Saba Software

The Premiere Human Capital Management Provider

The Situation:

Saba Software was already a recognized leader in the learning management, but was looking to expand its product portfolio to address the broader business problems in the strategic human capital management market.  They set on a plan to expand their products, both by internal development and acquisitions.

Problem:

The company was in the process of acquiring Centra Software and was looking for ways to leverage the assets and positioning of Centra to reach new markets.  Centra already had a presence in the Academic and Small-to-Mid-Sized Business (SMB) markets, but mainly for virtual classroom products.  Saba had no experience in these markets and needed a broader view of the opportunities these segments offered before committing resources to them.  Unfortunately, the organization was very resource constrained yet needed to make decisions ahead of their annual budgeting process.

Objective:

Saba needed to get comprehensive business plans developed for both the Academic and SMB markets in a four month period.  These plans needed to look beyond the virtual classroom and provide a framework of the customer needs around the broader human capital management space.  Saba could only provide limited assistance to the effort, as many of the internal resources were tied up on other projects.

The Plan:

Marketricity formed a small working team comprised of Saba staff and Marketricity consultants to research the broader opportunities in the selected market segments.  These plans would look at specific customer needs for each market, company assets to address these and associated gaps, competitors, and would offer an overall market sizing for the opportunity.  The plans were also intended to provide specific recommendations of how Saba should proceed in these markets, including investment levels required, positioning, sales and marketing support, and potential partners or strategic options.

Results:

Marketricity developed comprehensive business plans for both markets.  These plans included detailed competitive profiles and comparisons to help bring Saba management up to speed on the new players that would be on their radar screens.  It outlined specific recommendations for product development, sales, marketing, and pricing approaches to optimize Saba's opportunity in each market.  The result was that Saba decided to invest in these markets, dedicating a sales team and prioritizing product features to solidify its position.  The decision and efforts were highlighted at the Saba user conference, which was particularly well attended by Academic customers and prospects, and in press releases that surrounded the event. 

See for yourself...

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