SAP Acquires AI-Powered HR and Talent Intelligence Platform SwoopTalent

SAP plans to embed SwoopTalent’s technology throughout the SuccessFactors Experience Management Suite

In a bid to strengthen its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and provide customers with an up-to-date and holistic view of their workforce, SAP has acquired SwoopTalent’s intellectual propertyOpens a new window . SwoopTalent offers an AI-powered human resources and talent intelligence platform, which automatically connects organizations’ talent systems and data for machine learning (ML), analytics, and migration.

.@SAPOpens a new window has acquired intellectual property of @SwoopTalentOpens a new window , a leader in talent data intelligence.

Read the news: pic.twitter.com/TNJen4IbBTOpens a new window

— SAP News (@SAPNews) August 16, 2021Opens a new window

According to the deal, SAP will embed the platform’s technology throughout the SuccessFactors Experience Management Suite. This will provide its customers a complete view of their HR initiatives like fellowships, projects, learning courses, mentorships, and internal job postings.

HR analytics or people analytics (also referred to as talent analytics) is a relatively new domain for many HR departments. However, according to McKinseyOpens a new window , about 70% of organization executives cite it as a top priority.

Also read: SAP Ventures Into No-Code Application Development With AppGyver Acquisition

The SwoopTalent Platform: An Overview

The platform was founded in 2012 in San Francisco, California, by Satish Sallakonda and Stacy Chapman. The company offers a platform powered by AI, natural language processing (NLP), ML. The platform brings together, analyzes, trains data from diverse HR systems and workflows. The platform provides a continuously updated view about organizations’ employees, including capabilities, interests, skills, and learning preferences. This enables organizations to match employees to their initiatives, internal jobs, courses, mentors, and more.

Here is a quick overview of the platform.

According to the company’s CEO and co-founder, Stacy Chapman, the platform’s algorithms collect information from various sources while being mindful of the local regulations and the employees’ preferences and consent about sharing their information. Based on the gathered information, the platform builds the employee profiles. She also said that later this year, these employee profiles would power a new solution that will serve up opportunities, such as recommendations for learning content and assignments. As the profiles develop, the recommendations will become more individualized.

In a statement, Chapman said, “Organizations are at a pivotal moment as work is being redefined around agility, purpose and culture. With human experience management, SAP has the right vision and strategy to deliver technology that enables individuals to upskill and create a career that aligns to their interests and skills. SAP and SwoopTalent are a great cultural fit and share the same values. We are excited to continue advancing human experience management together.”

The Purpose Behind the Acquisition

By embedding the platform’s technology in SAP SuccessFactors solutionsOpens a new window , the company wants to further its vision of human experience management (HXM). According to SAP, its HXM vision “prioritizes individualized employee experiences and dynamic opportunities that boost engagement, improve organizational agility and ultimately fuel business transformation.”

In a statement, Meg Bear, SAP SuccessFactors chief product officer, said, “Delivering individualization at scale requires a sophisticated, powerful data platform that extends across multiple systems. By making workforce data more reliable and accessible, we can help our customers gain powerful insights about their people to effectively upskill, reskill and redeploy talent and future-proof their business. The founders of SwoopTalent are industry thought leaders with proven expertise using data, machine learning and analytics to elevate HR and make organizations more competitive. We are thrilled to have them join SAP to further our HXM strategy.”

Also read: Top Martech Companies Go Bullish On Acquiring AI Tools and Platforms

SAP’s Latest Acquisition

SAP has been on an acquisition spree over the last 2-3 years. In November 2020, the company acquired EmarsysOpens a new window , an omnichannel customer engagement platform. In March this year, it acquired SignavioOpens a new window , a process intelligence company, for roughly $1 billion. In 2018, SAP had bought QualtricsOpens a new window , an experience management company, for $8 billion.

For the current acquisition, both SAP and SwoopTalent have refused to divulge the purchase price and other financial details of the deal. However, as per the acquisition, many SwoopTalent engineering employees will join the SuccessFactors team.

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