Ultimate Software and Kronos to Merge

By Cliff Stevenson, Principal Analyst, Talent Management and Workforce Management

Ultimate Software and Kronos announced they will be merging. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The companies are owned by the same private-equity firm (Hellman & Friedman LLC is the controlling partner for each). They have said that they would remain separate entities but after looking at their combined market positioning, it just made too much sense to not combine their efforts.

I was on the analyst call and though I can’t go into too many specifics, I can say that both companies were fully represented on the call and remain committed to providing their customers complete service with no interruptions during or after the merger.

The challenges they face will be keeping their cultures intact. They are both in the Top 50 of all major benchmarks for culture: Best Places to Work, Fortune, Brandon Hall Group, etc. However they’ll be no moving one service to another company or vice-versa and both will continue to operate as they are now including keeping both of their current headquarters in Lowell, Massachusetts for Kronos and Weston, Florida for Ultimate. This business-as-usual philosophy also includes their overseas endeavors, recent acquisitions and the like. They plan a renaming themselves but do not have a new name yet. There were some rather humorous names bandied about in the chat among the analysts, but it is unlikely any of those will be used by the new company.

What this means for existing or prospective customers is that there will be an expanded series of offerings from those organizations along with the top-level service that both have provided in the past. They will not be removing or changing any of their current service models and will more or less — at least in the near future —operate as distinct entities, although merged at the top level.

From a Brandon Hall Group perspective, we have worked closely with both organizations for quite some time and will continue to do so. The major questions for customers should be whether this merger will be a success and will it affect their employees. I have always held their R&D departments in high regard and both have shown a great openness about their use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in their platforms. As long as they continue their transparency and future-focused thinking, they will thrive as one entity as they did separately. Employees of their customers can expect to not notice the merger at all, which in the short-term is a good indicator of a great merger.

Cliff Stevenson, (Twitter: @CliffordDarrell email: [email protected]) Principal Analyst, Talent Management and Workforce Management, Brandon Hall Group

 For more information on Brandon Hall Group’s research, please visit www.brandonhall.com

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Mike Cooke

Chief Executive Officer of Brandon Hall Group Mike Cooke Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Mike Cooke was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AC Growth. Mike held leadership and executive positions for the majority of his career, at which he was responsible for steering sales and marketing teams to drive results and profitability. His background includes more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, management, and operations in the research, consulting, software and technology industries. Mike has extensive experience in sales, marketing and management having worked for several early high-growth emerging businesses and has implemented technology systems to support various critical sales, finance, marketing and client service functions. He is especially skilled in organizing the sales and service strategy to fully support a company’s growth strategy. The concept of growth was an absolute to Mike and a motivator in starting AC Growth, in order to help organizations achieve research driven results. Most recently, Mike was the VP and General Manager of Field Operations at Bersin & Associates, a global analyst and consulting services firm focused on all areas of enterprise learning, talent management and talent acquisition. Tasked with leading the company’s global expansion, Mike led all sales operations worldwide. During Mike’s tenure, the company has grown into a multi-national firm, conducting business in over 45 countries with over 4,500 multi-national organizations. Mike started his career at MicroVideo Learning Systems in 1992, eventually holding a senior management position and leading all corporate sales before founding Dynamic Minds. Mike was CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamic Minds, a custom developer of software programs, working with clients like Goldman Sachs, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and Merrill Lynch. Also, Mike worked for Oddcast, a leading provider of customer experience and marketing solutions, where he held a senior management position leading the company into new markets across various industries. Mike also serves on the Advisory Board for Carbon Solutions America, an independent sustainability consulting and carbon management firm that specializes in the design and implementation of greenhouse reduction and sustainability plans as well as managing the generation of carbon and renewal energy and energy efficiency credits. Mike attended University of Phoenix, studying Business Administration and Finance. He has also completed executive training at the Chicago Graduate School of Business in Chicago, IL.

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