We had the opportunity to attend ADP's yearly analyst summit, held on September 20th 2018 at its innovation lab in Chelsea / New York City. With over 20 analysts, the event was well attended.
Prefer to watch – here is my event video … (if the video doesn't' show up – check here)
Want to read on? Here you go:
ADP is in an improving position when it comes to breadth, depth and strength of its products. And the analyst meeting reflected this well, too, with a clear structure of five evolutionary trends for the future of work, and then following up with ADP products and software demos. That's a great format for an analyst meeting.
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| A HR Core / Lifion Screen |
PI and Lifion on track. ADP is at the very end of the development process of its new HR Core solution (Lifion) and Payroll (Pi). This means validation with the first customers in regards of applicabilty to day to day use, validation of best practices and payroll accuracy. The DNA of both products I s exciting and healthy, a team oriented approach to HR Core and a rule based approach to payroll.
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| The AI powered assistant that leads users to insights in ADP DataCloud |
MiniApps and Data Cloud AI Assistant. One of the most exciting products in the industry from my point of view are the Mini Apps. Enterprise software has been plagued from the shortcomings of its traditional monolithic DNA, rooted in technical shortcomings, that are by now historic. Good to see ADP tackling the need for differentiation and better fit with the MiniApps, allowing them to be created in a low code production mode. If successful this can change the way how people are being managed and served in enterprises. Equally good to see is the AI Assistant that ADP plans to provide to ADP DataCloud. Now that there is a lot of data in ADPData Cloud, users want to find more efficient access and an AI powered assistant can uncover that. Both MiniApps and the AI assistant are in early phases and need real world customer validation.
Celergo strengthens BPaaS. With Celergo acquired, ADP can now server 140+ countries for its global customers. But spokespeople re-assured the influencers present that it was less about country coverage, but about gaining access to the know-how of Celergo on how to manage customer services and how to partner successfully with the relevant partners to run global payroll operations successfully.
MyPOV
ADP product portfolio gets stronger and stronger, now it has to prove itself in practice. Following the roll out waves in 2019 will be key for prospects and customers. The ability to have payroll managers configure, change and operate a payroll are innovative, at least of the scale that ADP needs to support. The team approach of Lifion is equally key, as teams are the org units that make and break enterprise success. And for that, very little has been done in the past to support teams and their leaders.
On the concern side, ADP cannot rest on its laurels… It showed conversational UI prototypes in the last two year, but not this year. The global cloud connect product was missing in action as well, though I was re-assured it is continued and on track. And ADP will have to show more of its innovation work, that ironically is happening at the labs where the analyst meeting took place.
This was the best ADP analyst summit I had the opportunity to attend (total of 5). The product focus, first introduced in 2017 remained, and the gestalt of the presentation was consistent and backed up with proofs in software. Customer proof points would be the icing on the cake. Always room for improvement.
