Initial Saba Survey Results Reveal Value of Competency Management to HCM Activities

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., -- December 06, 2005 Saba (NASDAQ: SABA), a leading provider of human capital management (HCM) solutions, today announced initial results of a new survey that examines strategic HCM initiatives of global organizations. The survey was initiated by Saba and ITG Competency Group, Inc. at Human Resource Executive’s 9th Annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition, attended by 1,700 human resources (HR) executives, directors and technology managers in October, and is being extended to additional audiences through the end of December.

Strategic HCM Priorities
When asked to identify their top HCM priority for 2006, 82% of early respondents identified strategic HCM initiatives to improve core learning, performance, succession, compensation and competency management processes. The responses confirm a change in focus away from automating back-office HR transactional functions—such as hiring, terminating, transferring and paying employees and contractors. As most companies have streamlined the expense of managing people through an ERP system, they are shifting resources to strategically manage their people for greater benefit to the organization.

As the demand for multiple strategic HCM applications increases, so too does the interdependency of those applications to drive employee and organizational performance. Increasingly, HR and IT leaders are seeking an integrated strategic HCM suite. Further, according to the survey results, HR practitioners believe that strategic HCM activities and software applications must be tied to competency data.

Value of Competencies
Survey respondents overwhelmingly agreed that competency data is key to aligning employee performance with business objectives to positively impact the financial performance of their organizations and to drive the outcomes of key human capital management activities.
In fact, 83% of respondents indicated a desire to “create career plans to retain staff with key competencies” as one of the top three ways they would like to utilize competencies within their organizations. Faced with high turnover and an impending retirement boom, many large companies are proactively implementing plans to develop and retain talent. By integrating competencies into HCM applications and processes, organizations can recognize and leverage the skills and talents of all employees.

Initial results of the survey reinforce this view:

• 71% of respondents indicated that competency data must be tied to training and development and integrated with a learning management system (LMS)
• 71% also require competency data to be tied to performance management
• 57% want competencies to be tied to retention and succession planning

“Large organizations understand that their business results are a direct reflection of not only the skills and talent of their people, but also the alignment of those competencies with individual and organizational performance goals,” said Saba Chairman and CEO Bobby Yazdani. “The Saba Enterprise 2005 suite is the industry’s first competency-based HCM system, created to support our customers in placing competencies at the foundation of their strategic learning, performance and talent management efforts.”

Webinar: Integrating Learning and Performance to Drive Business Results
Saba will host a webinar featuring Dr. James L’Allier, Chief Learning Officer and Vice President, R&D at Thompson/NETg and Susan Resner, Vice President, ITG, who will share insights on driving business performance through competency driven learning.

The webinar will discuss how to use competencies to:

• Provide a consistent, enterprise-wide approach to learning and performance
• Map competencies to learning and create strategic career development plans
• Design training plans to address skills gaps for individuals across the enterprise
• Select content based on knowledge objectives that are tied to competencies and business results

Host: Grant Ricketts, Vice President Business Development, Saba
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2005
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time
To Register:http://www.saba.com/integrated-learning

About Saba
Saba (NASDAQ: SABA) is a leading provider of integrated Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions. Saba enables The Aligned Enterprise™ by aligning goals, developing and motivating people, and measuring results — driving greater organizational performance.

More than 10 million current users in over 30 countries use Saba today. Customers include ABN AMRO, Alcatel, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, BMW, CEMEX, Cisco Systems, DaimlerChrysler, Dell, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, EDS, EMC Corporation, FedEx Kinko’s, Insurance Australia Group, Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, National Australia Bank, Novartis, Petrobras, Procter & Gamble, Scotiabank, Sprint, Standard Chartered Bank, Swedbank and the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.

Headquartered in Redwood Shores , California , Saba has 20 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.saba.comor call (+ 1) 877-SABA-101 or (+1) 650-779-2791.

Saba, the Saba logo, and the marks relating to other Saba products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Saba Software, Inc.