Cornerstone completes acquisition of SumTotal

Cornerstone, the cloud-based talent management software company, has completed its acquisition of SumTotal, a provider of learning and HR software-as-a-service solutions, previously part of Skillsoft.

The combination of Cornerstone and SumTotal will provide organisations with more power to build and strengthen their learning and talent management programmes, driving better people development and productivity.

Together, Cornerstone says it is focused on growth for people and for the business, regardless of industry or their talent technology. With its platform-agnostic approach to innovation, customers will benefit from more options for people experiences and a “frictionless ecosystem” and “faster people-centric innovation” that meets businesses’ needs now and in the future.

“We started this journey as a learning company obsessed with helping customers and their people achieve the extraordinary, and over 20 years we’ve expanded that vision and created a movement,” said Himanshu Palsule, CEO of Cornerstone.

“We’ve been joined by experts from organizations like Saba, EdCast, Grovo and Clustree, who share our passion for people growth, and our commitment to HR and learning leaders. We’re delighted to welcome the SumTotal team and customers to join this remarkable community that is transforming the learning and talent landscape.”

The newly combined company will provide more than 7,000 customers worldwide access to:

• More options. Combined with Cornerstone’s other recent acquisitions, including its EdCast acquisition earlier this summer, the addition of SumTotal will accelerate people-centric innovation and help organisations develop and engage their workforce on a path of continuous growth and skill building.
• More expertise. The combination of Cornerstone and SumTotal creates an expansive assembly of nearly 4,000 talent-focused employees around the world, working alongside thousands of customers. With data and insights from more than 90 million users, Cornerstone has a superior understanding of the needs of HR and talent professionals and even greater expertise in highly complex and regulated industries as a result of the SumTotal acquisition.
• More flexibility. The company remains committed to customer flexibility, regardless of whether a customer is using any of Cornerstone’s current portfolio or the SumTotal platform. Cornerstone is committed to enhancing, supporting and investing in the solutions that customers have come to rely on.

Cornerstone’s acquisition of EdCast earlier this summer aims to create an open platform for people development, growth, and mobility, powered by AI, machine learning, and people data.

The platform will enable organisations of all sizes to create a scalable learning infrastructure, extend the impact of talent technology investments, and deliver personalised growth for employees that spans learning, skill development, content and career mobility.

Palsule said: “Cornerstone’s acquisition of EdCast is a significant moment for the industry. While our collective expertise and scale has the potential to transform learning, the value of the combination extends well beyond that.”

EdCast remains platform independent – so although Cornerstone and EdCast will work together seamlessly, EdCast will also be able to sit on top of other learning platforms to deliver a next-generation learning experience for everyone.

Karl Mehta, former CEO of EdCast who joins Cornerstone to lead the new business unit, said: “Innovation has always been at the heart of our vision at EdCast, and we’re excited for the opportunity to partner with Cornerstone, bringing our teams together to re-shape the market and add power and scale to our mission.

“The team at Cornerstone recognises the value our EdCasters bring to the table and the importance of customer choice.”

With EdCast, Cornerstone clients can deliver a people growth experience that spans learning, skills, careers and mobility, alongside Cornerstone’s entire portfolio of learning management, performance, recruiting and HR management offerings, to ensure unified business rules, efficient management and optimized processes.

The company will roadmap a single-user experience for customers across people growth and development, providing tighter data connectivity, deepened skills intelligence, and a single pane of insight and analytics across the entire Cornerstone portfolio.

Josh Bersin, global industry analyst, said of the EdCast acquisition: “This acquisition gives Cornerstone the combination of a world class LMS with an industry leading learning experience platform.

“By bringing these two important product categories together, the company gives customers a one-stop solution for end-to-end learning solutions.”