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Aberdeen Study Identifies Need For Competency Framework In Succession Planning

Zapoint™ Satisfies Top Two Needs: Objective System for Leadership Assessment And Mechanism for Benchmarking Skills that are Consistent With Corporate Goals

Brookline, MA - Zapoint™, provider of the Web's first Talent Platform, today announced that a study by Aberdeen Group, released this week, confirms the need for a formalized framework to meet the top two succession planning pressures cited by companies. Zapoint, provider of next generation talent management software, delivers a multidimensional approach for benchmarking critical skills and identifying, managing and retaining high-potential employees more objectively.

Aberdeen's findings in the study entitled Succession Management: Addressing the Leadership Development Challenge were based on an objective survey of executives in human resources and standard Lines-Of-Business (LOBs) at 310 organizations. The survey revealed that the top two pressures are a shortage of high-potential leadership candidates, and the shortage of readily available leadership skills in the talent market.

Aberdeen's report was sponsored by a consortium of partner companies that included Zapoint; however, sponsors were solicited after the fact and had no substantive influence on the direction of the study, which is available at no charge at www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=5358

"With global competition intensifying and the maturation of the Baby Boomer generation fast approaching, succession planning has never been more critical to the future success of American business," said Chris Twyman, founder and CEO of Zapoint. "Zapoint is gratified that Aberdeen's research affirms that Best-in-Class organizations are not only identifying this problem, but also addressing it through proactive talent development programs."

"When it comes to identifying high-potentials, it is critical to evaluate their performance equally. Viewing succession candidates through the same looking glass allows organizations to compare apples to apples and make better decisions for selecting leadership candidates," said Jayson Saba, senior research associate, Aberdeen. "Through its enterprise talent management platform, Zapoint provides an objective, standards-based structure that enables organizations to identify and develop future leaders."

Zapoint employs a proprietary algorithmic approach to standardize the assessment of individuals both inside and outside an organization. Hard skills, achievements and behavioral attributes are converted into a common "talent currency" that is then graphed in profiles known as LifeCharts™. By comparing these profiles, users can easily determine those individuals with maximum leadership potential. LifeChart metrics can also be tied to key business drivers in order to benchmark skills that are most compatible with broader corporate goals.

Ideal for use by HR professionals, LOB managers and senior executives, Zapoint gives organizations the ability to build and maintain talent pools by:

• » Identifying Top Talent through the assessment of a company's bench strength in fulfilling critical roles as defined by the organization.
• » Building a Leadership Pipeline by creating talent profiles that capture skills, achievement and performance history, career plans and other vital information.
• » Revealing and Understanding Talent Gaps by defining competencies required for success in key positions, and then comparing those competencies against talent that is currently available and/or developing.

Zapoint is currently used by scores of high-profile businesses, non-profits and educational institutions around the world. To learn more, or to sign up for a Zapoint Enterprise account, visit www.zapoint.com/z4e.

Press Contact:

Lisa Kornblatt

SS|PR

847/415-9330

lkornblatt@sspr.com