Why the Skills Shop?

The Skills Shop was created by Jason Gray and Steve Hunt to help companies find skills-management technology solutions that address their particular needs. Tim Oxendahl subsequently joined our efforts to improve work through better skills management. As skills management experts, we have seen hundreds of different skills technology applications addressing a wide range of skills management challenges. Our goal is to create a site listing these applications to help companies find solutions that best fit their particular needs.

The site is designed to be non-evaluative in terms of how solutions are categorized. There is no such thing as a “best solution” when it comes to skills management. The best solution is the one that fits a company’s particular needs related to functionality, design and cost.

How the solutions are categorized

The descriptions in this site are based on reviewing publicly available information listed on the solution provider’s website. Future versions of the site may include more in-depth reviews incorporating non-public vendor information. This information is used to organize skills solutions based on five categories:

Operational challenges addressed by the solution (e.g. filling positions, developing capabilities)
Primary value drivers enabled by the solution (e.g., process efficiency/cost savings, workforce productivity/effectiveness)
Technological capabilities enabled by the solution (e.g. assessing people’s skill levels, managing workforce skill requirements)
Whether the solution is designed as a standalone tool or is included as part of a broader suite of applications.
Whether skills management is the core focus of the company or is just one aspect of the solutions they offer.

Full descriptions of each category are listed below. The categories are used to rank each solution based on its design. For example, the operational challenges addressed by a solution might be ranked in order as “Filling Positions, Developing Capabilities, Designing Organizations, and Inspiring Performance”. The site lists solutions based on their top two rankings in each category.

Operational Challenges: which of the following workforce challenges is the solution primarily focused on addressing?

Designing Organizations. Determining the jobs a company must create and staff to support its business strategy, where they are located and how they are structured and compensated.
Filling Positions. Finding and hiring people with the qualifications and potential to perform different roles including use of internal job transfers and contract employees.
Developing Capabilities. Providing resources and experiences that enable people to develop skills to perform their current job or take on future work challenges.
Inspiring Performance. Creating work environments, reward structures, and project teams that motivate and enable employees to apply their skills to support business goals.

Value Drivers: what are the primary ways the solution generates a positive return on investment (ROI)?

Efficiency/Cost Savings. Reducing the time, money and resources spent on workforce management activities.
Productivity/Effectiveness. Increasing employee performance through more effective workforce management.
Experience/Engagement. Improving candidate attraction and employee retention by creating more enjoyable, meaningful, and supportive workforce management methods.
Compliance/Risk Management. Decreasing legal, security or safety risks by ensuring workforce management methods are compliant with relevant employment and data regulations.

Technological Capability: What is the primary focus of the technology used in the solution?

Identifying and measuring skills found in the labor market, within an organization, or possessed by specific individuals.
Using skills to support operations that require coordinating people, time and things such as job positions, work schedules, training resources or compensation.
Using skills to guide, support and facilitate communication and knowledge sharing between people.
Integrating skills data with other business and workforce data to provide insights that help guide and improve workforce management decisions and ongoing workforce operations

Solution Ecosystem: To what degree is the skills solution embedded into a larger HR technology platform?

Specialized Application. The solution is designed to be implemented by itself and integrated with other HR systems through APIs or other forms of middleware.
Suite Solution. The solution is included as part of a larger HR system that supports a specific HR function such as recruiting or development.
Platform Module. The solution is component of core HR platform, and it is unlikely a company would use this solution unless it also used the core HR platform that supports it.

Skills Centricity: The degree to which skills management and skills data are central to the company’s value proposition

Skills Centric: the solution is strongly described as a skills management solution and incorporates extensive skills data, ontologies, and other skills-centric content
Skills Focused: the solution emphasizes skills management applications but does not utilize extensive skills-specific data sets or content
Skills Relevant: the solution can be used to support issues that impact skills management, but is not described as a skills management solution per se.