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Ultimate Software Hosts Annual "Connections" Customer Conference with Almost 4,000 HCM Professionals, Partners, and Analysts
[March 23, 2018]

Ultimate Software Hosts Annual "Connections" Customer Conference with Almost 4,000 HCM Professionals, Partners, and Analysts


Ultimate Software (Nasdaq: ULTI), a leading provider of human capital management (HCM) solutions in the cloud, announced today that nearly 4,000 HR and business professionals, partners, and industry analysts from across North America and the world attended this year's Connections, Ultimate's annual customer and partner conference, held March 13-15 at the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Resort.

This year's Connections theme was "New Perspectives," and the three-day conference offered more than 75 breakout sessions and workshops to help customers enhance their employees' experience with UltiPro, network with their peers, and learn about upcoming changes that will impact the HR profession. At the conference's opening session, Chief Technology Officer Adam Rogers and Vice President of Products Martin Hartshorne showcased some of Ultimate's latest innovations, including:

  • Xander: Ultimate's "People First" AI platform, Xander, powers unique innovations with natural language processing and machine-learning technology. Ultimate demonstrated a live example of Xander's capabilities within UltiPro Perception, the industry's leading sentiment analysis solution. UltiPro Perception enables managers to understand employee feedback by analyzing opened-ended survey responses, determining themes, and providing real-time analytics on the areas and actions that will help enhance the employee experience and improve performance.
  • Workforce Management: UltiPro Workforce Management offers effortless time and scheduling solutions that contribute to a more productive, engaging work experience. UltiPro Workforce Management is made up of two products, UltiPro Time and UltiPro Scheduling. The solutions offer a convenient, flexible employee experience, with easy access to common functions, including mobile-app access for clocking in and out, shift swapping, and requesting or approving PTO. An intuitive manager dashboard aids in faster scheduling and smarter planning and includes an overview of key labor metrics and analytics, important data, templates, and libraries, as well as integration with UltiPro's time clocks.
  • Benefits Prime: UltiPro Benefits Prime offers a modern and easy-to-use decision-support experience for an organization's entire workforce, making it easier than ever to view benefits options, compare plans, and have a better understanding of available choices.

With a record number of HR, payroll, and talent management professionals attending the conference, Connections 2018 featured opportunities for global customers to expand their knowledge of Ultimate's technology and solutions, gain insight into HR and payroll issues and trends, learn from hands-on training, collaborate with other UltiPro users, and interact closely with company leadership and industry influencers.

"Being here, and spending time at Connections, is a window into the culture of Ultimate and their employees' sense of pride," said Jordana Kammerud, chief human resources officer at Core-Mark. "We at Core-Mark are equally focused on our family-oriented culture, with a more than 100-year heritage of caring for our people. Because of our shared people-first values, I am excited to invest in the partnership with Ultimate for the long term. I know that if Ultimate is dedicated to its people, Ultimate will also be dedicated to our people."

Keynote speakers for this year's conference also inluded Scott Scherr, Ultimate's chief executive officer, president, and founder; as well as:



  • Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America, who spoke on the importance of exploring-and embracing-new perspectives in life, citing her own wide-ranging career path, from aspiring athlete to Nashville radio host to sportscaster to news anchor.
  • John O'Leary, national best-selling author and speaker, who described his strategies for overcoming personal challenges, and highlighted the importance of gratitude and seeking ways to help others.

Ultimate also presented its annual Innovation Awards, recognizing customers that have demonstrated extraordinary business results or HCM innovation with UltiPro in the past year. Each category within the Innovation Awards highlights a customer or customers that have excelled in a particular area of HCM through its partnership with Ultimate. The following Ultimate customers received 2018 Innovation Awards:

  • Pekin Insurance won in the category of Innovation Evangelist for using UltiPro Learning to facilitate an enterprise-wide initiative to modernize the way the company does business in its industry.
  • Dacotah Banks won in the category of Innovation Evangelist for using insight from UltiPro Perception to unlock organizational performance.
  • Wajax Corporation received the award for Services Partnership for transforming the company's HR function from a purely transactional role to a valued member of the company's leadership team through its close partnership with Ultimate's support team.
  • Silverado Senior Living was the Business Impact winner for using real-time, detailed people analytics to drive business decisions, saving $3 million over 12 months.
  • Telecare Corporation won in the category of Business Impact for taking advantage of UltiPro Recruiting to uncover the best local talent in some of the most remote areas of the country, and to control administrative headcount.
  • Red Roof Inn won the award for People First for using UltiPro Performance Management to better understand the needs and abilities of each individual employee, and provide the specific tools necessary for success.
  • Progrexion won the award for HR Excellence for achieving a high level of UltiPro adoption among all employees, with far-reaching benefits for employee engagement and satisfaction.
  • Steel Technologies was the Best UltiPro Rollout category winner for its fast and smooth transition to UltiPro that helped align its workplace culture with its mission.
  • Steel and Pipe Supply Company won the award for Transformational HCM Leadership for the company's early adoption and dramatic success using UltiPro's leading-edge products to drive a high-performance culture.

In addition, representatives from the industry analyst and influencer community presented at Connections on HCM strategies and trends, and were on hand throughout the conference to interact with attendees.


As a thank you to customers for their lifelong partnership and support, Ultimate also hosted a Customer Appreciation Party featuring a concert by "The People's Superstar," American country-music singer Kenny Chesney.

"The Connections conference is not only an opportunity to thank and honor our customers, but also to celebrate the relationships that are transforming the world of HR," said Scott Scherr, Ultimate's CEO, president, and founder. "By listening to and collaborating with our customers, we're able to design products and services that make their work lives-and the lives of their employees-easier and more satisfying. We all share a philosophy of providing the best experience possible for our respective customers, and by always putting people first, we're giving energy to organizational performance and innovation."

About Ultimate Software

Ultimate is a leading provider of cloud-based human capital management solutions, with more than 37 million people records in the Ultimate cloud. Ultimate's award-winning UltiPro delivers HR, payroll, talent, and time and labor management solutions that connect people with the information they need to work more effectively. Founded in 1990, Ultimate is headquartered in Weston, Florida, and employs more than 4,200 professionals. In 2018, Ultimate ranked #3 on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list, its seventh consecutive year in the top 25, and #1 on Fortune's Best Workplaces in Technology list for the third year in a row. In 2017, Ultimate ranked #7 on Forbes' list of 100 Most Innovative Growth Companies; #2 on People's 50 Companies That Care list; and the National Customer Service Association named Ultimate Service Organization of the Year in the Large Business category. Ultimate has more than 4,100 customers with employees in 160 countries, including Bloomin' Brands, Culligan International, Feeding America, Major League Baseball, Red Roof Inn, SUBWAY, Texas Roadhouse, and Yamaha (News - Alert) Corporation of America. More information on Ultimate's products and services for people management can be found at www.ultimatesoftware.com.

UltiPro is a registered trademark of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.

Follow Ultimate Software on Twitter (News - Alert): www.twitter.com/UltimateHCM and on LinkedIn (News - Alert): http://linkd.in/UltimateHCM


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