05/15/2007

HandySoft Global Corp., a provider of business process management (BPM) solutions, and Plexus Scientific Corporation, an experience-based consulting firm that delivers outcomes advancing federal business processes, today announced a partnership to help government agencies automate and streamline succession planning while building a repository of organizational knowledge.

ebizQ received the following:

With large numbers of baby boomers reaching retirement age, organizations are facing mounting pressures to fill the impending personnel and knowledge void. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey, 60 percent of the federal workforce is eligible to retire over the next 10 years. In a November 2006 report, Aberdeen Group stated that although organizations know that succession planning is essential today, only 7 percent of companies have fully automated and integrated succession planning processes.

According to Dr. Jay Liebowitz, recently cited as one of the top three knowledge management/intellectual capital researchers worldwide, "succession planning, workforce development, and knowledge management should be woven within the fabric of the organization as part of the organization's human capital strategy. The government, at all levels (federal, state, and local), as well as many industry sectors, are facing knowledge retention and succession planning challenges worldwide."

Plexus Scientific has worked closely with several large federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to develop methodologies and processes crucial to a successful succession planning initiative. These components include assessing current workforce competencies, implementing recruitment and retention programs, linking succession planning to HR processes, extracting knowledge from existing workers, and building a knowledge repository. Plexus has now partnered with HandySoft to leverage HandySoft's leading BPM platform, BizFlow, to streamline and optimize these processes. Together, the two organizations will deliver a comprehensive succession planning solution that combines Plexus' proven methodology with HandySoft's award-winning BPM platform.

"After a thorough evaluation of BPM vendors, we are pleased to be working exclusively with HandySoft to achieve our vision of an automated approach to succession planning," said Michael Reingruber, group vice president, Plexus Scientific. "HandySoft has all of the attributes of a great partner - a strong product offering, an impressive federal install base, a visionary management team, and a true understanding of the innovative solutions required by the government."

"We are pleased to be teaming with Plexus to deliver the first process-driven framework to help overcome the 'brain drain' challenge in the federal government," said Jim Worley, chief operating officer at HandySoft. "This is a perfect partnership in terms of synergies: Plexus has the expertise in developing processes crucial to a successful succession planning initiative, and HandySoft offers software for streamlining and automating these processes. A leader in the succession planning arena, Plexus has honed its expertise through close collaboration with government agencies to analyze and define a methodology to retain and maximize knowledge resources."