Applauz transforms employee recognition into a daily, energizing experience—helping teams celebrate wins, share appreciation, and stay deeply connected no matter where they work. With powerful tools for feedback, rewards, milestones, and culture-building, it turns engagement into a strategic advantage that boosts morale and retention.
In this episode, we discuss employee engagement and recognition with Mark Bosnjak, Enterprise Account Executive at Applauz. We explore the importance of making employees feel valued and appreciated in the workplace, the tools and strategies Applauz offers to enhance recognition, and the challenges organizations face in implementing these programs. The conversation also touches on the role of AI in recognition, and the tangible results seen by companies that have adopted Applauz’s solutions. Mark emphasizes the need for personalization in recognition efforts and the importance of integrating these tools with existing systems to foster a culture of appreciation.
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Show Notes
Takeaways
- Employee engagement is crucial for workplace productivity.
- Recognition should be a daily habit, not a yearly event.
- Frontline workers often benefit the most from recognition programs.
- Mental health awareness has increased post-COVID.
- Companies struggle with low adoption rates of new programs.
- AI can enhance the personalization of recognition efforts.
- Regular check-ins can help organizations measure engagement.
- Data-driven insights are essential for effective recognition.
- Recognition should be integrated into existing systems.
- A culture of appreciation leads to happier employees.
Chapters
00:00 – The Importance of Employee Engagement
02:07 – Understanding Applauz and Its Mission
03:55 – Tools for Employee Recognition
08:43 – Industry-Specific Engagement Strategies
10:13 – Shifts in Employee Engagement Post-COVID
14:15 – Overcoming Challenges in Implementation
17:51 – The Role of AI in Employee Recognition
22:12 – The Impact of Employee Engagement Metrics
25:02 – Connecting Leadership and Frontline Workers
27:36 – Becoming an Employer of Choice
29:32 – Integrating Technology for Seamless Recognition
33:54 – Aligning HR, Finance, and Leadership Goals
35:46 – The Future of Employee Engagement
37:59 – Expanding Horizons Across Industries
39:40 – The Value Proposition of Applauz
Transcript
Beau Hamilton (00:01.29)
Hello everyone. And welcome to the SourceForge Podcast. I’m your host, Beau Hamilton, senior editor and multimedia producer here at SourceForge, the world’s most visited software comparison site where B2B software buyers compare and find business software solutions.
Today’s episode, we’ll get into a topic that a lot of companies think they’re handling well, but few actually are. And that is keeping people genuinely engaged and feeling valued at work. I think it’s human nature to feel wanted, to have a sense of belonging and purpose, you know? And since we spend so much time at work, the workplace, think, is a really important place to feel those things. Otherwise it can get really draining, to say the least. Burnout is a very real thing.
So to unpack this topic, I am joined by Mark Bosnjak, Enterprise Account Executive from Applauz. They are a Canadian company focused on employee recognition and workplace culture. But what’s interesting about them, in my opinion, is how they’ve tried to simplify something that often gets overly complicated. And that’s making appreciation a regular everyday habit instead of like a once a year HR initiative or a checkbox, you know?
So we’re going to talk about, you know, what they’re seeing across different industries in this regard, why recognition still feels like a, an unsolved problem for so many teams and then how employee expectations are shifting as, know, a younger workforce enters the space and we have hybrid work continuing to reshape company culture. There’s a lot going on in this space. So, Mark, welcome to the podcast. Glad to discuss this with you.
Mark Bosnjak (01:28.866)
Thanks, Beau. I appreciate you having me here today. Wonderful talking to you and the preemptive of this conversation. So I’m very excited to be here, very excited to talk a bit about rewards and recognition, employee engagement, retention, a lot of things that HR individuals are looking for within their organization. And as Beau mentioned, I’m an enterprise account executive at Applauz. And I’m more than happy to be here and get ready to get into the conversation.
Beau Hamilton (01:54.952)
Awesome, yeah, I’m excited to see what we discuss here. I wanna get just right into it and start with the basics. For anyone who hasn’t heard of Applauz before, would you describe what it is that you guys do?
Mark Bosnjak (02:07.616)
Yeah, great question. I think it’s a good place to start too, Beau. Who are we? What do we do? Where are we located? Let’s get into it. So, Applauz is a Canadian built employee recognition and reward platform. And essentially, our main goal is to help companies make work a happier and rewarding place to be. How do we do that? Employees, we want to make work a place where employees feel recognized and appreciated.
Our overall overarching mission is just empower a culture of appreciation and we focus on frontline organizations. Now that’s not to say that’s our only niche. We do service a lot of different industries, but frontline is really where we focus. And how we’re doing that is we want to ensure that recognition is simple. It’s a daily habit. And from those two things, we’re looking to make a direct contribution to enhance productivity. That’s really what the C-Suites want to hear. But also when it comes to HR folks, employee retention. That’s really where we’re looking to supplement our program.
Beau Hamilton (03:07.568)
Gotcha. Okay, well thanks for setting the stage there. I know it all comes down to just trying to make sure appreciation is something people actually feel and not just something a company says it values. I know it’s easier said than done, but definitely some important things to keep in mind for business leaders and managers in a workplace. And it’s often kind of put on the back burner, I would say. And that just has a big effect on the overall kind of output a company is able to do and kind of the work employees are able to achieve, right?
So I want to dig into what you’ve actually built to make all this happen. So it’s one thing to talk broadly about making employees feel recognized, engaged, but what are some of the specific tools Applauz offers to accomplish this?
Mark Bosnjak (03:55.328)
No, and I definitely answer that question, but just alluding to your previous point, like when it comes to, you know, sometimes on the back burner, companies are a conglomerate of individuals, right? And the success of that company is only going to be as good as those individuals. So kind of going to how we supplement that with our products.
So we offer a full suite of recognition and engagement driving tools. So some of the things that we offer is peer to peer appreciation, whether that’s manager directly to employee, employee to employee, C-suite to employees. So it’s really fostering that collaboration amongst the group through peer-to-peer appreciation.
Another thing that we offer is incentives and rewards to automate milestones. We tie back to a marketplace based on good cultural values where employees can really go reward themselves, right? Based on their preferences, based on their location, based on their like.
What we also have is surveys to capture real-time culture pulses. We know a lot of HR individuals always want to get a pulse for how people are feeling in their organization. And that can really help them with those metrics, determine which direction they’re going in with their people and engagement when it comes to culture.
We also have custom perks and benefits that your company might be offering today already, but you haven’t really streamlined it in any circumstances. So we can take some of what you’re doing today, the creativity, the cool things you’re doing, and built it into a streamlined process within our software.
And lastly, we do have a goals module, right? So to challenge employees, to make them learn, to make them grow. Going back to that frontline piece, like if you do have certain KPIs, I’m just going to use the fast food industry, for example. Let’s say Domino’s, just as an example. I know they got that app where it kind of shows, you know, pizza’s being made, it’s in the oven, it’s now at your house, knock, knock, we’re here. So at least, KPIs and metrics, how can we tie that back to customer satisfaction, but also our employee satisfaction?
And Beau to be, to be honest, like where we see the biggest impact is once again, I’m going go back to that frontline piece and we can touch on other industries, but we see the biggest impact in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, distribution, retail, education, anywhere there where there’s a large frontline workforce that is customer facing.
So like just an example, right? I was at the hospital a couple weeks ago, just a regular checkup. You don’t have to worry about me folks. When I was at the hospital, one of the things that I noticed was one of the nurses who was admitting folks, like her job is very important, right? You’re facing, it’s a healthcare space, right? And in Canada, healthcare is free, right? So you really got to service your patients. But one thing I noticed is she was doing almost like a repetitive task, but she was doing with a smile on her face, right? And people really appreciated what she was doing. One thing is to get appreciation from your patients, but a bigger thing I think is to get appreciation internally.
So although we’re doing repetitive tasks and it might be in the manufacturing space as well, these are important jobs. And we want to make sure these people are recognized for the hard work they’re doing when they go above and beyond, when they clock in early for a shift, when they stay late for a shift, like all of those things are building to their cultural values and the cultural appropriate like within their organization. So how are you doing that today as a manager? Is that being overlooked? Is it being overseen? Or if you are doing it, are you doing in a streamlined fashion or an ad hoc basis?
Where we really help is to really organize that process to make sure every employee feels recognized, regardless of their role in the organization. But I’m going to always tie it back to that frontline piece.
Beau Hamilton (07:33.032)
Right, no, I think the healthcare example is like the quintessential example, because I mean, you, these nurses and doctors and tech people are, they’re really, they’re dealing with such personal issues and you really have to just work with patients and understand their needs and sympathize with them. And like, if they’re not happy, the patient’s not gonna be happy. And then it just ruins the overall, the whole experience.
And, you know, I’m glad you also brought up the other industries too, because when I think of like your solutions and then the different workplaces you’re trying to work with here and improve, it seems like a daunting task, you know? And, cause every industry is a little bit different and has a different culture you have to work with. I would say like, you mentioned the Domino’s example. I would think of like a coffee shop or something, or like, yeah, just a retail job in general is going to differ than maybe a factory assembly line or, with a bunch of blue collar workers. So in your experience working with these different industries, which guess, which industries do you feel get the biggest lift from these kind of tools you offer?
Mark Bosnjak (08:43.276)
It’s a good question, right? And the industries that we see, mentioned some of them, so I don’t want to beat it at horse. But in terms of manufacturing, you know, if Christmas is coming up, a lot of this is the busiest time of year for a lot of manufacturing facilities, right? Well, think about the key KPIs that they have. Some of their loads that they got to get out before the Christmas season, right? That ties back to having the right people in place and having the right people in place on time.
Sometimes we got, you know, temper, temp workers coming in, like, how do we keep these people engaged so we can meet those bottom line KPIs? Because at the end of the day, they do relate employee engagement, how much you’re involved in your job, being on time, staying late. Like these are going to reflect your bottom line at the end of the day, right? So there are things that can’t be overlooked.
And I mean, in terms of the employee engagement sector, it’s not just about frontline employees that we see. We also see different areas, but like we can definitely dive into that, but I hope I answered your question.
Beau Hamilton (09:47.656)
It does, yeah. I was just going to kind of expand upon that and just like, when I think about your, what you guys are doing here in this space, I can’t help but get sort of big picture, right? Especially after, you know, COVID, right? We’ve all experienced that period of time in 2020 and the few years that followed. And there’s been a big shift to remote and hybrid roles as a result. It’s kind of ushered us into the future in that regard.
But there’s also been a big shift, I think, towards just general wellbeing and mental health awareness, you know, and that dreaded work-life balance. Because during those times, those difficult times for the world, everything looks so gloomy for a while there. And not to get too morbid here, but it was really just kind of a matter of people didn’t want to go to work and risk catching something that would potentially kill them or send them into hospital. And so I just put things into perspective more so than really any other event I can think of in recent times.
So what kind of shifts are you noticing in employee engagement and how has that sort of changed over the years? Maybe you can talk about sort of the ramifications of COVID and then maybe some of these other sort of era we’re entering with AI and just the remote workspaces.
Mark Bosnjak (11:10.006)
Yeah, good question. Because, yeah, just to preface it, COVID was a scary time, I was in Costa Rica. I saw the news. I’m like, I got to get on the plane and get out of here immediately, right? So it didn’t really shake the way we do not just our everyday work activities, but just our life in general. It was significantly impacted.
But in regards to your question, what are the biggest trends we’re seeing in terms of remote and hybrid work? The focus on mental health is huge, right? A lot of us were stuck in like, I lived in Vancouver at the time with my now wife and we were in a small apartment, right? So our mental health was like, it was taking a bit of a beating. And so we’ve really shifted towards data-driven culture programs, right? Listening to our employees and seeing what they’re really looking out of that remote setting. know, Applauz helps companies adapt by giving leaders an easy way to connect with every employee. And we can measure engagement. So we give you data metrics to kind of tie back. But we want to keep appreciation consistent no matter where people work. And let me double tap on that. No matter where people work is very important because we deal with organizations all over the globe. Our ICP is North America for sure, no doubt, but we have organizations in Australia, Japan, South Africa, South America, you name it.
So why am I telling you that? Why that’s important? If I’m an HR manager and I got teams spanning across the globe, mean, I’m originally like my family’s from Europe. The European lifestyle is very different than the North American lifestyle. My wife and I went to Japan last summer, very different lifestyle. So why am I telling you that? The way appreciation is handled in each jurisdiction, each country, heck Beau, even each state is different how people want to get appreciated. What we’re really looking to do is understand the employee and giving you those data metrics to really appreciate people and recognize people in the way that they see best fit, right? We give optionality and we also are taking feedback from our employees to see how do you want to be recognized? How do you want to be rewarded? What do you want to celebrate? And we give that back to HR leaders, that data so they can make a significant impact within their culture.
Beau Hamilton (13:21.47)
Gotcha. Yeah, that’s interesting to think about kind of the local sort of effects of, or like the different workplaces in different countries, different geographical regions, but also like kind of picking out the overarching sort of themes. Like we’re all dealing with sort of this digitization and like working remote, right? I feel like that’s probably one thing that really stands out and kind of unifies just the world in terms of what we’re all sort of dealing with in the workplace.
Okay, so I want to ask you, like when companies, let’s say, you know, a company realizes the importance of the solution issues they might have. And so they set out to fix the problem with something like a recognition program. Again, it’s often easier said than done, and it can get pretty tough to get off the ground. When companies try to roll out these programs, what usually like gets in the way and how do you sort of help them get past those hurdles?
Mark Bosnjak (14:15.054)
Yeah, good. That is, it’s a challenge, not only for our software, but I’d say any SaaS company out there, right? We’re getting a new program. We’ve got 500, 5,000, 50,000 employees. How are going to roll this out? So the biggest thing that we often see is across the HR industry, not Applauz, is like companies struggle with low adoption rates. Companies struggle with poor visibility, just a rollout. Nobody knows about the new program or disconnected tools. It’s not talking to our existing tech stack. So how do we face that challenge? We do it in a couple of ways, right?
So we’re an all-in-one platform. We make it a very simple rollout. Fast onboarding is one of our key metrics that we like to host internally. We can get, often, the organization with even 10,000 employees up and running in three to six weeks, really depending on the time that they give us. So it’s designed for all employees and all managers of all departments. So we’re looking to get a holistic and adoption throughout the organization. The big thing that we’re doing today is in terms of AI, we’re really leveraging it to train managers on how to impact, how to have impactful and personalized message towards their employees. And we give them metrics and data to kind of back that up.
But I think the biggest differentiation for Applauz ourself. And the biggest fear for lot of organizations is change management. Change management is a big buzzword these days. And the reason it is, it’s how are people going to adopt this? Are they going to care about it? Because a lot of apps or SaaS products today, they just don’t have the adoption rate. A company buys a product, three years later, they get a consultant to come in and it’s just not doing what it was supposed to. It’s not being fully utilized. So how do we combat that? So the way we do that is we train all managers and all employees if the organization is open to it. So we’ll train your managers, all of them. We’ll get them on the call. We’ll make sure they understand the program. And then in terms of employees, if you got 5,000, it’s not going to be a 5,000 training, but we like to get champions with each in business unit. So maybe somebody from HR, maybe somebody from the frontline force, maybe somebody from accounting. And then we make them evangelists within the organization, right? We get some super champions. Now, not only do we have the managers in line with the philosophy of awards and recognition, but we do have a couple of champions within each business unit. And that’s how we really see the traction with our product. And that really comes down to onboarding and customer support, right? That’s something we do really well here at Applauz.
So, on top of that, we do three month check-ins with all of our organizations. So we look at the metrics, the data, where they might be able to use the system a bit better, who might not be some of the employees that aren’t using the system at all. How do we get them more engaged, right? Whether that’s sending them more recognition, whether that’s, you know, doing some continuous training. So I think that’s what really what separates us. We really want to understand your business. We want to take the data. We want to make sense of that data. And then we want to help you interpret that data to make your organization a stronger culture.
Beau Hamilton (17:24.362)
Great, yeah, great explanation. A lot I can respond to. I wanna, my ears perk up when you mention AI, of course. That’s like, everyone’s talking about it nowadays. It’s not slowing down, it’s only getting crazier. I want to sort of question you about that. So, I can see it being beneficial, right? Especially for sort of these maybe walled off managers that are lacking communication and maybe people skills. But obviously you have to be kind of careful. You don’t lose the sincerity and the messages still feel genuine and personal when you incorporate some of these AI tools with the platform that you guys offer.
So how are the AI features and maybe some of the other tech you have in general, how is it being received? Like, do you find that it can be kind of tough for organizations to adopt or has it been pretty seamless?
Mark Bosnjak (18:27.878)
That’s a good question. I really think it depends on business units. So I’ll give you good example. It’s, I don’t know Beau if you have an insight for our organization, but you touched a really cool subject there because we are most recently launched Appy, which is an AI assistant within our, within our software. And essentially what Appy is, this is for frontline employees who might not be, like you said, they might not adopt AI as much. But essentially when you’re going to go get a gift or be rewarded by your manager, you come into the platform and Appy really tries to understand you. Like, hey, what are you looking for? Is it more so like gift cards? Are you looking more so for something for your kitchen? Are you looking for, you know, maybe something for your patio? So you literally tell Appy, hey, Appy, I just built a deck and, know, I’m looking for some cool things to put on it. And then based on your likes and requests, it’s just going to pop open like a catalog of things that you might be interested in.
And it kind of goes back to that whole thing, like communicate and represent your employees the way that they would like to be represented. The old way of gifting through rewards and recognitions was just like, hey, we’ll get you a plaque. You’ve been here for 10 years. Here you go, right? If I leave the organization, that plaque doesn’t, it’s not going to service me though, right? But on the flip side of the coin, if you do get your employee something, and this is where AI helps, it helps navigate where they really want to get their product is they might see like a toaster and they use that toaster every Sunday. And that ties back to, my company got this for me, right? So to kind of go back to your AI question, that’s how we’re incorporating it for employees. For managers more so, you are right. It’s a very touchy subject, right? Where you kind of lose like that personal touch versus AI saying everything.
And you can kind of tell these days when you’re online, like, somebody write that or was that AI? You want to give managers who might not have the opportunity to, you know, write a fulfilling long message, but maybe a couple of ideas like, this week, Beau did X, and Z well. I’m really proud of him for this. And it can help you formulate a really good recognition that can shine across the whole organization. So we’re kind of using it in two ways, both for the frontline employee to help them navigate through our marketplaces, but also for those frontline managers so they can really get appreciation out, you know, in a very good way, especially if they’re not tech savvy.
Beau Hamilton (20:46.324)
Well, I imagine kind of going back with the customer service standpoint, like when you roll out these tools and you’re working with a client to kind of get familiar with these, like the AI Appy, for example, you probably mentioned like, Hey, you you can compose messages using this tool, but don’t forget about the personal site, like the genuine kind of heartfelt sort of meaning behind it. Like you’re probably encouraging them to sort of rewrite, make adjustments to make it feel more natural, right?
Mark Bosnjak (21:16.591)
You got it. You got it. And I mean, we kind of supplement that with some frontline workers, like we do have something known as Applauz TV as well. So it’s like frontline workers, whether that’s in the break room, whether that’s like in a nurse’s like hangout spot in the hallway, where it kind of shows like all the recognition. So it’s constantly being reinforced where people are doing great things at work. It’s visible for the whole organization. It really builds that culture together and nothing makes a person feel better than saying, thank you for your help today. I really appreciate that. That’s what makes you feel part of a stronger culture.
Beau Hamilton (21:51.624)
Right. Those words of affirmation go a long ways. Let’s talk about some of those tangible sort of results you’ve seen after working with workplaces to implement some of these tools. Are there any examples that might come to mind where an organization you’ve worked with saw super meaningful improvements after rolling out Applauz?
Mark Bosnjak (22:12.271)
Yeah, most definitely. I think that’s one of the things we’re most proud of when our customers come back to us and say like, hey, our retention went down, our retention went up, should I say, our turnover is lower, our absenteeism rates lower. So I’ll touch on a bit more of them. But that’s like, that’s where we really see the power of Applauz, right? When it ties back to like hard metrics that comes back to dollars. And we do that well.
So just I mentioned that we do account reviews every three months. So we learn a lot from our customers when we have those conversations. So we do have an organization within the manufacturing space. Within, I’d say, their first six months of rolling out Applauz, 500 frontline workers, participation rates hit 92%, where they were previously at 70%. Absenteeism dropped off by 24%, and shift morale improved dramatically. We hear that from the frontline managers. We’re like, there’s a better atmosphere within that frontline. They even reported a drop in workplace incidents, right? So that’s something that is like indirect to our software, which is pretty cool, right? So we believe we helped decrease a lot of these things that we don’t want to see anymore. And we do increase, you know, culture, engagement, happier employees. So those are just some of the metrics that we touch on.
Beau Hamilton (23:32.608)
Yeah, no, I know it can be sort of tough to get a super accurate view of how culture is improving. But obviously those are some metrics you can look at, of course. Rise in participation, drops in absenteeism. I don’t know, things like accidents and workplace accidents, you know, you probably see a drop in that. It just, makes me, my mind just goes to like, you when you go to like, you mentioned the healthcare setting, you go in for a checkup. Maybe you fill out one of those sort of, you know, how are you feeling surveys, and it’s like, you look at like a pain scale, it’s like zero to 10. And it’s, they’re trying to get an idea, like when you’re trying to understand someone’s level of pain, it’s hard for them to just, it varies based off what is said. So you kind of have to make generalizations. and. So I don’t know, I just, from that perspective, I can see how it’s, it can be difficult to, conceptually sort of gauge the overall like improvement. But that being said, the things you mentioned, go, was the 92% statistic you mentioned from 70?
Mark Bosnjak (24:33.103)
That is participation. That means like people calling in, whatever it be, calling in 10 minutes before their shift, like I can’t make it or, you know, just not showing up for their shift or leaving.
Beau Hamilton (24:40.949)
Yeah, those are some real strong results, you know, and especially in like a short window. How do you move the needle on things like retention, job satisfaction, and just overall productivity? I know you mentioned the retention, but I’m curious about some of these other metrics.
Mark Bosnjak (25:02.543)
Yeah, so I mean, that’s a good question. I mean, in terms of metrics, we have many that we kind of live by, but maybe I can give you like another example here. I don’t know, like let’s say employees with, let’s go to the healthcare space again, right? So we’ve got a couple of customers that are kind of struggling to connect shift workers with leadership because sometimes at a hospital, there’s many different divisions and I might not see my manager from time to time, right? So the way that we’re able to kind of bring this all together is whether or not you see your employees often having metrics in place to more or less make decisions. I kind of said this before, it’s really gonna help like retain talent, keep the talent that you have happy on board. Cause I read a stat the other day that one in four Canadian nurses is thinking about leaving the workforce. So like, what are we doing about that, right? That’s a strong metric in itself. We need to hear these employees out, see where we’re missing the mark. And none of that can be accomplished without metrics or statistics, right? So that’s really what we’re looking to compile, bring that back to HR so they can make correct decisions based on their business.
Beau Hamilton (26:13.28)
Totally, yeah, it all comes down to the data and what you’re able to acquire and accumulate and extract. Okay, so I’m curious if there’s maybe a particular challenge or engagement issue a client has had to deal with that stands out. I know you’ve provided some quite a few examples, but is there something really major that Applauz help them sort of turn around that they’re maybe struggling with before?
Mark Bosnjak (26:38.069)
Yeah, so a couple of ways that we do it, maybe I’ll give like two examples, like you want to be an employer of choice. Working, let’s say, let’s stick to the fast food industry, right? We’ve got a Wendy’s, McDonald’s and the Burger King all within the same plaza. Why would I choose the Wendy’s over the Burger King over the McDonald’s? Give me some reasons, right? So having a rewards and recognition platform in place, like it makes you employer of choice. That’s like one thing right off the bat. Like, hey, like, I’ll just say an example, like Gen Z these days, I’m Canada, I know you’re in America, but like the price of houses is insane. So when Gen Z is going to look for a job and my sister’s a good example, right? Like it’s tough to buy a house. So like when you’re looking for a job nowadays, you’re looking for a place that’s going to appreciate you, like I might not have the chance to buy a house in my lifetime as a Gen Z. Me personally, I’m a millennial. I think I got a bit lucky, but with Gen Z entering the workforce is a bit more difficult. So you really want to be that employer choice. Although I might not be making the salary or the hourly rate that I’m looking to make, I come into work. I feel appreciated. People care about me and that’s a good feeling, right? And that’s what makes people stay in organizations.
Beau Hamilton (28:04.168)
No, totally. Well, another crazy status is like the average median age for home buyers right now is it just hit 40 years old. And so when you hear that status as a Gen Z or even, know, millennial looking to buy a house, it’s pretty discouraging to say the least. I mean, that’s why you’ve seen some of these renting, you know, renting has skyrocketed.
But without, you know, I don’t want to get too off topic here, but it does kind of make me think of, okay, not to name drop since you’ve named dropped off and it was, I’m going to name drop like Starbucks, for example, they, they’re big company culture and their push is to really, kind of just for lack of a better, you know, description to just be happy. And I, you know, address customers, use their name, you know, smile, ask questions, how they’re doing. And I think, you know, not only does that result in a better, like end result, better product, better experience. It does make me more likely to go to Starbucks as opposed to another coffee shop for that reason, if they treat me nicer. But I think it’s also representation of their workplace culture.
So I do want to pivot back slightly to some of the technical components for a moment. Because for any of this to work, the tech has to sort of fit into the right set of tools that companies already use, I will say. So most companies, they already use various HR or operations tools. How does Applauz plug into these existing systems without adding more work for managers? Because just the idea of adding a new system seems like an uphill battle.
Mark Bosnjak (30:05.539)
Okay. So a lot of IT individuals that we’re speaking to these days, and C-suites, even managers like, they’ve already invested so much money into existing tech stack, whether that’s their ERP system, whether that’s their HRS system, whether that’s at their accounting software. A lot of the conversations that I’m having with IT folks is like around, okay, Mark, great. Applauz is, you know, a standalone software, but how does it integrate with my current ecosystem? Because end of the day, that’s where I think technology is going with most organizations where we want our systems talking with each other.
So to answer your question, how does Applauz tackle that? So we integrate with a plethora of HRS systems. I’m not going to name them all at the back, like, you know, your usual suspects, your UKG, your ADP, Day forces, Paycom, Paycore, Bamboo HR, we integrate with many of them. So why is that important to an organization? When people are being onboarded or off-boarded for lack of better terms, you don’t want to be doing dual entries, multiple keys, like most of your current softwares, right? So the way we integrate with a lot of these HRS systems is as soon as you make the change in terms of the employee’s record within your existing HRS, that information goes directly to Applauz and it’s updated. So that’s a big reason that people are using us. It’s already in their existing tech stack.
So that’s from more of an administrative standpoint. From a frontline and communication standpoint, we integrate with a lot of your current direct messaging systems for lack of better terms. So Microsoft Teams, Slack, WebEx, even Quip through RingCentral, like we’ve done integrations there as well. We have a very fast moving team. So like, if you do have an integration that you want us to build for you, we do that very often, we do it fairly quick. So why is that important? In terms of an HR side, on the admin side, you want that integration with your HRS. But from a direct messaging standpoint, one of the most important things that I always tell lot of my customers and prospects is, like, if you’re already messaging on Microsoft Teams all day, well, here’s a thought. If somebody does something above and beyond, comes in, like I said, comes in early, stays late, helps out a colleague, mentors somebody without anybody even asking them, these are things that you want to recognize. These are things that you want to appreciate. But you don’t want to wait a week. You don’t want to two days. You don’t even want to wait two hours at points, Do it instantaneously.
So those integrations with Microsoft Teams and Slack, if you see something that’s done well as a leader or even as a peer, go right into Teams, make that recognition, and it flows right over to Applauz. Because how quickly you recognize someone has a direct impact to their happiness at the workplace. And a thank you at 11 a.m., Beau, can make that day, 20 times better than it would have been without a recognition or acknowledgement at all. So we really want to fit into that tech step to enable you to reward people quicker and faster and make your work a happier place.
Beau Hamilton (33:34.528)
Now, I think you touched on this, but I want to maybe kind of expand upon it. And that’s just how does Applauz help, you know, the people they work with, think of HR managers, maybe even those in finance. How do you help them all stay aligned and just communicate better around these recognition engagement efforts?
Mark Bosnjak (33:54.253)
Yeah, so great question because they all have different metrics that they’re working on, right? Like finance wants one thing, HR wants another thing. So I think that really comes with alignment early in conversations, right? Getting as many stakeholders as possible in conversations. And I find it quite difficult when we’re just working with one business unit, right? Because going back to it, you kind of we touch every aspect of the business.
So the way we do it, kind of goes back to that tech piece, right? Like an IT person is going to care a bit differently than HR and the finance person would. So it’s really about understanding like what each of their individual goals are, but then what’s the overarching goals as a business. So once we understand that fully, we start to paint a picture for the organization where we can really facilitate a program where it’s going to help everybody within that organization.
I mean, to expand it a bit more, like it’s transparency, right? That connects HR, finance, leadership, giving everybody visibility into engagement, metrics, budgets, performance levels, and then while helping them align with recognition and rewards, right? So we’re giving you the data that’s important to your business unit and then go make sense of it. Collaborate with one another, right? How can we really get the best usage out of the system?
Beau Hamilton (35:19.04)
So I’m looking ahead, I’m curious to see just where this space is evolving. Like, do you think employee engagement will, I don’t know, get worse as time goes on? It’s hard to imagine it getting worse than it was during like the COVID times, right? But it does make it more difficult. The more kind of online we are, the more remote and hybrid jobs there are. I just, I’m curious to see where this is going based off of kind of your inside sort of scoop.
Mark Bosnjak (35:46.575)
Yeah, it’s, it’s, I don’t have a crystal ball though. I wish I did. You know, I’d give you the Powerball numbers this week, but I’ll do the best I can. So I think the future for, this is Mark, right? This is not coming from, you know, some statistics. It’s just based on what I see. The future is about personalization and it has to be data driven, right? Like think of even sometimes when you go order food off a website, they ask like, Hey, Beau, would you like to reorder the same thing? Are you like this? How about this this time, right? So we’re investing in analytics and AI insights to help leaders better understand engagement trends before they even become a challenge. So we have statistics we can pull from, like, hmm, you know what? That one team over there, they’re not really engaging as the team over here. Why is that? Let’s take a look at it, right?
And I think that’s really where we’re shifting. And is this team different? Is it different personalities? Is it different individuals, right? Because there’s different ways to appreciate people. And there’s a great book on it. It’s The Five Love Languages. I’m sure you’ve heard of it Beau. There’s also a book by the same doctor. It’s called The Five Languages of Appreciation at Work. So it’s really understanding how people would like to be appreciated, right? Taking that data, those metrics, and gearing it towards individuals as much as you’re gearing it out as a rollout to your whole organization. Let’s start to understand different units, different teams. Let’s give you the tools in place. Let’s give you the reporting in place to really understand how you’re going to celebrate your employees.
Beau Hamilton (37:20.298)
Totally, yeah, you gotta have the data. You gotta understand, you really just have to talk with the workplace and understand kind of where they’re coming from, what their dynamic is. I’m sure there’s certain industries that need more work than others, right? Because I don’t know, but when you’re dealing with the dynamics of people, there’s so many factors that are involved with what you’re tackling. So I’m just curious, are there industries where you’re maybe kind of putting more effort or more focus on than others?
Mark Bosnjak (38:01.259)
Me personally, yes, and the organization, yes, we are. For sure, like I think I’m beating a dead horse here with the frontline workers, but we’re talking about remote workers as well. It’s a very globalized world, right? So we’re also trying to touch every continent, every region, and they all, like I mentioned earlier, they all kind of operate in a different way. But we are trying different avenues as well, right? It’s not to say it’s just frontline workers. Like we have a ton of law offices, right? We got a ton of those SaaS companies that are working with us today. We got organizations that aren’t just frontline workers, right? So it’s really just kind of expanding our horizons, getting more data to understand different industries and then tapping into those industries with that data, right? To see, like, hey, this is how we help 50 other law firms. Like, have you ever thought this way? you ever considered it? So it’s just getting some industries to think about bit differently about employee rewards and recognition, because quite frankly, it doesn’t exist in some of these industries, right? It just, was never a topic.
Beau Hamilton (39:00.896)
Yeah, no, I don’t mean to keep like, you know, asking kind of about the industry question because, you know, again, it’s, there’s, you can, there’s a lot of industries to work with and, it’s not like you have to focus in on any one particular area, but hearing your insights and your perspective working in, you know, firsthand with a lot of these clients, it’s just really sort of valuable. So, thank you for sharing that.
And I just want to kind of go big picture and, leave listeners with a takeaway. If you could sum up maybe the value proposition of Applauz in, you know, maybe a few sentences or so for business leaders, managers listening right now, what would you say?
Mark Bosnjak (39:42.575)
I mean, if I didn’t say this, I think the CEO would be angry because it’s our mantra. We talk about it at work all the time, every single day. This is like the philosophy we live by. So Applauz helps companies make work a happier place to be, a more connected place by turning everyday moments into opportunities to recognize and truly inspire people. That’s what we’re looking to do. We want you to go on to work. We want you to be happy, want you to be recognized and feel fulfilled in the everyday work you do. Because, I mean, you mentioned at the top of the call Beau, like a large majority of our lives are spent at work. So let’s make that a happier place to be.
Beau Hamilton (40:20.064)
I love that. I love that. That’s a great, great way to end this discussion and yeah, just focus on, just be happy. Try to… it’s easier said than done sometimes, but hey, that’s what it’s all about. For those interested in learning more about Applauz, maybe getting in contact with you and your team, where’s the best place to go?
Mark Bosnjak (40:39.277)
Yeah, so it’s Applauz.me. And I’m going to spell it out for people. Applauz like a clap, but not the conventional spelling. It’s A-P-P-L-A-U-Z, Z for my American colleagues, dot me. So A-P-P-L-A-U-Z or Z dot me. My name is Mark Bosnjak. I can be reached out at m.bosnjak@applauz.me. And the, yeah, visit our website, definitely give us a look. We’re more than happy to have a conversation, even if it’s just like, hey, we’re looking at this rewards and recognition, we’re not sure. Well, we’re happy to be trusted advisors, right? We do that often where we join conferences, we join, you know, medical, like our CEO was at a conversation with, you know, some doctors the other day, how we can incorporate, you know, some like physical evidence on why this is helping with rewards and recognition. So, I mean, we’re always happy to have for a conversation and those are the places where you can reach us. And my personal LinkedIn, if you want to reach out to me, it’s just Mark Bosnjak. I’m more than happy to have that conversation.
Beau Hamilton (41:45.216)
Awesome. Well, hey, I love what you guys are doing and I really appreciate everything that you’ve shared with us. I think there’s lot of insights to get here and just you’ve given me a lot to think about. So I really appreciate it. That’s Mark Bosniak, Enterprise Account Executive at Applauz.
Mark Bosnjak (41:49.546)
Thanks, Beau.
Beau Hamilton (41:53.179)
Thank you all for listening to the SourceForge Podcast. I’m your host, Beau Hamilton. Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date with all of the upcoming B2B software related podcasts. I will talk to you in the next one.