We had the opportunity to attend ADP’s yearly analyst day, held from September 12th till 13th at the vendor’s innovation labs in New York City. As usual well attended by the analyst and influencer community.
![]()
Prefer to watch – here is my event video … (if the video doesn’t’ show up – check here)
Here is the 1 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):
Want to read on? Here you go:
Prefer to watch – here is my event video … (if the video doesn’t’ show up – check here)
Here is the 1 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):
Want to read on? Here you go:
ADP has never been so strong on product. Well that is for my time as an industry analyst, or 6+ years. What was an amalgamation of numerous products running on even more payrolls, with a weak talent management suite back in 2013, has changed substantially, if not dramatically. In the last six years ADP has re-invigorated its innovation, starting with a new UX, a successful mobile Application (top 5 in the App Stores), a move to APIs, the establishment of what is the most successful marketplace in HCM, and brought its talent management up to par. Acquisitions like TMBC, Workmarket and Celergo have improved the product portfolio and reach. And then ADP shared almost two years ago that it has created a new payroll capabilities (code named PI) and is now unveiling its new HR Core (code named ‘Liffion’). That’s a busy last six years and one of the most productive product development efforts in the HCM industry.
A new approach to HR Core. ADP has (rightfully) realized that work in enterprises gets done in teams. But making teams the foundation of its new HR Core product is a radical departure from the traditional foundational DNA of HR Core systems. Few of them are being built these days, and then, usually with the more administrative and self-service enabling DNA. ADP now has the chance to redefine what HR Core really needs to be – the one place to go for people in an enterprise to get work done. Apart from easy team creation and the people directory capabilities, ADP’s NextGen HCM (as the vendor calls it) has integration to the popular chat platforms and is integrated into the ADP Marketplace. Important, but still remarkable, is that teams can span people inside and outside of the traditional enterprise demarcations.
New Payroll to reach the 100s in 2020. ADP has done significant R&D on its new payroll engine, also formerly also know as PI. It is completely rules driven, has been validated in Australia and the US and has a few dozen customers live on the product. We saw an end user (or payroll manager) friendly rules editor that will put payroll managers in charge of owning their payroll success, without having to rely on technical resources to make changes. The payroll team also showed something which has been the ‘dream’ of many payroll people – the ability to setup a payroll based on knowing its artefacts, the paychecks. Some very encouraging insights that with a limited number of paychecks (scanned) a payroll can be setup to very high confidence levels. But the most important news is that ADP is now confident enough of its new payroll to roll it out to 100s of customers next year, and equally push its country support further out by then.
No Code with Mini Apps. ADP showed Mini Apps first two years ago and has now matured the platform and process to the level of making this key capability available to customers. Being able to create little automation pieces for selected areas of HCM is a key demand by enterprises. Allowing this to be achieved by reasonably technical people, that still are not programmers, is a key enabler for enterprises to achieve what matters the most, enterprise acceleration. Moreover, the empowerment of users to build the automation hat their team / department needs – and that they would likely never get from their IT department – is very valuable. With its graphical / flow-based programming approach, ADP fulfills this demand very well. Mini Apps are easy and fast to be built and more importantly, deployed as well.
New data insights coming. ADP has an important insights business, effectively Data-as-a-Service, with its salary data and benchmarking capabilities. We learnt a lot about the inner workings of the business and about the plans on where it is heading. With the ADP Data Cloud, ADP has also one of the very few BigData offerings in the HCM market available. The next key step for the ADP Data Cloud is to add business data, as HR data by itself is of little meaning. The value is to correlate HR data with business performance and glean insights from the combination. Will be interesting what SAP will provide in this area soon.
On the concern side, it is now for ADP to show that it not only can build very good and visionary products, but also sell them into the market – to both prospects and the install base. This is always the 2nd step after building product, and with an industry mostly building product (e.g. payroll), ADP is in the lead in terms of maturity and now needs to convert that lead into customers and revenue. ADP will also have to ramp up its partner efforts and move from its largely inhouse implementation to a partner driven model. This allows ADP to keep focusing investment into products.
But for now, it a good problem to have. ADP has a great marketing and sales machine. How they ramp up and get customers successful will now be key for the next 4-6 quarters.
Want to learn more? Checkout the Wakelet below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.
A new approach to HR Core. ADP has (rightfully) realized that work in enterprises gets done in teams. But making teams the foundation of its new HR Core product is a radical departure from the traditional foundational DNA of HR Core systems. Few of them are being built these days, and then, usually with the more administrative and self-service enabling DNA. ADP now has the chance to redefine what HR Core really needs to be – the one place to go for people in an enterprise to get work done. Apart from easy team creation and the people directory capabilities, ADP’s NextGen HCM (as the vendor calls it) has integration to the popular chat platforms and is integrated into the ADP Marketplace. Important, but still remarkable, is that teams can span people inside and outside of the traditional enterprise demarcations.
New Payroll to reach the 100s in 2020. ADP has done significant R&D on its new payroll engine, also formerly also know as PI. It is completely rules driven, has been validated in Australia and the US and has a few dozen customers live on the product. We saw an end user (or payroll manager) friendly rules editor that will put payroll managers in charge of owning their payroll success, without having to rely on technical resources to make changes. The payroll team also showed something which has been the ‘dream’ of many payroll people – the ability to setup a payroll based on knowing its artefacts, the paychecks. Some very encouraging insights that with a limited number of paychecks (scanned) a payroll can be setup to very high confidence levels. But the most important news is that ADP is now confident enough of its new payroll to roll it out to 100s of customers next year, and equally push its country support further out by then.
No Code with Mini Apps. ADP showed Mini Apps first two years ago and has now matured the platform and process to the level of making this key capability available to customers. Being able to create little automation pieces for selected areas of HCM is a key demand by enterprises. Allowing this to be achieved by reasonably technical people, that still are not programmers, is a key enabler for enterprises to achieve what matters the most, enterprise acceleration. Moreover, the empowerment of users to build the automation hat their team / department needs – and that they would likely never get from their IT department – is very valuable. With its graphical / flow-based programming approach, ADP fulfills this demand very well. Mini Apps are easy and fast to be built and more importantly, deployed as well.
New data insights coming. ADP has an important insights business, effectively Data-as-a-Service, with its salary data and benchmarking capabilities. We learnt a lot about the inner workings of the business and about the plans on where it is heading. With the ADP Data Cloud, ADP has also one of the very few BigData offerings in the HCM market available. The next key step for the ADP Data Cloud is to add business data, as HR data by itself is of little meaning. The value is to correlate HR data with business performance and glean insights from the combination. Will be interesting what SAP will provide in this area soon.
MyPOV
ADP is in its best spot when it comes to product strength yet. It has done the investment, the products seem ready, now it’s time to get them in the hands of customers. If ADP manages to re-position HR Core right with a team-based approach, it may be able to force the whole HCM industry into a re-write of a key HCM capability. For now, it is a great and plausible idea and concept – that needs to be validated with 100s of customers and prospects.On the concern side, it is now for ADP to show that it not only can build very good and visionary products, but also sell them into the market – to both prospects and the install base. This is always the 2nd step after building product, and with an industry mostly building product (e.g. payroll), ADP is in the lead in terms of maturity and now needs to convert that lead into customers and revenue. ADP will also have to ramp up its partner efforts and move from its largely inhouse implementation to a partner driven model. This allows ADP to keep focusing investment into products.
But for now, it a good problem to have. ADP has a great marketing and sales machine. How they ramp up and get customers successful will now be key for the next 4-6 quarters.
Want to learn more? Checkout the Wakelet below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.
More on ADP:
- Event Report - ADP Meeting of the Minds - Wisely front and center - and the rest? - read here
- Event Report - ADP ReThink - doubling down on Global HCM - read here
- Progress Report - ADP Analyst Day 2018 - Things are looking up - read here
- Event Report - ADP Meeting of the Minds 2018 - Stay the course - read here
- Event Report - ADP ReThink - Great event and a lot in the making - read here
- Market Move - ADP Acquires WorkMarket to Further Extend Human Capital Management to Contingent Workers [...] - The Gig Economy looms on the Future of Work- read here
- Progress Report - ADP pushes on - 2018 will be BIG - read here
- Event Report - ADP MOTM - Time get customers on board!? Read here
- Event Report – ADP ReThink – Great event and great value coming for customers - read here
- News Analysis - ADP Acquires The Marcus Buckingham Company to Expand Talent Portfolio - read here
- Progress Report - ADP Analyst Day 2016 - ADP has turned around Vantage HCM - read here
- Event Report - Event Report - ADP MOTM - ADP delivers: New UI, Benchmarks, Market Place & More - read here
- News Analysis - Workday and ADP partner to Deliver a Seamless Customer Experience for Global Payroll - read here
- Progress Report - ADP Analyst Day - ADP executes, kills (most) ghosts from the past - read here
- Event Report - ADP Meeting of the Minds - It’s all coming together for ADP in 2015 - product wise - read here
- First Take - ADP Meeting of the Minds - Day #1 Keynote - read here
- Progress Report - ADP shows great vision, delivers product innovation - now it needs adoption - read here
- Site Visit - ADP's new innovation lab in Chelsea - read here
- News Analysis - ADP announces Spin-Off plans for Dealer Services, sharpens ADP's focus on HCM - read here.
- Event Report - ADP's Meeting of the Minds - ADP has made up its mind (almost) - customers not yet - read here.
- First take - 3 Key Takeaways from ADP's Meeting of the Minds Conference Day 1 Keynote - read here.
- ADP innovates with with verve and good timing – read here.