Item: SumTotal Talent Development
Rating: 7
Author: Abhideep Jain

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are high-end Analytics staffing services provider company. Our basic business model is to hire best Analytics and data engineering talent out there in the world and put them on cutting-edge assignments. We used SumTotal Talent Development for our hire-to-retire journey of employees. From getting employee references to setting up multiple interview discussions, feedback, compensation, stock ownership, growth, and analytics on top.

Pros and Cons

Tracking employee learning goals and making sure they meet the goals
Capturing feedback from multiple interview discussions while hiring and showcasing it in one screen
Funnel analysis of candidate recruitment pipeline

I did not see any functionality to add multiple contractor companies to the hiring funnel and do partner level analysis
There are no AI capabilities for generating insights and recommendations on yearly or quarterly data

Most Important Features

Training, Learning, and Development goal setting and measurement
Hiring, Onboarding
Performance, Retiring
Analytics

Return on Investment

Reduced the email communication for hiring, onboarding, succession, performance
Automated training, goal setting, performance reviews

Alternatives Considered

SAP SuccessFactors, Skillate: AI Recruitment Platform, Freshteam and Darwinbox

SumTotal Talent Development is a very competitive product. In my opinion SumTotal Talent Development is better than Freshteams, Darwinbox, but not as good as Skillate, SAP SuccessFactors. SAP SuccessFactors is enterprise grade and used only by large organizations and has too many modules and hence a tough learning curve. While SumTotal Talent Development has a small learning curve.

Key Insights

Do you think SumTotal Talent Development delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SumTotal Talent Development's feature set?

Yes

Did SumTotal Talent Development live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of SumTotal Talent Development go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SumTotal Talent Development again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Skillate: AI Recruitment Platform, SAP Ariba Procurement, ZoomInfo SalesOS

Likelihood to Recommend

Very good for learning and development and training of employees. For Applicant tracking, recuirement, onboarding, and enablement, I prefer SAP SuccessFactors or Skillate. I also found that the SumTotal app is not very friendly on android and crashes sometimes and it is not optimized for mobile. Hence I end up never using it.

Best suited Talent Management tool for Mid-market enterprises

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with SumTotal Talent Development