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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/ACornerstone’s PiiQ was an SMB offering that included core learning management and performance management systems, based on Sonar6 which was acquired by Cornerstone in 2012, and ultimately discontinued in 2022.

    $8

    per user per month

    Varicent

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AFrom quotas to sales and compensation, Varicent helps revenue leaders in enterprise organizations chart a more effective, connected path to revenue by providing vital data, insights, and sales go-to-market planning tools.N/A
    Pricing
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Editions & Modules
    PiiQ Performance
    $8.00
    per user per month
    PiiQ Learning + Content
    $8.00
    per user per month
    PiiQ Learning + Content & Performance
    $15.00
    per user per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup Fee$1,000 per installationNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Varicent
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    35 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    31 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    36 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    77%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    20 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    81%
    Implementation went as expected
    25 Answers
    Features
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued) and Varicent
    Feature
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)
    6.6
    11 Ratings
    22% below category average
    Varicent
    -
    Ratings
    Course authoring6.011 Ratings00 Ratings
    Course catalog or library6.811 Ratings00 Ratings
    Player/Portal6.810 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning content6.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile friendly7.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications6.210 Ratings00 Ratings
    Assignments6.711 Ratings00 Ratings
    Compliance management5.89 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning administration6.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics6.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sales ICM
    Comparison of Sales ICM features of PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued) and Varicent
    Feature
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Varicent
    6.7
    55 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Sales compensation plan creation00 Ratings7.148 Ratings
    Complex sales crediting00 Ratings7.548 Ratings
    Sales compensation process automation00 Ratings7.452 Ratings
    Incentive auditing/regulation compliance00 Ratings6.546 Ratings
    Sales compensation dashboards & forecasting00 Ratings6.447 Ratings
    Incentive modeling00 Ratings6.243 Ratings
    Agile incentive strategy00 Ratings6.538 Ratings
    ICM mobile visibility00 Ratings6.232 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Small Businesses
    Tovuti LMS
    Score6.7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    iSpring LMS
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Everstage
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Bridge LMS, Skills & Performance Management
    Score7.4 out of 10
    CaptivateIQ
    Score9.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.6
    (40 ratings)
    7.3
    (67 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    3.0
    (2 ratings)
    4.8
    (15 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (37 ratings)
    7.0
    (59 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.2
    (3 ratings)
    Performance
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.8
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.2
    (36 ratings)
    6.8
    (6 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    6.8
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.5
    (9 ratings)
    5.2
    (3 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    4.3
    (3 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.8
    (58 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.9
    (3 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.9
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued)Varicent
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    Well suited for:
    • A busy environment where you want learners to be self-sufficient and to be able to access learning solutions at a time that suits them.
    • For anyone who wants to access learning using different platforms such as iPad, mobile, PC, etc
    • Anyone who needs a more in-depth learning solution rather than an overview of key learning points.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    For the use cases we have at the bank, ICM is a perfect solution. For any bank or institution that has similar requirements, ICM would be a perfect solution. But I also think for any use case that has any sort of incentives based on Sales done, this would work amazing, as both Calculations and reports are handled by ICM very well; it's an all-in-one solution, I feel like.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • Enables employees to draft work goals and collaborate with their supervisors on a final version - improves mutual understanding right up front.
    • Combines performance goal ratings with competency ratings and provides a blended score. Simplifies the goal weighting so you don't have to do any calculations.
    • 9-box matrix provides useful definitions and descriptions so managers can prepare development notes or plans for individual employees.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    • Flexibility - Varicent is not template based. You can implement the model specifically for your organisation.
    • Scalability - Since it is not stick to templates you are able to expand the model for other domains as well.
    • Reporting - Several ways of reporting are possible and each has their own benefit/purpose.
    • Strong/Powerfull Calculation Engine delivering fast results/speed to insight
    • User Interface is minimized to what you need and is not showing off all the functions it can "also" do
    • Strong audittrail
    • Appears to be almost unlimited in what you are able to create
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • Would be good to have have a virtual "top level" (eg board) user built in to allow senior execs without a direct manager to be able to be set up with KPIs instead of having to create a dummy user
    • Reports have difficulty downloading if pop ups disabled or in some browser environments
    • When competencies are updated while a cycle is open, any changes don't effect that open cycle but only future ones. Would be nice to be able to have the option to apply changes to existing "open" cycles
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    • As [the] model gets more and more transactional data, the calculation time increases. This should/can be handled internally with better model optimization.
    • Migrating from one env to other sometimes is challenging. There can be better 'Alerts' or 'Explanation' provided to handle it or at least to give a hint of the error.
    • For managers viewing their rep's report, the access part can be made easier. It should be linked to Payee hierarchy and access can be done automatically.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    It's not that CSB isn't a decent performance management system, but we have decided to go with just one vendor (Workday) for an HRIS/performance management/payroll system so we can directly relate pay to performance. We are more interested in having just one system that "talks" to the other pieces instead of having to work with several vendors. It reduces the hassle of having to communicate with different support teams, having different contracts, and so on.
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Customer support from IBM is impeccable. They are quick to respond and they don't nickel and dime you for every request you make. Their goal is to ensure your success and as a user, I really feel like they listen to my concerns. That's not to say there are no problems. All software has its issues, but I don't feel like those issues fall on deaf ears.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Discontinued Products
    There are specific things within the goals and competencies that are user-friendly. For example, the rating slider isn't great in my opinion. You can slide in between ratings which can create some odd scoring (if you use scoring). It seems a better solution would be a drop down where you select your rating. There are also some glitches in the system and have been told Cornerstone is aware of them but are focused on delivering new features. There are workarounds, but that doesn't seem to be a great answer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Any calculations can be implemented as there are hardly any limitations on complexity. However, online real-time usability is lacking - a simple user enters, and the system calculates work in a way that it is in the browser and hence still needs overnight to be properly reflected in the batch calculations and backend tables.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    So far 100%.
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Never went down in last 3 years that I worked with it (every hour of the day basically). That is a 10 in my book.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    The saving process slows it down. It doesn’t auto save. If you leave a page, it will sometimes warn you, but not always. When you hit the save button, a window pops up that says creating/saving packets. It feels very archaic.
    Read full review
    Varicent
    All is fast, but with API's it is sometimes slower due to the application we are pulling data from. Reports are loaded directly or within seconds and our reports are very detailed with many columns and rows.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    My assistant could better address this issue. My perception is that there is not immediate assistance, and that there can be a wait for help. That is not a negative, just a perception. I have not used support in two years.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Giving a 10 would suggest there is no room for improvement. I don't feel like their support is perfect. However, I have never met another team that was more dedicated to making sure we get what we want and need.
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    The training was good in general with a nice trainer as well. But, the training could be better if it is more focussed on our process/data etc.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Discontinued Products
    We bought training provided by 3rd party – it was fabulous.
    Read full review
    Varicent
    There is a learning portal with many videos about navigation, creating reports and managing your model.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    I think we could have done a better job of rolling out the tool to our managers. We were under a tight timeline. In the training, we showed them everything and said go do it by this date. Looking back, I would have done it in pieces: for example, 2 weeks to write goals, 2 weeks to get sign-off from direct reports. I just let them go at it. Since then we’ve moved to agile development environment and are applying the technique to everything. In future would only do through change sprint. It is a big change I didn’t take it seriously enough.

    I had a team of 3 project managing. You need a champion from every department to make sure you’re getting it right and to make sure what’s happening is communicated. It’s not something you can do without input from department heads
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Test test test. Make sure that the product is calculating everyone 100% correctly. DO NOT accept a 70% pass rate as some companies would like to have you believe is acceptable. This means conducting thorough testing by providing 100% of all expected results, but it will be worth it when you know that the compensation plans are working entirely as expected.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    Lesson.ly has been great to work with but it is a very clear and simple, user-friendly system that anyone can pick up with very little training as it is self-explanatory. It also has a great mobile interface and lots of different features that are easy to add for the admin but really impactful for the user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    In 2015, we used a scorecard containing 80 attributes in our review of Oracle, Callidus, and Xactly & Varicent. Oracle did not have true self serve capabilities- programming was heavily required, not intuitive, out of the box functionality was limited. Callidus & Xactly could not provide us a demo using our data, statements could not be sent out in bulk form, difficulty in importing/exporting to CRM. Varicent excelled in most areas and was the clear winner.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    It is very scalable and adaptable to changing complexities of calculations and business rules under a variety of different scenarios. It does not get full points because in large data loads the time needed to calculate and import the data increases exponentially and may cause issues related to timing potentially.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • It's tool and it's only as good as the person wielding it. The investment in PiiQ was accompanied by a quarterly cadence and manager feedback training. We feel like our employees are given regular feedback and bonuses are tied to objective accomplishment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    • Compliance - with a central system used for calculation incentive payments and commissions, we are able to provide reports and data showing every detail of how payments are calculated and why they are justified. We can also identify anomalies and outliers.
    • Integration with our payroll system is seamless. Except for regular pay, nothing goes to payroll without going through ICM. The process for paying incentives/bonuses/commissions is now very structured and efficient.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    PiiQ by Cornerstone (discontinued) Screenshots

    Screenshot of PiiQ Performance Employee ReviewScreenshot of PiiQ Learning on DevicesScreenshot of PiiQ Manager/Employee Check-insScreenshot of PiiQ 9-box Talent MatrixScreenshot of PiiQ Learning Publish New ContentScreenshot of PiiQ Learning Searchable Library & Self-registration

    Varicent Screenshots

    Screenshot of Varicent providing clarity and transparency to sellers, helping them to find answers faster and have confidence in compensation plans.Screenshot of Tools for sellers that help them align strategic initiatives, and that help them understand which deals will help them win.Screenshot of Varicent ICM model compensation plans that display the financial impact of changes. Its ability to more accurately forecast commission payouts with “what-if” assumptions, users can budget more effectively for sales compensation costs, manage target total compensation for sales representatives and assess plan effectiveness.Screenshot of Shareable information sent to the right people to drive the right results.