Opensquare in the SAATKORN HR startup series
In the SAATKORN HR Startup Series, I regularly present exciting young companies that are bringing a breath of fresh air to the HR world. Today, the focus is no longer just on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but also on HR startups from France, the UK, and the US. Today’s featured company: Opensquare!
I had the opportunity to speak to Olivier Hamelle, Founder and CEO Opensquare – a HR tech startup from the heart of France (beautiful Île-de-France) that thinks Employee Engagement and listening new: AI and analytics based. – Let’s get started:
SAATKORN: Please introduce yourself to the SAATKORN readers!
At Opensquare we measure employee engagement and do employee listening differently. Through a new methodology built on emotions and open questions, paired with a unique AI developed specifically to analyse employee perceptions like an expert human HR consultant, we offer employees a more efficient and relevant form of expression.
Get more specific feedback and insights from your employees
SAATKORN: What’s the founding story behind your HR startup?
Two of the three founders, Dimitri and Olivier, spent their entire careers in HR consulting for large American consultancies as competitors. Coming together with the third founder Benoit, a researcher specialised in NLP (Natural Language Processing), they set out to innovate in the very crowded market of employee surveys.
SAATKORN: What’s your mission – which problem are you aiming to solve?
Employee surveys are often impersonal and irrelevant to employees. The questions asked are the ones that interest the company, not necessarily covering the topics that matter most to employees. Ask employees “what could be improved?” and “what works well?” at our company and you’ll be amazed what you can discover, especially when you have 500 – 100.000+ employees worldwide in a variety of cultures and languages… they’ll tell you in their own words, the language of the company, what is driving or draining their engagement and the company’s performance!
Consultancy, support and SaaS model
SAATKORN: What is your HR startup’s business model?
Our business model a mix of consultancy, support and associated SaaS software. We guide companies through the design, administration and delivery of results and action planning on global complex strategic surveys. But we also offer our clients a SaaS solution that enables them to administer unlimited complimentary pulse surveys all year round – to measure critical aspects of the employee experience (onboarding, development, exit…) or tactical local topics.
SAATKORN: How would you describe your ideal customer profile?
With over 1M unique employee respondents per year we serve all industry sectors today. Our ideal customer profile is any organisation above 250/300 employees, any organisation which starts to have underlying challenges. When a CEO becomes reliant on middle leadership or management key matters are not necessarily visible or known… it becomes very useful to have an independent, confidential measure of all key dimensions of an organisation.
Global customer base
SAATKORN: In which countries do you offer your products or services?
We’re headquartered in Paris, but we serve clients globally. Our AI understands 130 languages; we administer surveys in 60+ languages today and deliver global surveys for over 70 organisations. Our team of x5 experienced Consultants (each over 15 years’ experience) present to Leadership teams globally, at present we deliver over 160 custom strategic executive presentations per annum.
SAATKORN: What is your vision – where do you want to be three years from now?
Three years from now my goal is to have opened one or two satellite offices internationally, the destinations are not yet determined. We don’t aim to become ourselves a company of 500 or 5000 employees, we aim to remain a “boutique hotel” in our industry sector. The first thing our Clients praise is our team, how reactive and adaptable we are to them, we want to ensure we maintain this always.
SAATKORN: If you had three wishes, what would they be?
- That all managers can be equipped with an analysis equivalent of what the C-Suite receives – through our AI we are continuously increasing the depth and quality of the analysis delivered so that managers receive comprehensive and actionable insights.
- That all barriers are lifted between the expectations of the field and leaders, bridging the distance between top leaders and the field.
- To export our methodology and technology abroad, we have a first Executive Consultant in Italy now representing Opensquare locally and aspire to go more local globally.
SAATKORN: How and where can potential customers contact you?
Olivier Hamelle, OPENSQUARE, 12 rue de la Tombe Issoire, 75014 Paris, France, +33 (0)7 87 01 07 20. You can contact me via contact@opensquare.eu. Here is our website.
SAATKORN: Olivier, merci beaucoup for the Interview. Much fun and success with Opensquare!
Opensquare Facts & Figures
Founding year: 2016
Number of employees: 18
Headquarters located in: Paris, France
Related Links
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