Cornerstone Acquires Clustree to Build Leading AI-Powered Skills Platform for People Development

With the acquisition of Clustree, Cornerstone will accelerate the development of the world’s largest skills engine to help organisations identify, develop and deploy their talent for the roles needed today and in the future

Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc., a global leader in people development solutions, announced it has acquired Clustree, a French technology company that developed an industry-leading, AI-powered skills engine and extensive skills ontology that is being used by leading global brands, including Carrefour and SNCF.

Founded in 2014, Clustree developed one of the world’s most sophisticated skills engines using machine learning and bias-free algorithms to help organisations match their employees’ skills with specific job roles. Clustree developed its skills ontology based on the consolidation of over 1 billion job skills across multiple languages into a library of 53,000 verified skills that accurately describe any employee profile from any industry.

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Organisations rely on Clustree’s AI-driven skills engine and skills ontology to analyse their employee skill data to inform critical decisions regarding whom to hire, how to develop their employees, how to structure long-term workforce planning, and ultimately, how to close the pervasive skills gap that companies are experiencing worldwide.

“The future of work will require organisations and their people to continuously learn new skills to keep up with the pace of technology and fundamental industry shifts,” said Adam Miller, founder and CEO, Cornerstone. “In order to prepare for the future, organisations must have a grasp on the skills and capabilities their talent has today so they can identify skills gaps and start developing their talent for tomorrow.”

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Over the next year, Cornerstone plans to integrate the Clustree skills engine and skills ontology into its portfolio of products that make up Cornerstone’s holistic People Development solution. The integration will enable Cornerstone clients and their people to:

• Build a skills inventory. Organisations will have clear insight into their employees’ current skills and capabilities, enabling them to better match employees to specific roles and build more productive teams. Additionally, employees will have a better understanding of the specific skills and capabilities they have, as well as the specialised skills required for their job position.
• Identify precise areas for growth and development. Based on employees’ current job positions and projected career paths, organisations and their people will be able to identify potential skills gaps and access personalized development opportunities within the flow of work, including relevant, modern learning content through Content Anytime.
• Make more informed recruiting decisions. Organisations will be able to detect “hidden” skills in candidates’ resumes based on their previous job roles, credentials and accomplishments, enabling HR teams to better match candidates with open requisitions.

“We’ve dedicated the past five years to making skills the currency of work and helping organisations prepare for the future thanks to a very strong AI technology and product,” said Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan, founder and CEO, Clustree. “By joining Cornerstone, we can now expand our footprint even larger and integrate our value proposition into a leading people development solution that is used by thousands of organisations around the world.”

“Working with Clustree is part of Cornerstone’s strategy to increase our presence in Europe, and our brand awareness in a very dynamic and internationally recognised local tech scene in France. It was only natural to be interested in such a successful and innovative startup as Clustree. Their technology is completely disrupting HR and talent management with AI, machine learning and competency management. As it happens, we’re familiar with such technologies at Cornerstone,” added Vincent Belliveau, Chief Executive EMEA at Cornerstone OnDemand.

Cornerstone agreed to acquire Clustree for approximately $18.5 million in an all-cash deal. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. More information about this acquisition will be shared during Cornerstone’s next earnings announcement.

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