The first category vendor to integrate social networking tools with its software suite, Cornerstone honored among year’s best in learning and talent management innovation

Santa Monica, Calif., March 11, 2010 – The first learning and talent management vendor to integrate enterprise social networking and collaboration tools with its comprehensive software suite, Cornerstone OnDemand today announced that it has won the a 2010 Bersin & Associates Learning Leaders Award in the “Vendor Innovation in Learning and Talent Management” category for its Cornerstone Connect platform.  Based on detailed criteria compiled over years of research, the Learning Leaders Program, now in its fourth year, recognizes organizations which have developed and implemented effective and efficient approaches to employee learning and talent management, resulting in significant business improvement.   

“Cornerstone’s smart and innovative approach to enterprise social networking and collaboration succeeds in taking traditional talent management strategies to a whole new level,” said David Mallon, principal analyst of Bersin & Associates.  “By integrating collaboration tools with its core talent suite, Cornerstone is helping organizations transform and dramatically improve existing initiatives for employees and the extended enterprise.  This includes connecting with new hires during the onboarding process, engaging former employees through alumni networks, and supplementing training programs with social learning.”

Premier organizations such as Advantage Sales & Marketing, Bright Horizons Children’s Centers, London Business School, Money Advice Trust, Oberthur Technologies, RSA, Sanford Health and Virgin Media have invested in Cornerstone’s comprehensive enterprise social networking solution to drive workplace collaboration, foster informal learning and innovation, capture valuable corporate knowledge, and engage and support external customer and partner communities.  Features include rich user profiles, communities of practice, status updates, live feed views, content rating and sharing, expertise location, blogs, wikis, and much more.   

“Connecting geographically dispersed trainees in a workplace community where they can get to know one another and share experiences enriches the training and development process,” said Wendie Whelan, Manager HRMS, Talent Development for Advantage Sales & Marketing, which is integrating Cornerstone Connect with Cornerstone’s learning management platform to foster informal learning as part of its ACES (Accelerated Career Excellence in Sales) sales and leadership development program.  “In addition to being a valuable information resource for our company, Cornerstone’s social networking tools also are accelerating the participants’ abilities to connect with senior leadership early in their careers, which helps to foster employee trust and loyalty.”

In addition to Cornerstone’s win for Connect, global workforce management services leader Kelly Services was honored as a 2010 Bersin Learning Leaders Award recipient in the “Learning Organization and Governance Excellence” category.  Kelly uses Cornerstone’s comprehensive software suite – including platforms for onboarding, learning, performance, succession and compensation – to manage and develop its 700,000 temporary and full-time employees around the globe.   

“We are honored to be recognized by Bersin & Associates as a top innovator in the learning and talent management software space,” said Adam Miller, President and CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand.  “We also congratulate our client partner, Kelly Services, for its industry-leading achievements in organizational and governance excellence.”

The Bersin & Associates report, “Learning Leaders 2010: Lessons from the Best,” provides an in-depth look at the best practices of Cornerstone OnDemand and the other award winners.  Click here to receive a complimentary copy. 

Learning Leaders program partner Elearning! magazine also features Cornerstone and the other 2010 winners in its March special issue. 

For more information about Cornerstone OnDemand, visit www.cornerstoneondemand.com.  To read Cornerstone OnDemand’s talent management blog, visit http://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/blog.  To follow Cornerstone OnDemand on Twitter, visit http://twitter.com/cornerstoneinc.