Saba Introduces Unified Talent Management Platform Designed to Enable Unprecedented Workforce Agility for the Global Enterprise

Saba Enterprise 5.5 to Deliver Talent Management Innovations That Help Companies Increase Revenues and Reduce Risk

• Press Release
• Source: Saba
• On 8:00 am EDT, Wednesday September 30, 2009

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, an unprecedented rate of change is forcing companies to develop global networks of people and partners capable of quickly and effectively aligning teams to seize opportunities and manage risks consistent with a company’s business objectives. However, only 30% of CEOs believe they have enough information about the views, needs, and capabilities of their employees¹. To meet this challenge, Saba (NASDAQ:SABA - News) (HR Technology Conference & Exposition, No. 914), the premier people management software and services provider, today announced Saba Enterprise 5.5, the most extensible, configurable version of Saba's people management platform to date.

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With significantly enhanced usability, Saba Enterprise 5.5 is designed to help organizations actively manage the success of each individual, providing new ways to develop and measure skills needed for advancement and delivering new workforce intelligence capabilities that yield faster answers and deeper insight.

“In order for companies to keep up with a constantly changing business environment, execute on key objectives, and adjust workforce plans dynamically, superior people management is essential,” said Bobby Yazdani, chairman and CEO of Saba. “This release continues Saba’s rich tradition of innovation, developed in collaboration with the world-class organizations comprising our customer base. We believe this unified people platform will serve as the system of record for organizational success for companies worldwide.”

New in Saba Enterprise 5.5

Developed with extensive input from customers such as IBM, Union Bank, Schlumberger and others, Saba Enterprise 5.5 is built to enable organizations of all types and sizes to drive better business results by:

• Engaging the workforce with quick, clear ways to take action, and to take the guesswork and tedium out of key processes such as rating performance or registering for complex blended programs.
• Adapting to new business requirements faster than ever before with formal and informal learning — including social learning and on-the-job training — which are vital to competing in a more demanding marketplace.
• Identifying and analyzing the talent, expertise, and information to make data more actionable, enable faster decisions, and drive business results.

“Our latest research shows that organizations with tightly integrated talent systems generate far greater business returns than those which purchase 'best-of-breed' applications from separate vendors,” said Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a leading analyst and advisory services firm in enterprise learning and talent management. “Saba Enterprise 5.5 delivers significant advances in usability and integration as an enterprise-class talent management platform.”

Smarter Talent Management Capabilities

Saba Enterprise 5.5 will enable organizations of all types to gain intelligent insight from multiple sources that may be located across the company. With new configurable dashboards and ad-hoc reports in Saba Enterprise 5.5, users at all levels will have the information they need to better uncover talent, identify expertise, and make the right decisions.

“Retaining the right people in our organization is critical,” says Union Bank's Irma Granger, senior vice president for HR systems strategy and development. “But understanding who those people are can be even more challenging. Working in collaboration with Saba on the design of Saba Enterprise 5.5, we will be able to more effectively utilize the broad array of components in the Saba platform to help us measure key metrics of our workforce's top performers and gauge the impact on performance.”

Looking to the future, Ms. Granger sees even more benefits the bank can capitalize on. “We're looking forward to using Saba to identify and recommend high potential employees and track how these individuals progress in these programs for a formalized leadership pipeline process.”

Availability

Saba Enterprise 5.5 has been through extensive user acceptance testing with companies such as IBM, Union Bank, NCR, Arvin Meritor and Sanofi-Aventis among others. Incorporating the insights and suggestions of leading global companies, the new platform will be available both OnDemand and on-premise within 30 days.

For more information, please visit www.saba.com/products.

About Saba

Founded in 1997, Saba (NASDAQ:SABA - News) is the premier global provider of strategic human capital management (HCM) software and services. Saba’s people management solutions are used by more than 1,300 organizations and over 17 million end users worldwide. Saba’s solutions increase organizational performance by aligning workforce goals with organizational strategy; developing, managing and rewarding their people; and improving collaboration.

Saba product offerings address all aspects of strategic HCM and are available both on-premise and OnDemand (www.saba.com/products). To ensure long-term customer success, our global services capabilities and partnerships provide strategic consulting, comprehensive implementation services, and ongoing worldwide support.

Saba customers include Alcatel-Lucent; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ; BMW; Caterpillar; CEMEX; Cisco Systems; Daimler; Dell; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; EDS, an HP company; EMC Corporation; FedEx Office; Insurance Australia Group; Kaiser Permanente; Lockheed Martin; Medtronic; National Australia Bank; Novartis; Petrobras; Procter & Gamble; Renault; Royal Bank of Scotland; Scotiabank; Singapore Ministry of Finance; Sprint; Standard Chartered Bank; Stanford University; Swedbank; Tata Consultancy Services; Wyndham International; Weyerhaeuser; Underwriters Laboratories; and the U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Department of Treasury/Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Navy.

Headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, Saba has offices on five continents. For more information, please visit www.saba.com or call +1-877-SABA-101 or +1-650-779-2791.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, without limitation, statements regarding the availability, features and benefits of Saba Enterprise 5.5 and Saba’s belief that Saba’s unified people platform will serve as the system of record for organizational success for companies worldwide. Saba's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties Saba faces that could cause results to differ materially include risks associated with: Saba's dependence on growth of the markets for Saba's products, dependence on acceptance of Saba's products by customers and channel partners, fluctuation in customer spending, length of Saba's sales cycle, competition, rapid technological change, dependence on new product introductions and enhancements and potential software defects. Readers should also refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors” on pages 12 through 23 of Saba's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2009 and similar disclosures in subsequent Saba periodic SEC reports. The forward-looking statements and risks stated in this press release are based on information available to Saba today. Saba assumes no obligation to update them.

SABA, the Saba logo, Saba Centra and the marks relating to Saba products and services referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Saba Software, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

¹ PricewaterhouseCoopers 12th Annual Global CEO Survey, 2009

for Saba
Emma Rosen, +1-415-385-2843
emma@activapr.com