With Hong Kong riding an economic boom, companies are waging a "war for talent" in which the battles are hiring, developing and retaining employees who can secure market share, deliver profits and stay competitive, said an industry expert during a visit to Hong Kong today.

Hong Kong-based Alex Raymond, vice president, Asia-Pacific, SumTotal® Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUMT), a global provider of talent and learning management solutions, said that Asian companies were riding a wave of strong economic growth, but they were facing a considerable challenge in retaining staff.

Dave Crussell, SumTotal's chief operating officer, added, "Asian companies need to retain their best employees if they want to secure market share, deliver profits and stay competitive, which is why they must be proactive in formulating and carrying out effective HR strategies that include the implementation of state-of-the-art talent management solutions."

SumTotal believes that a key to developing Hong Kong's talent is the software maker's award-winning platform: SumTotal Enterprise Suite™. The SumTotal suite gives employers the power to assess the potential of employees, develop the skills and know-how of a workforce and supercharge a staff's performance by aligning a workforce's goals with an employer's business aims. To date, more than 1,500 of the world's best-known companies and government agencies have tapped SumTotal's software to deliver learning, assess performance and manage talent.

According to Anthony Ko, executive director, Superlink, as talent and performance management systems become an increasingly important point of discussion for Hong Kong businesses, systems such as SumTotal's are being seen as a way to gain competitive advantage on a global scale. "We believe there's an outstanding opportunity to market and sell SumTotal's software to our customers in Hong Kong," said Ko.

Crussell visited Hong Kong on his way to attend the official opening of SumTotal's Beijing office, which will help companies meet the growing demand for highly talented employees throughout China.

"One effect of China's rapid economic transformation is that demand for highly talented employees, especially people with local and international managerial skills, now exceeds supply," said Crussell. "This is driving up some of the compensation packages for top talent and managers, as companies continue to set up branch offices, regional headquarters and factories in the country.

"Finding talented managers in China is difficult. Younger workers often lack practical experience and leadership skills, while more experienced managers are in short supply and command high salaries. For multinationals, it is now a challenge not only to recruit the best people, but also to develop and retain them."

SumTotal Systems, whose new office will be based at Chaoyang District, already has a number of customers in China including Liaoning Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile.

"With China unlocking its markets to international competition and Chinese ventures expanding to compete in overseas markets, we feel SumTotal Systems' state-of-the art talent management solutions are set to play a key role in making Chinese employees and companies more competitive on both a global and local scale," added Raymond.

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