This month SAP acquired Success Factors, a provider of HR software-as-a-service, for $3.4 billion or a 52 percent premium that investors promptly covered the following trading day. The company will be integrated into SAP’s strategy of achieving significant revenue boosts by 2015, which focuses on expanding in the cloud, mobile and analytics industries. The business software maker took a $1.3 billion loan from JPMorgan Chase to cover a portion of the transaction.

Success Factors has had a couple of updates after its merger with SAP. The company’s existing management has retained a certain degree of independence, which will enable it to grow the momentum the business software maker is counting on to accelerate its plans. Among of Success Factors’ recent advancements is the acquisition of Jobs2Web for $110 million, a deal which closed shortly after news of the acquisition by SAP was announced. Jobs2Web is what can be referred to as a big data recruitment platform that leverages social media data to find good candidates for openings in enterprises that use the solution; and the concept evidently works, based on the limited official growth figures they’ve released publicly so far.

The latest Success Factors development is a partnership with Tata Communications to reach in the Asian market. Tata’s newest SaaS solution for enterprises, InstaHCM, has been launched in collaboration with SuccessFactors in India. The human capital management platform marks yet another addition to Tata’s portfolio, and an expansion for SAP both overseas and in a newly-entered market.

Success Factors will continue to play a key role for SAP in 2012 and beyond. The latter is modernizing its portfolio, and it will build on the SaaS provider’s current success throughout next year.

Looking at a couple trends as we move into 2012, Success Factors notes globalization and access to talent around the world as key areas of influence.  “If you look at the five year trend of where the most influential companies are located, they’re increasingly moving over seas,” explains Karie Willyerd, the Chief Learning Officer at Success Factors. “What’s interesting is the degree to which people are recruiting over the world.  Looking for talent in our own countries…it’s not that way anymore.  Several top companies are based in China now.”

Another trend that’s caught Success Factors’ eye is the affect Millennials have had on today’s work force, filling the spots of retiring baby boomers, though there’s not enough Gen X or Millennials to cover the growing gap.  Millinnials are moving into leadership positions, and this trend will be really important for companies moving forward.  The way Millennials use technology is leaving its mark on the workplace, shifting towards more social and collaborative technology.  “How we communicate is different amongst generations,” she continues.  “Our standards are moving towards collaboration…you can see a whole lot of social tech coming into the workplace to address the needs of the Millennials.”

These trends will really shape Success Factors’ pipeline for 2012 and beyond, especially when it comes to new capabilities around social learning and collaboration.  “If you’re in the learning field, there’s an emphasis on social learning,” Willyerd says.  “It’s a popular topic and people are putting their toe in the water.  To figure out how to take collaboration into the learning space is a key area we’re working on.”

Contributors: Maria Deutscher