With the acquisition of Clustree, Cornerstone will accelerate the development of the world’s largest skills engine to help organisations identify, develop and deploy their talent for the roles needed today and in the future
London — 16 January, 2020 — Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSOD), a global leader in people development solutions, today announced it has acquired Clustree, a French technology company that developed an industry-leading, AI-powered skills engine and extensive skills ontology that is being used by leading global brands, including Carrefour and SNCF.
Founded in 2014, Clustree developed one of the world’s most sophisticated skills engines using machine learning and bias-free algorithms to help organisations match their employees’ skills with specific job roles. Clustree developed its skills ontology based on the consolidation of over 1 billion job skills across multiple languages into a library of 53,000 verified skills that accurately describe any employee profile from any industry.
Organisations rely on Clustree’s AI-driven skills engine and skills ontology to analyse their employee skill data to inform critical decisions regarding whom to hire, how to develop their employees, how to structure long-term workforce planning, and ultimately, how to close the pervasive skills gap that companies are experiencing worldwide.
“The future of work will require organisations and their people to continuously learn new skills to keep up with the pace of technology and fundamental industry shifts,” said Adam Miller, founder and CEO, Cornerstone. “In order to prepare for the future, organisations must have a grasp on the skills and capabilities their talent has today so they can identify skills gaps and start developing their talent for tomorrow.”
Over the next year, Cornerstone plans to integrate the Clustree skills engine and skills ontology into its portfolio of products that make up Cornerstone’s holistic People Development solution. The integration will enable Cornerstone clients and their people to:
- Build a skills inventory. Organisations will have clear insight into their employees’ current skills and capabilities, enabling them to better match employees to specific roles and build more productive teams. Additionally, employees will have a better understanding of the specific skills and capabilities they have, as well as the specialised skills required for their job position.
- Identify precise areas for growth and development. Based on employees’ current job positions and projected career paths, organisations and their people will be able to identify potential skills gaps and access personalised development opportunities within the flow of work, including relevant, modern learning content through Content Anytime.
- Make more informed recruiting decisions. Organisations will be able to detect “hidden” skills in candidates’ resumes based on their previous job roles, credentials and accomplishments, enabling HR teams to better match candidates with open requisitions.
"We’ve dedicated the past five years to making skills the currency of work and helping organisations prepare for the future thanks to a very strong AI technology and product,” said Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan, founder and CEO, Clustree. “By joining Cornerstone, we can now expand our footprint even larger and integrate our value proposition into a leading people development solution that is used by thousands of organisations around the world.”
“Working with Clustree is part of Cornerstone’s strategy to increase our presence in Europe, and our brand awareness in a very dynamic and internationally recognised local tech scene in France. It was only natural to be interested in such a successful and innovative startup as Clustree. Their technology is completely disrupting HR and talent management with AI, machine learning and competency management. As it happens, we’re familiar with such technologies at Cornerstone,” added Vincent Belliveau, Chief Executive EMEA at Cornerstone OnDemand.
Cornerstone agreed to acquire Clustree for approximately $18.5 million in an all-cash deal. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. More information about this acquisition will be shared during Cornerstone's next earnings announcement.
About Cornerstone
Cornerstone is the world’s leading people development company. We believe people can achieve anything when they have the right development and growth opportunities. We offer organisations the technology, content, expertise and specialised focus to help them realise their people potential. Featuring comprehensive recruiting, personalised learning, modern content delivered in the flow of work, development-driven performance management and holistic workforce data management and insights, Cornerstone’s people development solutions are successfully used by more than 3,640 global clients of all sizes, spanning more than 40 million users across 187 countries and 43 languages. Learn more at www.cornerstoneondemand.co.uk.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions and strategies of Cornerstone relating to its anticipated acquisition of Clustree. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product offerings; expected benefits to Cornerstone and its customers; expected financial impact of the acquisition on Cornerstone; and plans regarding the integration of Clustree’s products with Cornerstone’s. These statements reflect the current beliefs of Cornerstone and are based on current information available to Cornerstone as of the date hereof, and Cornerstone does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. The ability of Cornerstone to achieve these business objectives involves many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the ability to complete the transaction on the proposed terms and schedule; the failure to achieve expected synergies and efficiencies of operations between Cornerstone and Clustree; the ability of Cornerstone and Clustree to successfully integrate their respective market opportunities, technology, products, personnel and operations; the failure to timely develop and achieve market acceptance of combined products and services; the potential impact on the business of Clustree as a result of the acquisition; the loss of any Clustree customers; the ability to coordinate strategy and resources between Cornerstone and Clustree; the ability of Cornerstone and Clustree to retain and motivate key employees of Clustree; general economic conditions; as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Cornerstone’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2019 for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at csod.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
# # #
Media Contact:
Charlotte Stoel
Firefly Communications
Phone: +44 (0)203 861 3603
cornerstoneteam@fireflycomms.com
Susan Hilliar
Cornerstone OnDemand
Phone: +44(0)7767884556
shilliar@csod.com
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