This study sizes the Western European human capital management (HCM) and payroll applications market in 2005-2007 and provides a 2008-2012 forecast for this market. The Western European HCM and payroll applications market is segmented and forecast by functional market (HCM and payroll), by company size (fewer than 500 employees, 500-4,999, and 5,000 and over), by European country, by functional segment (payroll, core HR, workforce management, erecruiting, incentive management, HR performance management), and by deployment model (software as a service versus on-premises).

"2007 was another year of strong growth for the Western European HCM and payroll applications market, which became a -1.7 billion market in licenses, maintenance, and subscription revenues alone. Large and midsized organizations are investing in packaged solutions to streamline, centralize, and automate transactional processes related to HR and payroll. Meanwhile, the pronounced talent shortage continues in Europe, particularly in Northern Europe, and forces organizations to invest in software to improve talent acquisition, management, and retention," said Bo Lykkegaard, program director, European Enterprise Applications and Services. "The next frontier to open up will be the small and midsized organizations, which struggle with some of the same HCM challenges as large enterprises. The green grass SMB segment will require vendors to innovative to bring down the cost of buying, deploying, using, and maintaining the applications."