Fascinating Collaboration Tech to Watch

I've been collecting CEOs from a number of very interesting companies that I think you should check out. Their services are all within the big umbrella of improving collaboration, employee engagement, and HR decision making. Many of these companies are small, which makes them very nimble. Do you have some great tech that is changing the way companies do business? Let me know what you are watching.

Syndio Social (USA) - Although relatively new to the field of organization network analysis, they actually get it and have pushed their automated analytics to a very strong place. CEO Zach Johnson has a TED talk that makes a great argument for why you need to know how people work together. Relationship Analytics & Business

Trampoline Systems (UK) - This talented team took organization network analysis in a variety of different directions - network mapping, expertise search, and salesforce effectiveness. CEO Charles Armstrong is a frequent speaker at conference and a very interesting renaissance man.

Snap Reference (Canada) - What a cool idea - storing reference checks to use them again. People these days bounce around from company to company, referees leave or worse, forget you. CEO Stuart Wood is a McKinsey alum from Toronto who has discovered a unserved niche in HR.

Optimice (Australia) - Small but mighty thought leaders on the topic of organization network analysis. These Aussies, Cai Kjaer and Laurence Lock Lee with worldwide reach, have developed a survey and analytic platform that consolidates data into a meaningful visual and is easy to understand. They have also developed some proprietary analytics that build off of their extensive research. Super nice collaborators, they are a pleasure to work with, as you would expect from Australia.

Tibbr (USA) - While it sounds like the dog's name, it appears to be more like Linkedin meets Facebook meets Twitter melded to create an unbelievably powerful enterprise collaboration application. It integrates with just about all of the major systems.

Workday (USA) - I am running into more and more companies who are dumping their old HRIS systems for this relatively new upstart. Visually appealing, flexible and intuitive makes it easy to put in the hands of non-techies.

Jostle (Canada) - This is a plug and play intranet - they call it a people engagement platform, which is a great way to think of knowledge management and collaboration. Employees spend a ton of time trying to find help or answers. This systems boasts remarkable people search engine - making finding the right person easier.

PeopleInsight (Canada) - If you are wondering how to approach HR analytics, these guys have it figured out. Trust their advice, it's good. Their application brings all of your HR data together into a visually pleasing dashboard with advanced analytics. Call them on Day 1 and you will have insights on Day 3, says CEO John Pensom.

Celpax (Spain) - Terrible company name, but they have developed a super simple employee mood ring - Daily Pulse. As you leave the building, you hit a button red/green to say how your day was. This gives HR real-time employee engagement levels allowing rapid intervention when needed. It has helped identify when corporate messages are not working and when experiments are failing. Why wait once a year (or worse, once every 2 years) to know how you're doing? So smart.

Idea Rocket (USA) - Have you seen some of those amazing company videos that use animation to tell an important story - usually about change? Well this is the company that creates them. Since 75% of change fails to meet expectations, a little investment in fun comms can be well worth it. I visit their portfolio just for fun - it's that good.

Center for Creative Leadership (USA) - McKinsey was thinking about buying this group they are that good. This very special team of thinkers and researchers has developed a unique approach to leadership development. I love the fact they are incorporating organization network analysis concepts as ESSENTIAL for today's leaders.

iNostix (Belgium) - Consists of two brilliant human analytics scientists and consultants. I have been following their insights and approach for a little while and have cribbed it liberally. Their academic research makes them different from the average consultants.