SumTotal Reviews & Pricing

by SumTotal Systems | Founded 1985, Gainesville, FL

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What is SumTotal?

Industry Specialties: Serves all industries

SumTotal is a cloud-based HR Management software catering to mid-sized to large organizations. It packs a comprehensive suite of features covering talent acquisition, learning & development, workforce management, and performance management. Users praise its robust reporting & analytics, rich learning library, and mobile-friendly accessibility. However, the extensive customization options and powerful tools come with a steeper learning curve for administrators. Additionally, SumTotal's potential for high integration costs and higher price point compared to basic solutions make it less suitable for smaller companies. While some users struggle with complex content creation tools and limited instructor-led options, SumTotal shines in its ability to scale and adapt to dynamic needs, making it a strong contender for organizations seeking a feature-rich, customizable HR management platform, especially those with substantial training requirements and a dispersed workforce.

Pros

Comprehensive learning library
Robust reporting & analytics
Scalable for large organizations
Mobile-friendly learning
Customizable user experience

Cons

Steep learning curve for admins
Limited instructor-led options
Complex content creation tools
Potentially high integration costs
Pricey for smaller companies

PRICE

COMPANY SIZE

DEPLOYMENT

PLATFORM

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User Sentiment

Based on 132 reviews:

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SumTotal Pricing

Based on our most recent analysis, SumTotal pricing starts at $5 (Per User, Monthly).

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Starting From: $5
Pricing Model: Per User, Monthly
Free Trial: No

Training Resources

SumTotal is supported with the following types of training:

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars

Support

The following support services are available for SumTotal:

Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Help Desk
Knowledge Base
Tickets
Training
24/7 Live Support

SumTotal Benefits and Insights

Why use SumTotal?

Key differentiators & advantages of SumTotal

Employee Retention: Provide tools for employee development, management and learning practices that encourage employee retention.
Enhanced Productivity: Talent managers can continuously onboarding to speed up overall productivity.
Organizational Stability: Learning-centered employee development builds an agile workforce that is adaptable to changing business environments.
Learning Ecosystem: Invest in research and development on the latest learning trends, which managers can leverage to enhance employees' learning experience.
Talent Engagement: Engage top talent while moving through the recruitment process, understand the workforce, identify the best talent and build a seamless experience for candidates as well as hiring teams.
Enhanced Candidate Experience: Offer smartphone-optimized sites with intelligent and automated interview tools, candidate matching, and an easy-to-use mobile app interface. Keep applicants informed about upcoming interview details via a user dashboard.
Accelerated Time-to-Performance: Seamless onboarding training helps new hires get up to speed quickly. Provide unique company policies and work culture for them to become familiar with the company.
Smooth Role Switch: Access onboarding plans for new roles that include defined goals, new teams and KPI’s that ensure a more seamless transition to new responsibilities.
Robust Manager and Admin Capabilities: Managers and administrators can easily view, schedule, filter, mark up and share reports from a mobile dashboard. Leverage reporting tools, advanced reports and dashboards at a single click.
Informed Compensation Plans: Create smart, data-driven compensation plans according to preset or custom parameters. Real-time performance insights and budget modeling make compensation informed, fair and cost-effective.

Industry Expertise

SumTotal specializes in serving industries such as financial service providers, airlines, healthcare, retail, government, industrial manufacturing, technology and communications, and more. Although it supports organizations of all sizes, it has a specialized product for small and medium businesses.

SumTotal Reviews

Average customer reviews & user sentiment summary for SumTotal:

132 reviews

69%

of users would recommend this product

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Based on an aggregate of SumTotal reviews taken from the sources above, the following pros & cons have been curated by a SelectHub Market Analyst.

Pros

Robust Tools: All reviews on this feature suggest that SumTotal provides a robust set of talent development and management, payroll, and workforce management solutions.
Effective Tracking: According to 80% of reviews on tracking, the software optimizes talent management by tracking development and career growth.
Self-Service: Managers and employees can access and complete training courses at their convenience, according to all reviews on self-service.

Cons

Outdated Course Content: About 70% of reviews on course content reported that some modules aren’t frequently updated, resulting in an outdated learning experience.
Non-Intuitive Functions: Most features and functions aren’t intuitive, making it difficult to navigate, according to all reviews on this aspect.
Access to Reports: Accessing and pulling reports is extremely tedious and slow, according to 100% of reviews on reporting.
Customer Service: All reviews on customer support suggest that customer service is very slow and unresponsive.

Researcher's Summary:

SumTotal users paint a mixed picture, praising its robust functionality and mobile accessibility while critiquing its clunky interface and steep learning curve. Many laud its comprehensive suite, encompassing everything from onboarding to performance management, finding it a one-stop shop for HR needs. One user gushes, "It's like having a whole HR department in the cloud!" However, ease of use seems to be a major sticking point. Comments like "The interface feels outdated and unintuitive" and "Learning curve is a mountain, not a hill" pop up frequently. This is often contrasted with praise for competitors like Workday, lauded for its sleek design and user-friendliness. One user sums it up: "SumTotal has the depth, Workday has the polish." Mobile accessibility shines as a bright spot, with users appreciating the ability to manage tasks on the go. This stands out compared to some competitors, making SumTotal a good fit for companies with a mobile workforce. Ultimately, SumTotal seems to be a powerful tool for organizations willing to invest the time and effort in mastering its complexities. As one user puts it, "It's not perfect, but it's incredibly versatile. If you can handle the initial climb, the view from the top is pretty good."

Key Features

Talent Development: Provides combined functionality of talent onboarding, talent management and learning management solutions to cater to talent development requirements.
Talent Acquisition: Helps create a streamlined hiring cycle, hire the right talent, engage fresh recruits and drive productivity from day one.
Learning Management:

Helps provide a customized, personalized and engaging learning experience tailored to the skill and competency of individuals rather than the whole team.
Ease of access on all devices, along with an offline mode, ensures seamless and consistent access to content and courses.

Talent Management: Personalized and intuitive tools help employees pursue career growth and development. Capabilities include performance management, 360-degree feedback, succession planning and compensation management.
Performance Management: Provides comprehensive feedback and tools that make feedback actionable, constructive and insightful. Measures workforce productivity, progress and priorities in real time.
Succession Planning: Enables talent managers to identify and assess skill gaps, build agile talent pools, and align employee success with business goals and objectives.
Compensation Management: Simplifies and streamline compensation plans, and helps build competitive packages to attract and retain top recruits. Workflow automation and compensation management tools aid compliance with complex global policies.
Workforce Management: Bundled payroll, benefits and expense management minimize time, cost and efforts while maximizing accuracy. Features include automated scheduling, time and attendance, absence management, and compliance.
Applicant Tracking System: Includes real-time alerts and notifications for offer approvals, a unique dashboard and reports widgets, customizable requisitions, and a consolidated requisition workspace.
Mobility: Provides access to tools and reporting capabilities at all times and from any location. The dashboard can be operated using a tablet, desktop, mobile app or a phone browser.
Growth Edition: Caters to the needs of fast-growing small and medium-sized businesses. Includes webinars, instructor-led training, approvals, and additional learning resources that users can access and configure anytime.
Extended Enterprise: Helps build a brand image, accelerate growth and drive new sources of potential revenue. Facilitates an enriched and optimized learning experience for distributors, partners and customers.
Gamified and Collaborative Learning: Helps:

Assess and accelerate learning with gamification capabilities that include leaderboards, points, levels and badges.
Enhance employee engagement by identifying and rewarding the right learning behaviors.
Enrich the knowledge of new hires with collaborative learning, up-to-date content, feedback and social ratings.

Approach to Common Challenges

Recruiting and onboarding challenges: Streamline hiring with automated workflows, candidate pools, and onboarding modules for a smooth transition.
Learning and development gaps: Empower employees with a vast library of courses, personalized learning paths, and mobile access to keep skills sharp.
Performance management inefficiencies: Simplify goal setting, track progress, and deliver continuous feedback through performance reviews and 360-degree evaluations.
Engagement and retention hurdles: Boost employee morale with recognition programs, surveys, and feedback tools to understand and address concerns.
Compliance and reporting headaches: Ensure regulatory compliance with built-in compliance tools, comprehensive reporting dashboards, and audit trails.
Communication and collaboration silos: Break down barriers with employee portals, discussion forums, and social collaboration features to foster teamwork.
Talent analytics and insights: Gain valuable insights into workforce trends, skills gaps, and performance through detailed reports and data visualizations.
Scalability and adaptability needs: Adapt to growth with a flexible platform that integrates with existing systems and scales to accommodate growing employee bases.

Cost Of Ownership

Frequently asked questions regarding SumTotal pricing include:

Q: What is the price range for SumTotal?
A: SumTotal uses a tiered pricing model based on the number of users and desired features. For basic plans, expect costs starting around $5 per user per month. Advanced plans with comprehensive functionality can reach $20 or more per user per month. It's crucial to define your specific needs and request a custom quote for accurate pricing.
Q: Are there any additional costs besides the monthly subscription?
A: Beyond the monthly subscription, potential additional costs include: implementation fees, training for administrators, custom development fees for specific integrations, and charges for exceeding data storage limits. Understanding these potential costs upfront is crucial for accurate budget planning.
Q: Is SumTotal worth the cost compared to other HR Management solutions?
A: The cost-effectiveness of SumTotal depends on your organization's size, needs, and existing infrastructure. For large companies with complex training requirements and a dispersed workforce, SumTotal's scalability and feature-rich platform can deliver significant ROI through improved efficiency, employee engagement, and compliance. However, for smaller companies with basic needs, alternative solutions with lower price points might be more suitable.

Limitations

There are a few pitfalls to be aware of, based on user feedback at the time of this review:

Lacks a user-friendly admin system.
Slow and cumbersome reports extraction.
Additional IT assistance is needed for setting up integration among the modules.

Suite Support

Email: Share general inquiries and comments unrelated to support incidents, at [email protected].

Phone: U.S. users can contact +1 (877) 868-2527 (toll-free), anytime between 5:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m (Pacific time- GMT 8). Dedicated support helplines for users from other geographical locations are available on the website.

Training: Refer to blogs in the “Resources” section of SumTotal’s website.

Tickets: Log in to SumTotal Connect to share technical support incidents.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions regarding SumTotal include:

Q: Is SumTotal user-friendly for employees?
A: SumTotal boasts a modern and intuitive interface for employees, accessible from any device. Features like mobile learning, personalized dashboards, and gamified elements increase user engagement and make learning and development engaging.
Q: How customizable is SumTotal for different HR needs?
A: SumTotal offers extensive customization options, allowing organizations to tailor workflows, reporting dashboards, and learning paths to their specific needs. This flexibility is crucial for adapting to unique company cultures and processes.
Q: How well does SumTotal integrate with existing HR systems?
A: SumTotal offers pre-built connectors for popular HRIS and payroll systems, simplifying data integration and streamlining workflows. However, complex integrations might require additional development, impacting timelines and costs.
Q: Does SumTotal provide adequate support for administrators?
A: SumTotal offers comprehensive online resources, training programs, and dedicated customer support for administrators. The level of support varies depending on the chosen plan, so careful consideration is necessary to ensure sufficient assistance.
Q: How effective is SumTotal for performance management?
A: SumTotal's performance management tools enable goal setting, progress tracking, and 360-degree feedback, fostering open communication and employee development. However, success depends on effective implementation and manager engagement.