Dear colleague.
Thank you very much for your questions. I’ll try to answer them in few words. But let me first add that for talent management (incl. LMS and Recruiting) we've announced early 2012 the "go-fowards strategy", saying that customers should consider first the market leading solutions from SuccessFactors. Regarding SAP HR core you'll find more below.
- We do not position them against each other because they are truly complementary and provide extensible combinations. SuccessFactors talent management is the best complement for SAP HR core, and SuccessFactors Employee Central is the best complement to SAP HR core for customers that want to run an core system in the cloud linked to their existing “headquarter” SAP system of record. Alternatively, some customers want to run the entire HRIS in the cloud.
- SAP has uniquely two rock-solid HR core solutions in its portfolio. Analysts and researchers confirm that many customers want a cloud solution for HR core today. We can offer SF Employee Central to those. In addition, we are constantly improving our SAP HR on-premise solution, see for example this recent post on HR renewal http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-45275
- The customer will decide what is the appropriate “center stage”, and most of them will want to evolve progressively to a full cloud HR landscape.
- I think my answer for point 2 answers this one as well. Every customer is unique, SAP can uniquely provide “à la carte” options.
Hope this helps you a bit. I am sure the SAP mentors will be able to give you complementary information from their personal experiences with customers.
Best regards, Yannick