AltSuite is a Russian startup which has been in the market for under a year, yet it has drawn much attention, and the platform it had developed is now employed by 160 companies, of which three are finalizing their contracts with AltSuit. The IT solution of the startup can replace many functions of an HR service. It is designed as a bot asking simple questions. The high demand for high tech solutions in HR is evidenced by the fact that over the past two years startups of that sort have raised $1.87 bln worldwide.
AltSuite is not the first project of Sergei Morovshchik who has had 17 yeasr of business experience. His main activity is producing construction materials (chemical additives for concrete), and it was the managerial experience which was the basis for the idea to develop convenient instruments to get feedback from employees. To start with, Morovshchik launched a corporate messenger in his SkyTrade company. Having observed the resulting transparency and convenience of inhouse communication, the businessman started thinking of further improvement of the process. As it appeared, messenger notices had to be copied in CRM. Besides, there was no option of distributing information among corporate divisions and separate projects. The other idea was to use efficient methods of evaluating performance of employees and divisions on the basis of polls. Therefore in 2018 Morovshchik invested in AltSuite which had an operational prototype by then.
At the moment, the team has an office in an IT accelerator. The initial comments on the software quality were obtained from other IT accelerator residents who tested the system in their companies. The platform is certainly used by the startupers themselves. That provides them with a practical vision of its functioning and of ways of its future development.
AltSuite includes four instruments:
- Assessment of efficiency – a grade which an employee on a daily basis awards to himself/herself in a dialogue with a chatbot. Besides, a grade is also awarded by such employee’s immediate superior.
- In case there is a regular disagreement in assessments (KPI), that may signal of some problems for the HR division to take care of.
- An employee can also leave comments (updates) on all current events, issues and problems, as well as share his or her ideas with company executives.
- Such an instrument as a mutual assessment by divisions ensures a feedback among corporate units. Its mechanism is quite the same, as employees answer to the chatbot’s questions on the performance of divisions, and share their comments.
AltSuite is offered as a package of corporate services. If 25 company employees use the package, $3 per head are charged for each month (payable in advance for a full year). Every subsequent 10 users increase the charge by $30 for a month. But, as Sergei Morovshchik explains, during the first two months a client can stop using the platform in case it is found to be unfit for the client’s needs. In such a case, the money will be fully repaid. New clients can also get a 40% discount if they subscribe prior to October 1, 2018. A yearly charge for a minimum package is therefore RUR 32400 ($475) at the moment.
The core market for the project is small and medium businesses interested in improving efficiency of inhouse processes. The need for that does exist in Russia, as ОECD statistics puts Russian employees at the very bottom of its productivity list in Europe.
AltSuite platform does not require installation of any additional programs or applications. The new instruments are integrated into customary Slack and Telegram messengers as chatbots. Communication with chatbots requires not more than three minutes a day. For the market promotion of AltSuite, PR instruments are now employed such as an Internet blog, articles and case studies at webpages on HR and IT subjects.
Sergei Morovshchik believes there is some potential for expanding the team of the startup. There are five employees there at the moment. In the immediate plans, there is a launch of an advertizing campaign, drafting teaching guides and doing respective mailouts.