The life and growth of an organization depend on its most essential asset: the workforce. Just as human capital is an important part of the business, the work of attracting, hiring, and retaining talents is equally complex. But with HCM software platforms such as Ascentis and Saba, the work of HR becomes simpler and opens more possibilities.
However, the market has many software options offering a myriad of features, and it takes time to decide which is the best fit for your organization. To streamline your search process, use our Product Selection Tool. Enter your feature, company size, and user requirements, and we’ll send you a list of HR/HCM software options that suit your needs.
Ascentis vs. Saba: An overview
The two platforms are unique in their offered solutions and features. One is more of a traditional HR/HCM software, and the other is a niche platform that focuses on human capital development.
Ascentis is a web-based, easy-to-use, and all-in-one HR/HCM suite that offers solutions for recruitment, talent, workforce, employee data, time and attendance, payroll, and benefits management. Its advanced tools are designed for small and mid-sized enterprises. Ascentis was created in 1994.
Saba is a cloud-based smart solutions software for recruitment, enterprise learning, talent management, and collaboration. Founded in 1997, Saba is a niche platform that connects learning and development, performance, succession planning, and talent management.
Ascentis
Aside from core HR functionalities, Ascentis offers payroll and benefits administration tools, making it a complete toolkit that integrates with the finance department.
Human resources
As HR processes get complicated, Ascentis provides automation solutions to simplify the work. It collects employee information, stores records, and centralizes HR data in a single location for easy access. Thus, you can quickly share relevant content, track data, and make reports. It also features a guided end-to-end benefits administration, customizable pre-built solutions, self-service and real-time access to employee data, and HR compliance management.
Talent acquisition and management
Ascentis’ talent acquisition tools are customizable to fit your needs and preferences. It simplifies processes for identifying, attracting, engaging, and hiring talents to be part of your organization. Once the best candidates are hired, Ascentis provides solutions for managing and empowering employees. It offers performance management metrics, learning and development tools, employee review, manager check-ins, succession planning, compensation budgeting, and real-time feedback.
Workforce management
Ascentis links workforce management with attendance and time tracking. It seamlessly integrates the two with payroll, compliance, and other parts of HR to make the transactions, transitions, and processes easy. It automates time management with its biometric time clocks, simplified log audits, and scheduling. Ascentis also offers secure mobile access and geofencing to prevent fraud, labor compliance, leave management, and personalized pay calculations.
Payroll management
Ascentis features a creative, simple, real-time, 5-step payroll system that integrates with time/attendance and tax filings, ensuring accuracy and reducing processing time. It is easy to use, secure, and flexible.
Saba
Saba focuses on talent management and continuous learning for employee development to boost performance, reduce early attrition, and increase retention.
Recruitment
Saba delivers a collaborative and intuitive recruitment platform, accessible on any device, that provides a personalized experience for both the candidates and recruiters or hiring managers alike. The platform builds on a recruitment strategy that centers on candidates, maintains employer brand, provides real-time insight, and engages new hires to create a meaningful experience. Its candidate relationship management solutions include applicant tracking, onboarding, recruitment analytics, marketplace opportunity, and recruitment outsourcing.
Learning and development
Saba provides comprehensive, personalized, and continuous learning solutions instead of one-time or annual training for compliance purposes. It features social, informal, micro, video, and mobile learning for skills, career growth, and personal development. The learning environment is self-driven, enabling employees to reach their potential to become top performers.
It also features a personalized library designed to provide relevant learning materials to address the needs of every person in the company. The library contains an extensive range of learning content from soft skills development to project management, analytics to agility, and risk management to critical thinking.
Performance management
Saba’s learning and development feature aligns with its performance management feature. And its employee review emphasizes development rather than prioritizing measurement. It offers tools that fuel performance with learning, align individual goals to overall business strategy, and nurture a proactive feedback culture. Its featured solutions include goal management, one-on-one meetings and check-ins, employee feedback and coaching, agile performance reviews, researched-backed competencies, 360-degree feedback, and foundational job descriptions.
Talent management and HR analytics
Saba offers predictive analytics and platform intelligence that transforms insights into action. It employs comprehensive HR analytics across its platform to know and understand your workforce better, increase employee engagement, and improve talent development. It uses intelligent algorithms to store employee information and analyze employee interactions and contributions to the company. Saba’s virtual assistant, TIM, provides personalized recommendations and relevant suggestions. Other features include real-time HR analytics and reporting, predictive HR analytics, automated report generation and distribution, net performance scoring, social network analysis, benchmarking, and people quotient.
Which HCM works better for you?
If you want a complete HR/HCM solution that integrates with finance for your company, Ascentis might be a better choice. However, if you don’t want to duplicate the work of finance, and your focus is talent management and employee development to enhance performance, Saba is well-suited to your needs.
If you haven’t decided on an HR/HCM platform yet, check out our Product Selection Tool. It’s easy to use and free of charge.