With George LaRocque joining The Starr Conspiracy, we figured now is a good time to write about vendor briefings since we'll be doing a lot more of them in the coming months. What's a briefing, why do HR vendors do them, why do we care, and what does it all mean?

We know the end of the first quarter of 2014 is still three weeks away but given how much has happened in the last two months, you can't blame us for thinking we've got more than enough new deals to chew on. Last week, The Starr Conspiracy Intelligence Unit dropped two industry bulletins on Workday and SAP's latest.

One of the more recognizable aspects of the HCM category to the general public over the last 15 years have been job boards. Whether it has been the Super Bowl commercials or just the general consumer-facing nature of the services, they are some of the best known brands outside of the primary HR buyer audience.