Gartner’s Jim Holincheck does not only enjoy a good game of golf but also has deep understanding of what this new industry of Talent Management can do to workforce effectiveness. A new short research paper called “Talent Management Application Suites Can Enhance Workforce Effectiveness” published a couple of weeks ago highlights what comprises a Talent Management suite.

Workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management, career development, succession planning, learning, compensation management all creates the mighty suite. Holincheck also adds competency management, portal/self-service, integration broker, business process management, content management, knowledge management and reporting as somehow related and important. As we understand, it starts to be pretty large and broad.

With this analysis, what is the key for the success of your talent management initiative? “Competencies are the underlying foundational element in all of the applications in a talent management application suite.”