I hadn’t been to SAP SuccessFactors’ SuccessConnect since 2019 due to COVID and a promised trip to take my mom to Italy for her first time. The former still plagues, the latter was mom magic. Maybe it was the three-year absence with pent-up expectations and the wide engagement gap, but I was ready, and well-prepared, for a great event. And, a great event was prepared to meet me.

In all my years of customer conferences, I’ve never experienced this level of energy, especially from the first foot in the door. Boom! High fives and hugs start. But it’s our customers who truly blew me away. Right out of the gate there was a palpable enthusiasm, an eagerness to connect and share, and a readiness to listen and discover from all sides… the perfect recipe for genuine optimism. They were so ready. Ready for discovery, ready to experience, ready to celebrate. From the UX booth in Connect Park, I got big smiles and the perfect request “Show me something cool!”. I was prepared with cool… or at least what I thought was cool. Thankfully, our customers agreed.

It’s in the experience(s)

When the time rolls around for SuccessConnect, we turn our sights to the year behind us, the 12 months between shows. We look at what we promised at the last show, overlaid by what we’re delivering in the current year. Our goal is to deliver on a virtuous cycle of promise and deliver. A way to hold ourselves accountable to our shared vision for the year and to our customers. This year was no different.

Throughout 2023 we’ve been developing on multiple parallel tracks with goals to invest in our foundation while defining the future of work through the SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite. Here’s what I found myself sharing.

Within our foundation, we saw investments in how we recruit with the new Recruiter Experience that delivers insights and efficiency to recruiters freeing up time for candidate development. We also unveiled plans for our new Benefits Enrollment experience that leans into the familiarity of online shopping to make confident decisions in this critical facet of total rewards.

SAP SuccessFactors Recruiter Experience

But by far, our best-in-show release of the year is our new Integrated Learning Experience (ILX). The ILX is a complete overhaul of our learning experience strategically grounded in 3 learning types: need-to, have-to, and want-to learning. Need-to is all about compliance, have-to is about remaining relevant in your career, and want-to is about expanding your horizons. All of them help you stay in front of a rapidly changing world with high expectations. Two key elements underlie the experience: the use of predictive AI in recommendations, and a new search experience that delivers on familiarity and efficiency. Pro-tip: Keep an eye on search going into 2024. It’s journey across SAP SuccessFactors solutions is just beginning.

SAP SuccessFactors Integrated Learning Experience

The future of work rests with talent engagement and this year we demonstrated our momentum in supporting organizations with a skills-focused approach with the talent intelligence hub. We’ve made significant functional investments in the growth portfolio for employees and managers to manage skills with minimal effort and maximum efficiency. And now you can put those skills to work in SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace with our AI-driven recommendations and enhanced assignments functionality.

SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace

Keeping up the momentum

Front and center at SuccessConnect this year was artificial intelligence (AI). Whether we were talking about the launch of Joule and the power, flexibility, and efficiency that comes with an SAP-wide copilot, or the surprise and delight of generative AI and its potential to supercharge our world at work, the energy was pitched across the show. As we move into 2024, you’ll find us weaving these important advances into the fabric of SAP SuccessFactors solutions to support the engagement and success of your employees, managers, and administrators alike.

SAP Joule

With a solution the size of SAP SuccessFactors, we owe it to you (and ourselves) to continuously improve the experience and meet the needs of the future of work. In 2024, you’ll experience a modernization of our two most popular experiences: the People Profile and the Organization Chart. For the People Profile we’re introducing what we call the Spotlight, supporting everyone to tell their story. Whether you’re an employee crafting and sharing your personal brand, or you’re a manager defining a timely and relevant view through which you’re seeing your team members, there’s a story waiting to be told for everyone. And what better way to weave these stories together than a new Organization Chart that leans on a clean, modern design, while leveraging people for delivering insights. This is the power couple of 2024.

SAP SuccessFactors People Profile – Work in progress!

SAP SuccessFactors Organization Chart – Work in progress!

Last, and certainly not least for 2024: The frontline deskless worker. With 80% of the world’s workforce NOT sitting behind a desk, the potential and opportunity for a stronger employee experience and relationship with your organization is huge. Our goals for the experience are to keep it simple, engaging, and flexible while ensuring secure access. Our goals for you, our customers, are to help you boost productivity and loyalty while reducing attrition and to close the experience gaps between those who desk and those who don’t.

SAP SuccessFactors for the frontline, deskless worker – Work in progress!

Experience it for yourself

Did you know that we did a virtual version of SuccessConnect 2023. Check it out here.

The SAP SuccessFactors 2H 2023 release is sitting in your preview environment ready to engage. I encourage you to maximize the potential of everything we’ve packed into it. Explore, test-drive, and redefine how your organization will HR going into 2024.

Speaking of 2024, 1H release development is already underway. If you missed the 1H 2024 Release Plan webinar, you can watch it here.