Saba Concludes Annual User Conference; Keynotes Emphasize Importance of People-Driven Organizations Today, Employee Engagement, Linking to Business Results

People 2009 featured illuminating presentations from industry executives and researchers including: Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO, Saba; Amar Dhaliwal, senior vice president, product operations group, Saba; Sundar Nagarathnam, vice president of NetApp University, NetApp; Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates; Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University; and Jason Averbook, chief executive officer, Knowledge Infusion.

In his opening day presentation, "Business Next: People-Driven Strategies for Success", Yazdani outlined how Saba is unifying, engaging, mobilizing, and fostering collaboration to achieve success both top down and bottom up, and how organizations need to all embrace the transition to a people-driven knowledge economy that depends on great ideas and innovations that are allowed to flourish, especially in these uncertain times. Dhaliwal demonstrated how Saba is at the forefront of thinking about unified people management, collaboration, and social media with an array of new products and innovations that go in and beyond processes to the richer value of information.

On the second day of the conference Nagarathnam and Bersin highlighted the importance of linking employee performance with business performance, and the criticality of cultivating and tapping into experts and high potentials, a concept referred to as "talent density." Nagarathnam has transformed NetApp University into a critical business driver using business intelligence to create performance dashboards and operational metrics aligned by business stakeholder roles demonstrating the business value of a unified people platform. Bersin spoke about the need for transparency into an organization's talent, the role of informal learning, collaboration, and social networking, and the importance of metrics.

Pfeffer and Averbook brought tremendous energy and real world examples to the final day of the event by illustrating how investing in people separates winners from losers, especially in down economies. Companies with engaged employees achieve 19 percent higher operating profits, yet over 20 percent of employees say they are disengaged, and 50 percent say they will change jobs when the recession ultimately ends. These presentations underscore that training needs to be seen as a necessary investment, not as a discretionary spend, and that human resources managers need to create business cases, not HR cases.

Throughout the show, Saba held over 80 breakout sessions, many of which were led by Saba customers, and provided both the theory and practice of people management and collaboration.

During People 2009, Saba made several key announcements, including:

-- The unveiling of the industry's first unified people management platform -- Saba Enterprise 5.5. This tool includes features such as real-time performance feedback, Saba Compensation, wizard-based processes, and mobile services.

-- The introduction of Saba People Management Cloud(TM), a set of Saba OnDemand Solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This capability gives organizations the elasticity to use only the services they need with no upfront expense. Both OnDemand and OnPremise customers can take advantage of Saba People Management Cloud.

-- The adoption of Saba's OnDemand solutions rising to more than 3.6 million users including the expansion or adoption by organizations such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

-- The recognition of Saba in Deloitte's 2009 Technology Fast 500. Saba was included in the Deloitte LLP's ranking of 500 of the fastest growing technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year growth during 2004-2008 and 2009 award winners had growth rates ranging from 212 to 146,050 percent over five years, with an average growth rate of 2,486 percent.

Registration for People 2010 -- Saba Global Summit begins in January. For information on Saba Regional User group meetings in different locations around the world, please visit www.saba.com.

About Saba

Founded in 1997, Saba (NASDAQ:SABA) is the premier global provider of people management software and services. Saba's talent management solutions are used by more than 1,300 organizations and over 17 million end users worldwide. Saba's solutions increase organizational performance by aligning workforce goals with organizational strategy; developing, managing and rewarding their people; and improving collaboration.

Saba product offerings address all aspects of strategic people management and are available both on-premise and OnDemand (www.saba.com/products). To ensure long-term customer success, our global services capabilities and partnerships provide strategic consulting, comprehensive implementation services, and ongoing worldwide support.

Saba customers include Alcatel-Lucent; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ; BMW; Caterpillar; CEMEX; Daimler; Dell; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; HP Enterprise Services; EMC Corporation; Insurance Australia Group; Kaiser Permanente; Lockheed Martin; Medtronic; National Australia Bank; Novartis; Petrobras; Procter & Gamble; Renault; Royal Bank of Scotland; Scotiabank; Singapore Ministry of Finance; Sprint; Standard Chartered Bank; Stanford University; Swedbank; Tata Consultancy Services; Wyndham International; Weyerhaeuser; Underwriters Laboratories; and the U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Department of Treasury/Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Navy.

Headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, Saba has offices on five continents. For more information, please visit www.saba.com or call +1-877-SABA-101 or +1-650-779-2791.

SABA, the Saba logo, Centra and the marks relating to Saba products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Saba Software, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Saba

for Saba 
Emma Rosen, +1 415-385-2843 
emma@activapr.com