Ascendia is a SuccessFactors business partner based in South Africa that provides talent and performance management consulting and solutions. It offers the SuccessFactors cloud-based SaaS platform to help clients optimize workforce performance, align goals, and drive business results. Ascendia's experienced leadership team works with clients to implement SuccessFactors through a fixed-price approach over 6-12 weeks. It also provides ongoing support, training, and analytics to help clients realize ongoing value from the solution.

1. Corporate Profile

2. C o N TE N T S
Introducing Ascendia 05
The Talent & Performance Management 06
Opportunity
Closing the Execution Gap: A Closer Look 08
About Ascendia: What You Need To Know 10
Ascendia’s Leadership Team 12
Ascendia: A Fresh Approach To Your Talent 14
& Performance Management Needs
SuccessFactors: A Quick Look At The 18
Technical Side
Comments From Highly-Satisfied 20
SuccessFactors Users
Ascendia & SuccessFactors Quick Facts 22
Contact Information 23

3. Introducing Ascendia
Ascendia is all about At Ascendia, we are committed to your organisation’s success. It’s that simple.
empowering your
organisation with
T he talent you employ is at the very core
of your company’s present and future.
Our promise to you as your trusted, insightful
Our Mission
Ascendia helps South African companies
and local talent management advisor based execute HR strategy via on-demand solutions
the right solutions to right here in South Africa, is to offer the latest for managing talent, empowering people and
generation of business talent and performance maximizing the productivity of human capital
help optimize people management solution – SuccessFactors™ – that that will in turn drive revenue gains for the
will empower your success. entire organisation.
performance and
What may have worked to attract and retain In today’s volatile economic climate, possessing
realize business results quality workforce talent in the past is no the right insight into putting the right people
guarantee the same methods will work in an into the right roles within your organisation
at the highest levels. ever-changing world economy. Ascendia is all is only part of the picture. Empowering your
about empowering your organisation with the people to work efficiently and productively
right solutions to help optimize performance toward strategic goals, and then measuring and
and realize business results at the highest levels. improving that productivity, is a whole new
Aligning strategic goals, and equipping and challenge. We can help you do both.
inspiring your workforce talent to innovate and
get the right work done at the right time are It’s up to you. Ascendia and SuccessFactors will
the real differentiators between companies that assist you every phase of the way.
achieve success and those who don’t.
04 05

4. The Talent and Performance
Management Opportunity
O pportunity is everywhere. And finding
and retaining the right talent for your
evaluations that is substantive and meaningful,
and making sure your talent is rewarded for
Transforming human
company can provide a wide range of benefits
including improved productivity and business
producing quality work that will ultimately make
a positive impact on your company’s bottom
capital into financial
performance, higher workforce morale and a
distinct advantage over your closest competitors.
line.
capital through a fresh
Those are certainly lofty aspirations none the
less.
Make no mistake about it. Your workforce is
your human capital. And the quality of your
approach to talent
But in the real world, once you find the workforce
workforce can make or break your company’s
competitiveness in the global economy. Your
management.
talent you’re striving for, evaluating and then goal then is actually quite straightforward: to
rewarding your talent presents a different transform your human capital into financial
set of challenges... challenges such as keeping capital. Ascendia and SuccessFactors are
your workforce motivated, giving them proper making this happen and can ultimately make this
feedback and instruction during performance outcome a reality for your company.
06 07

5. Closing the Execution Gap: What is
SuccessFactors?
Why
SuccessFactors?
A Closer Look SuccessFactors is on-demand SuccessFactors is used by consulting firm recently
business execution software more than 30 Fortune 100 conducted a study of more than
that helps companies manage companies and is recognized by 500 SuccessFactors users. The
and optimize their workforce top analysts – including Gartner, study found that by implementing
and business performance. Forrester, IDC and Bersin & SuccessFactors software to
T his leads to the topic of strategy. Many
companies have well developed strategies in
place. Unfortunately, those same companies place
Making the right investment in human capital
is critical to your organisation’s success. Why?
Because for proper execution to take place, it’s your
Not only does this results-
based software allow clients to
Associates – as the global leader
in business execution and talent
align their employees with their
strategies, SuccessFactors users
measure the performance of management software. In were significantly better able to
far more emphasis on strategy than execution. workforce that executes your company’s strategies. execute their strategies, improve
their top producers, it lets them addition, SuccessFactors has the
Not properly executing their strategies is where That’s where Ascendia and SuccessFactors can productivity and drive results. In
know who’s not measuring up. largest and most sophisticated
too many companies fall short against their make a significant impact. fact, the study demonstrated a
software as a service (SaaS)
competitors. Worse yet, falling short on execution 1% to 3% increase in top line
SuccessFactors lets owners and platform in the world with
will also negatively impact a company’s financial revenue after implementing
managers better address goal more than 15 million users.
results. SuccessFactors.
and performance management,
recruitment, compensation and SuccessFactors has more than
reward, pay for performance, 3,500 customers and counting, Consider that for a typical profit
The study proved conclusively that execution enterprise collaboration and
workforce analytics, succession
has been implemented
more than 156 countries in
in margin of 10%, this equates
to a 10% to 30% increase in
is not only the main factor that drives results; planning, goal alignment with
the corporate vision, and much
31 languages, is used in 60
industries and has the highest
net profit! The study proved
conclusively that execution is
it is also what best performing companies more. customer satisfaction rate of
any enterprise software vendor
not only the main factor that
drives results; it’s also what best
have in common. These cutting edge solutions
provide a business focused HR
with a more than 95% renewal
rate.
performing companies have in
common.
infrastructure and transform
the people function into a T demonstrate the validity of
o
strategic, mission-critical driver SuccessFactors’ effectiveness, a
of competitive advantage. global top 3 management
08 09

6. About Ascendia:
What You Need To Know
A scendia has been a SuccessFactors
Business Partner since 2010, but our years
In response to our more recent client’s needs,
Ascendia conducted a global search for the
Ascendia’s founders have
of expertise in talent management goes much
deeper than that.
most powerful solution to help our clients gain
real advantages in the ways they utilize talent.
been providing talent
Ascendia’s founders have been providing talent
As a direct result, we chose to partner with
SuccessFactors because our research showed
management consulting
management consulting as HR practitioners
to numerous South African and international
that they offer the leading solution in talent and
performance management.
as HR practitioners
companies for more than 15 years.
Ascendia’s leadership team is comprised entirely
to numerous South
As dedicated long-term specialists in the talent
management field and with 50 years of combined
of South African and international executives,
plus a dedicated group of global implementation
African and international
expertise, we have directed and overseen
hundreds of successful talent management
partners who work closely with our clients.
Since implementing SuccessFactors, we’ve had
companies for more
implementations using a variety of tools and
methods.
a strong response among our base of clients in
the South African market.
than 15 years.
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7. Ascendia’s Leadership Team
1 2 3 4
Brendon Gass1 Raph Keene2 Antoinette Nunn3 Debra Nortjé4
Brendon has a deep understanding of how Raph, an IT entrepreneur who has founded two Antoinette has more than a decade of Debra has more than 13 years of experience
to leverage HR and talent management successful talent management software companies, experience in senior roles within the South as a HR consultant and talent management
software to improve business performance. has more than 14 years of experience with African talent management solutions industry. systems professional. Prior to full time HR
Possessing a long-term interest in how software talent management solutions, ten years of which She began her career in a variety of HR, finance consulting, she facilitated the implementation of
can be used to improve enterprise productivity and was in management roles. and management roles within the engineering, and led a technical support team for Oracle HR
people management, Brendon started his career hospitality and property industries. within a large South African bank. She has in-
in research and development working with data Having served as Director of a multi-national software depth knowledge of how to use HR technology to
collection, database design and data management. organisation employing more than 100 people, Raph A South African national, she has a global enhance the employee life cycle, HR transactional
has worked in Europe, Australia, South East Asia and perspective having previously worked in the United functions and strategic decision making.
He later progressed to engineering project South Africa and has rich insights into the talent States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and later Cape
management at which time he founded a successful management challenges of global business. Town and Pertoria. Prior to co-founding Ascendia, Debra’s broad experience across the engineering
cell tower manufacturing business. He then moved He has consulted to large organisations on talent Antoinette spent six years in a management and financial services sectors has given her a solid
into HR and talent management ten years ago and management software across a range of industries. capacity with a successful South African HR understanding of business in South Africa.
spent six of those years as Managing Director of a Over the course of his professional career, Raph has software solutions firm. An experienced talent management solutions
prominent HR software and consulting firm. directly overseen the implementation of dozens of professional, she combines rich HR best-practices
talent management solutions. consulting know-how with her strong technical
Brendon has extensive South African business skills.
solutions experience including, sales, business
consulting and product development.
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8. Ascendia: A Fresh Approach To Your Talent & Performance Management Needs
A s a South African-based SuccessFactors
Business Partner, Ascendia is committed to
being a leader in providing business execution and HR
Our people performance tools ensure you have
the right people in the right jobs and help you get
everyone in your company doing their best work.
Implementation Approach
Implementation is a one-time cost incurred in the During the implementation process our consultants
management consulting and technology.We provide With these tools, you can drive managers to give first year only. Ascendia assumes the risk of each work collaboratively with you every step of the
the solution of choice for leading companies. specific performance feedback, even in tough and every implementation, as demonstrated by way, with customer sign-off at every stage – in
situations. Ascendia can also help you retain your top our pricing model. Our implementations are fixed order to ensure all issues are resolved during the
Essentially, we solve the problems that executives talent by enabling you to pay based on achievement. in price, based upon the Scope of Work. This gives implementation.
really care about: business execution, profitability our customers a clear picture of the total costs
and growing revenue. With SuccessFactors, Ascendia offers an entirely involved. Most importantly, we truly seek a “Partnership for
fresh approach and perspective to your talent Success.” We won’t rest until our customers are
We have business alignment products that will help management needs. By using SuccessFactors, you In addition, Ascendia follows an EMPOWER happy and successful. Partnership by our definition
you drive alignment across every team and person will have a cloud-driven, SaaS platform solution Implementation methodology which breaks means that at the end of the day, you will be a
in your organisation. We do this by breaking down aligned with Ascendia’s expertise which will provide projects into distinct phases with clear objectives happy and referenceable customer. Anything less is
your strategy into a series of goals which are quickly your company the following advantages: and deliverables from both Ascendia and customer. considered failure on our part.
and easily cascaded across every person in your EMPOWER consists of five phases – Initiate, Define,
company to ensure they understand the strategy Can quickly and efficiently be deployed in as Configure,Transition and Deploy.
and that the team is focused on the right things, the little as 6 to 12 weeks.
things that will help make your company’s strategy Fixed price implementation means no surprises
a reality. or unexpected budget requests for unforeseen
expenditures. Essentially, we solve the problems that
We provide executives with dashboards and analytics No costly delays and faster time-to-benefit than
to view who is progressing with their goals and other talent management solutions. executives really care about: business
who is not so corrective action can be taken now. License fees are pre-negotiated.
These dashboards provide forward looking success Consistent and documented results that execution, profitability and growing revenue.
indicators that you need to drive results. verify successful and proven customer
implementations.
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9. End User Training SuccessAdmin
We offer tailored training to cater to your Allows your business owners to focus on the
requirements, ranging from free online content to strategic delivery of your deployment and includes
custom, company-specific training including: all the benefits of SuccessPlatinum, plus Application
Administration directed by you, and orchestrated
Train The Trainer: educates your team on the and delivered by your CSA (Customer Success
applications configuration. Advocate).
AdminTraining:educates system administrators Ascendia offers three
to maintain and manage your site.
support options to meet
Reports Training: educates relevant users on
system reporting capabilities. A scendia knows you’ll agree that in today’s
business climate, assembling an effective team
of professionals is only part of the picture.Training the unique needs of your
Support Services them to work together efficiently and productively,
and then measuring and improving that productivity, business:
Ascendia offers three support options to meet the is quite challenging. A sizable chunk of your
SuccessStandard
unique needs of your business including: operating budget is dedicated to your workforce.
Increased productivity, which is both cost effective
SuccessStandard
SuccessPlatinum
and resource conscious, is a key ingredient in your
company’s blueprint for success.
A standard part of your subscription that includes:product
assistance during business hours, Customer Support Ascendia provides the ideal solutions you need SuccessAdmin
Online as well as access to the Customer Community for effective workforce management. Our HR
Portal, Idea Factory and OneVoice programs. software solutions allow your company to source
and retain talent, enhance workforce performance,
SuccessPlatinum and keep a watchful eye on the bottom line. We
provide you with the tools you need to not only
For larger organisations with more complex support create an effective corporate strategy but to also
requirements, SuccessPlatinum includes all the benefits track its success.
of SuccessStandard plus an assigned customer success
advocate, strategic support account management, With Ascendia, we’ll help you manage the key
proactive quarterly reviews and a health check process pieces of your corporate HR infrastructure that will
to ensure high levels of co-ordination and facilitation deliver more than solutions, we’ll deliver results.
during your day-to-day operations.
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10. SuccessFactors: A Quick Look
At The Technical Side
Users are free from A scendia’s SuccessFactors system is delivered
through SaaS over the Web. A truly on-
SaaS on-demand Platorm Application Architecture
the financial and time demand model, SuccessFactors harnesses the
“Power of One” – a single deployment platform
SuccessFactors is also a true multi-tenant SaaS The SuccessFactors application is written in Java
application, which means users are free from the and subscribes to the J2EE specification. The
consuming burden that allows users to configure the application
to meet their individual needs without all of the
financial and time consuming burden of operating application dynamically produces every page and
and maintaining their own application site. This sends it to the user’s desktop encrypted using SSL.
of operating and drawbacks of customizing software. Ascendia’s
SuccessFactors delivery model means:
allows IT resources to focus more energies on No static HTML pages or content is delivered by
their core competencies. the application unless required by the customer.
maintaining their own Extremely easy and intuitive to use with a Multiple Data Centers SuccessFactors users share the network security
application site.
consumer-driven interface.
Web 2.0 integration and enterprise social
infrastructure,Web servers, application servers and
SuccessFactors’ data centers in the United States database instance, but each user has their own set
media capability facilitate greater workforce and Europe are managed by IBM and TeleCity of database tables that are logically partitioned in
collaboration. Redbus, respectively, and are SAS 70 and BS7799 the database containing its own unique database
New features are released every 30 days, certified. SuccessFactors has demonstrated on- schema. Each company instance can be completely
which means users are always be up to date going commitment to protecting the confidentiality, exported out of the database without affecting any
with the most current applications. integrity and availability of both users and its other customer.
No additional cost for upgrades. own information from internal and external
Users can focus on their employees and threats, making them a reliable and secure system
businesses, rather than the implementation, provider.
maintenance and support of hardware and
software.
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11. Comments From Highly-Satisfied
SuccessFactors Users
Following is a sampling of comments from a small cross-section of the more than 3,500
highly-satisfied SuccessFactors users . . .
CEO, Kimberly-Clark Hilti
“I believe that in 5 years, we will look back and “The SuccessFactors solution has helped us guarantee
discover that this is the most significant step in that individual targets are aligned with those of the
moving our culture.” business, communicated clearly to employees – and
that individuals have the right skills to achieve them.
Bechtel In short, it has helped us to build for success.”
“With TalentWorks (our branded version of
SuccessFactors), we are replacing multiple InfoWeek
applications with a unified platform and creating a “SuccessFactors is the future of business software.”
single user experience to execute our global talent
strategy.” Hilton Worldwide
“Managers can do performance and compensation
Blackrock seamlessly, including merit increases, bonuses, and
“Thought leadership is imbedded in our culture long-term incentives in real time. We knew we were
at BlackRock – we are constantly innovating and getting that by using SuccessFactors across the
evolving – and in this way we have an equal partner board – but we didn’t realize what a big impact
in SuccessFactors.” that would have. ”
Bacardi Vallourec
“We were able then to ensure that all the people “The speed of implementation, ease of use and cost
in the organisation were 100% aligned against savings associated with the SuccessFactors solution
our goals, against our strategy, and that we were have made all the difference to the experience and,
evaluating people uniformly across the organisation, in the long-term, to our ability to perform as a global
against those goals. SuccessFactors really helped company.”
people grow within the organisation.”
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12. Ascendia & SuccessFactors Contact Information
Quick Facts
Ascendia SuccessFactors Physical Address
4 Larch Nook
Based in Centurion, South Africa. World’s largest cloud deployment with Zwartkops
Specialists with 50 years combined more than 15 million users. Centurion 0157
expertise as talent management solutions Owned by SAP – world’s largest enterprise South Africa
practitioners. software company.
Local South African expertise and Most analyst-recommended talent Postal Address
extensive knowledge of the country’s management solution. P.O. Box 11925 Centurion,
current business environment and Fastest growing talent management 0046 South Africa
economic conditions. solution.
Extensive experience in the following Highest customer satisfaction rate of any Phone: +27-877-515-601
industries: enterprise software vendor with a 95+% Facsimile: +27-877-515-602
- Financial services renewal rate.
- Mining Highest user adoption rate in the industry. On The Web
- Pharmaceutical 3,500-plus customers and counting. www.ascendia.co.za
- Engineering & Construction Used by more than 30% of Fortune 100
- Professional services companies.
SucessFactors and the SuccessFactors
- Parastatals Implemented in 156-plus countries. logo are trademarks of SuccessFactors, Inc.
Empowering Your Success is a trademark
Expert implementation consulting services. Offered in 31 languages.
of Ascendia CC.
Used in 60 industries. © Ascendia CC 2012 All rights reserved.
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13. www.ascendia.co.za