StepStone Positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in Leading Industry Analyst Firm’s E-Recruitment 2009 Magic Quadrant

A new report from analysts Gartner, Inc., places StepStone (OSE:STP)(LSE:STPS) in the Leaders Quadrant for e-recruitment technology.

According to Jim Holincheck, author of the report¹, "Leaders in the e-recruitment software market have products that can meet the challenges presented by large, complex global organizations. These vendors have strong track records, and demonstrate strong sales and marketing execution. Typically, they have well-articulated strategies that include an in-depth focus on talent acquisition (for example, workforce planning, contingent workforce management, vertical markets and geographic expansion) or a broader focus on talent management (for example, performance management, succession management and compensation management).”

"E-recruitment is high on the agenda for many companies, especially as we progress out of a downturn - they need to be efficient in dealing with a growing recruitment workflow as well as making themselves attractive to talented staff coming on to the market,” said Jim Cassidy, Chief Marketing Officer at StepStone. "We believe the areas of strength for StepStone and its i-GRasp product noted by Gartner in the report set us apart from the many aspirant vendors in this sector.”

Another driver for StepStone’s growing success in E-recruitment is the flexibility of its delivery model. While many large vendors have e-recruitment within larger enterprise software suites, the inflexibility of their licensing models and the prospect of long term lock-in to one solution is driving customers to adopt more flexible approaches, particularly the SaaS delivery model offered by StepStone. StepStone was recently ranked sixth in the world in the list of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers Software Magazine’s Software 500, making it the top ranked European SaaS company in the list. StepStone was also ranked the second largest specialist supplier of talent management solutions worldwide.

StepStone was also named a "Leader” in Gartner’s February 2009 Magic Quadrant for Employee Performance Management Software 2009. According to the report: "Leaders had strong product functionality and superior customer experience with the vendor and its products. In addition, leading vendors had strong or emerging multinational solutions (with corresponding service and support).”

¹Gartner’s 2009 Magic Quadrant for e-Recruitment

About StepStone

StepStone helps businesses get increased performance from their people, helps them build and develop global talent pools, and helps people find new jobs that match their talents. Across the world thousands of organisations rely on StepStone every day to improve their business performance and talent development strategies while millions of people rely on StepStone to improve their careers. StepStone delivers world class technology and services for finding, recruiting, retaining, managing and developing talented people.

StepStone operates some of Europe’s largest talent networks, accurately matching employers with potential employees, and provides a complete suite of Human Capital Management software solutions. StepStone’s on-demand (SaaS) software and services enable organisations to implement efficient processes, including; attraction and hiring, post-hire talent management, performance management, compensation management, skills and competency management, career and succession planning, training and development management.

At the end of September 2009 more than 1,600 organisations, including many of the world’s leading businesses, use StepStone software and services. It operates in 17 countries and employs around 800 people. Its global customers include Aviva, Deloitte, Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa, McDonald’s, Puma, ThyssenKrupp and Volkswagen.

About Gartner’s Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrants are copyrighted 2009 by Gartner, Inc. and are reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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