Is talent management in a slump?

US-based talent software analyst Josh Bersin first called attention to the talent management software slump in a May blog posting. He concluded that the first quarter of 2009 “was a bit of a disaster”. At that point, Bersin was anticipating a 26% year-on-year rise for the talent management software market to hit an estimated $655m in revenue for 2009. The Q1 figures cast a shadow over Bersin's previous estimates. Sales of new software were estimated to be less than $40m in the first three months of the year - representing a growth rate of around 5.5%. The reported figures from leading suppliers were even more of a concern: SuccessFactors grew its revenues by 6.7%, but this was down 23% on the previous quarter. Taleo only managed to post 1% growth and SumTotal saw its sales fall 34%. Instead of responding to the strategic demands of retrenching by investing in talent systems, Bersin concluded, "the recession clearly forced most corporate and government buyers to postpone their purchases".