Written by Mercer's Tara Cooper

Last week, Dayforce (formerly Ceridian) announced plans to acquire the eloomi learning and development platform, its first acquisition since the organization announced their rebrand to Dayforce in October, sending a clear signal to the market that they’re serious about their commitment to simplicity at scale.

If recent acquisitions are any indication of what’s to come, expect the integration of eloomi into the greater Dayforce^™ offering to be thoughtful. The Dayforce team has voiced a commitment to leveraging a design mindset to fully incorporate acquired technologies into the greater Dayforce experience, to reduce friction and complexity for their customers. A great example of this is their 2021 acquisition of the talent intelligence platform, Ideal, which has been turned into the backbone of their Dayforce Skills Engine and Career Explorer solution that spans every stage of the career journey to power employee development and internal mobility.

eloomi is the second acquisition in the talent space for Dayforce (Ideal being their first), which further highlights their commitment to creating a platform that is both comprehensive and best-of-breed. As most practitioners know, the terms “full platform” and “best-of-breed” don’t usually belong in the same sentence, so this pursuit is a lofty one. When asked about their strategy, the Dayforce team said, “We are extremely diligent up-front when we acquire best-of-breed technology like eloomi to ensure that the platform is congruent with our Dayforce platform. We ensure that it can be re-platformed into Dayforce quickly and efficiently otherwise, it is a nonstarter. This approach allows us to avoid the pitfalls of complex integrations, data fragmentation and fractured user experiences of acquisitions that are bolted on with disparate technology stacks.”

eloomi is known for their dedication to making learning and development easy, making them a natural fit for Dayforce’s mission and roadmap, which is focused on solving what they call the “complexity crisis.” The eloomi product set includes a learning platform that combines learning management (LMS) with learning experience (LXP) to train the workforce while keeping content current, as well as learning content, skills intelligence and talent development. These capabilities will help enhance Dayforce’s existing learning capabilities inside their talent intelligence offering, which currently include traditional and social learning paths, along with learning channels and coaching assignments. There is no update yet from the Dayforce team on what current learning customers can expect with this acquisition.

This strategic move sets the stage for continued innovation and growth, and highlights Dayforce’s dedication to fulfilling their brand promise to make work life better. For HR and talent leaders who were considering Dayforce for HCM or talent, this is more reason to give this vendor serious consideration, but keep in mind that because their approach is thoughtful, it also won’t be rushed, so expect the integration of eloomi into the greater Dayforce offering to take some time. As for our friends at Dayforce, you’ve set a high bar for yourselves in terms of the experience you’ve promised your customers. Blending eloomi seamlessly into the greater Dayforce experience will be a chance to prove you can deliver. We’re also eager to see you take this opportunity and challenge the way things are done. Because as much as buyers are looking for vendor consolidation, the last thing they need is more status quo.