadrant as validation that we’re continuing to execute and deliver world-class talent management solutions that enable our customers to seamlessly manage and leverage their talent to increase productivity and maximize employee performance.”

According to Gartner, “The justification for using a CLS is that it aids the process of educating employees, partners and customers, so that an enterprise can achieve its desired level of business performance sooner than if people had been left to work things out for themselves. As attitudes toward training have matured, enterprises have come to appreciate the need to create engaging content that enhances the learning experience and increases retention.” Gartner continued, “The degree of integration of individual e-learning applications into a single packaged product varies widely [in the CLS market]. This has caused confusion and disillusionment among buyers, but has become a significant differentiator for those CLS vendors that offer more complex offerings. Vendors that score more highly for Completeness of Vision (the horizontal axis on the Magic Quadrant) tend to have more comprehensive offerings as well as integration with installed employee performance management applications.”

More than 250 organizations and 10 million users have adopted Plateau’s talent management solutions, including the largest corporate, non-profit and government learning institutions. Plateau Learning increases workforce productivity and performance by managing training across the extended enterprise. The solution provides management of learning processes and data, development and deployment of online and offline learning and evaluation content, and secure auditing and reporting of regulatory compliance information.

For more information about Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

¹Gartner, Inc., “Magic Quadrant for Corporate Learning Systems,” Carol Rozwell and James Lundy, June 30, 2008.

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About the Gartner Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Plateau
Plateau is a leading provider of adaptable Web-based software for developing, managing and optimizing organizational skills and talent to increase workforce productivity and business operations performance. Plateau’s software is being used by some of the world’s largest, most successful enterprises, including the American Red Cross, General Electric, Internal Revenue Service, and Wendy’s International. Industry analysts, including Forrester Research and Bersin & Associates, have rated Plateau a leader in functionality, technology, and customer satisfaction. The company is headquartered in Arlington, Va. For more information on Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.

Plateau's CEO Paul Sparta Talks Talent on Bill Kutik's Radio Show

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Sparta to Discuss Talent Management Trends, Including SaaS, Integration and Industry Consolidation Following Taleo's Acquisition of Vurv

Arlington, Va. - 14 May, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, content and services, today announced that Plateau Chairman and CEO, Paul Sparta, will be a featured speaker on today’s episode of Knowledge Infusion's dynamic online series, The Bill Kutik Radio Show.

During the show, airing at noon EDT, Kutik and Sparta will discuss the never-discussed difficulties of Software as a Service (SaaS), the hype in Talent Management software, and the real problems of integration—plus Taleo’s acquisition of Vurv.

"Paul Sparta is one of the most outspoken software CEOs in Talent Management. He’ll tell us what he really thinks about the Taleo acquisition of Vurv, the hype around Talent Management, and whatever else he feels like," said Bill Kutik, Co-Chair, HR Technology Conference & Exposition.

WHO:	Plateau Systems CEO Paul Sparta
WHAT:	Bill Kutik Radio Show
WHEN:	Wednesday, May 14, 2008; 12:00 PM EDT
WHERE:	Listen online at http://www.knowledgeinfusion.com/coe/community/coe/radioshow. Archives of the show will be available online at this link following the live broadcast. Login is required to access replay, registration is free.

Produced by the Knowledge Infusion Center of Excellence and hosted by Bill Kutik, one of the leading independent analysts in the HR technology marketplace, the Bill Kutik Radio Show is a bi-weekly talk show featuring unedited and unrehearsed conversations with the industry’s key thought leaders. The Bill Kutik Radio Show airs at noon (12:00 PM) EDT every other Wednesday.

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About Plateau
Plateau is a leading provider of talent management software, content and services designed to increase workforce productivity and drive business success. Plateau's award-winning software is powering talent management initiatives across some of the world's most successful organizations, including the American Red Cross, General Electric, the Internal Revenue Service, Capital One Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Industry analysts at Bersin and other leading information and technology research and advisory firms continue to recognize Plateau's leadership in delivering best-in-class functionality, technology and customer satisfaction. Plateau is headquartered in an Eco-friendly, LEED certified building in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.Plateau.com.

Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
Wendy.werve@plateau.com

Registration Open for Plateau's 13th Annual User Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Plateau Webmaster) — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Insights 2008 Expected to draw Leading Industry Experts and Plateau Customers from More than 100 Organizations

Arlington, Va. - 12 May, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, is pleased to announce that registration for it’s 13th annual user conference to be held September 14 - 17, 2008 at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix, AZ is now open. To register for the conference, visit http://plateau.com/insights/. Early bird rates will be in effect until July 30, 2008 and special discounts are available for groups and government attendees.

Themed “Blazing the Talent Trail,” this year’s conference will feature an instructive, forward-thinking agenda aimed at equipping attendees with information on the latest trends, best practices and practical applications in talent management. Conference highlights include networking opportunities, hands-on educational labs, keynote presentations and breakout sessions focused on a wide range of topics including: the business case for performance and compensation management, the role of social networking and Web 2.0 in talent management, leveraging learning and your LMS to support performance management and broader talent initiatives and how Plateau’s unique approach and flexible delivery options make it possible for any organization – from large enterprises to small and mid-sized companies - reap the benefits of SaaS deployments.

Attendees will have the opportunity to attend customer-delivered presentations that demonstrate the value Plateau’s solutions are delivering in solving specific business challenges. During the conference, attendees are encouraged to participate in interactive sessions with industry experts and meet one-on-one with Plateau staff from product management, professional services and customer support to discuss the topics that are top-of-mind within their organizations.

This year’s conference features Plateau’s 5th Annual Customer Excellence Awards, honoring Plateau customers who have delivered value and addressed a variety of business challenges in their organizations using Plateau’s product and service offerings. For more information on applying for this award, please visit http://www.plateau.com/insights/awards.htm.

Plateau consistently leverages its alliances with leading business partners to deliver best-in-class solutions to its customers. During the conference, attendees are invited to explore Plateau’s Partner Expo to learn about the innovative solutions offered by Plateau’s application, content, learning technology and integration partners. For more information on participating in the Partner Expo, visit http://www.plateau.com/insights/expo.htm.

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