A Buyer’s Guide For Choosing The Best Culture Analytics Software

You know that company culture is critical to the success of your organization.  You also know that in order to effectively improve something, you need to be able to measure it. You need a way to measure and improve your company culture. But how do you measure culture? How do you set a baseline for today’s culture and know what you need to improve in real-time? Is there a software solution that can help you with this business need? Is there a solution that assesses your company culture, and helps you improve your employee engagement, your business outcomes, and your overall organization? Choosing the best Culture Analytics Software to fit your organization can make all the difference.

This Buyer’s Guide for Choosing the Best Culture Analytics Software will help you ask the right questions in your selection process. It it will inform your decision making about the right system for your organization. Let’s get started…

Is Culture Analytics Software a good investment for your company?

Before you invest time and effort into evaluating and choosing Culture Analytics Software, it’s a good idea to decide if that kind of software is a good investment for your company to begin with!  Here are 7 questions to ask:

• How large is your organization?

• Culture Analytics Software is especially effective in organizations where all employees do not or are unable to interact with each other repeatedly on a daily basis.  Much of this interaction depends on how your physical office is structured, the nature of your work, and if you have remote employees.  For small businesses under 20 employees, consider if Culture Analytics Software is a good investment or not for your business. At that size, in-person conversations and check-ins are more feasible and manageable. Culture Analytics Software helps organizations over 20 employees have a better understanding of the employee experience. It also gives your human resources team accurate, real-time data.

• Will your organization be growing in size in the near future?

• Culture Analytics Software helps companies scale their culture along with their organization.  If your company is going to be growing, Culture Analytics Software helps lay the groundwork for how you expand your company culture. Involving Culture Analytics Software early on in the process allows you to take a baseline and plan your trajectory. Insights from people analytics can help ensure information is being communicated effectively and that employee engagement expands.  Look for software that can grow with your organization. 

• What is your budget for software systems?

• Some Culture Analytics Software is pricey and may require an annual contract.  That rigidity and cost can be a challenge for many organizations. Look for software that is priced per user and does not lock you into a long-term contract.

• Do you have specific culture challenges you already need to address?

• Are you interested in Culture Analytics Software because of existing culture challenges in your organization? Is your organization facing issues like employee turnover, low productivity, or poor morale?  Make sure the Culture Analytics Software you select is able to give you insight into the roots of these issues.  Look for people analytics that includes data points around things like belonging, professional identity, stress, engagement, connectedness, and capacity for individual team members, as well as information about things like communication and collaboration for the team as a whole.

• What communication systems do you and your employees currently use?

• Does your organization use a dedicated communication system like Microsoft Teams or Slack across your company? Or is communication an ad hoc combination of emails, calls, and face to face meetings?  Look for Culture Analytics Software that can work in the communication system you are already using.

• How many of your employees are knowledge workers (i.e. spend most of their time interfacing with a computer)?

• While culture is important to all organizations, Culture Analytics Software is most effective when employees communicate digitally.  Culture Analytics Software is especially useful for organizations with knowledge workers, both in the office and distributed.

• How many of your employees are remote?

• Speaking of knowledge workers, how is your team structured?  Is everyone located in a central office or in several satellite locations? Do you have remote or distributed team members?  Has how and where you work become more flexible due to the coronavirus pandemic? Choosing the right Culture Analytics Software can help with performance management in any of those settings. It is especially critical when it comes to remote teams. With people analytics, your HR team and leadership have real-time insight into how your remote colleagues are doing and feeling.

What Culture Analytics Software features are must-haves?

You’ve decided Culture Analytics Software is a good investment for your organization. Now, what features should you look for when evaluating different options on the market?  Here are 7 questions to ask:

• Is it easy to use?

• Not every culture manager is a data scientist with advanced degrees in statistics and psychology who codes in their spare time. So look for Culture Analytics Software that is easy to use, both for leadership and employees.  Culture Analytics Software should have an elegant, even enjoyable user experience to encourage more valuable engagement with the software.  Data management, data analytics, and data visualization should be clear, well-organized, and automatic.  Culture Analytics Software should be a software solution, not added work!

• Does it interface with existing tools?

• It’s likely your employees are already juggling multiple tools and platforms.  Don’t add to their struggle!  Look for Culture Analytics Software that interfaces with the communication systems your employees are already using.  Look for Culture Analytics Software that connects easily with your existing HR system as well.  And finally, look for Culture Analytics Software that keeps you on the IT department’s good side because it plays nicely with others.

• What does it measure?

• Look for Culture Analytics Software that does what you need it to do and measures what you need it to measure.  Look for software that captures both people analytics at an individual level and culture analytics across teams.  Look for research-backed measurement practices that provide reliable, readable data.  And look for analytics tools that help you make sense and use of that data.

• Does it provide more than just data?

• It’s one thing to have good data.  It’s another to be able to use that data effectively.  Look for Culture Analytics Software that offers more than just data.  Look for software that provides options for helping you use that data to inform and implement tactics to improve how your organization works together.  Great Culture Analytics Software is not about static data points.  It’s about informed decision making, improved talent management, and ultimately, resilient culture.

• Does it protect privacy?

• Look for Culture Analytics Software that respects and protects the privacy of your company.  The best Culture Analytics Software maintains the data security of both the employees and the company itself and adheres to GDPR guidance for privacy.  It should be measuring cadence and connection, not content exchanged between individuals and teams.

• Does it provide relevant, timely data?

• One of the most compelling reasons to invest in Culture Analytics Software is its relevancy. You don’t need a system that does the same old annual or quarterly surveys! Look for Culture Analytics Software that provides real-time data at your fingertips.  Look for a dashboard with excellent data visualization and user-friendly reports that make it easy to keep a finger on the pulse of your company culture. 

• How flexible is the software?

• As discussed above, Culture Analytics Software should be able to scale with your organization’s growth.  Choose Culture Analytics Software that offers flexibility around workforce size, as well as easy options to customize the system based on your organization’s unique needs.

​​​​How to evaluate the Culture Analytics Software that is best for your organization.

The best way to evaluate Culture Analytics Software is to try it!  Look for software that allows you to do a free trial with no limitations on access. Experience both the functionality of the software, but also the way it feels and how you interact with it. Pay attention to the ease of onboarding and integrating with your existing software.  Check-in with your employees and how they like the system.  Do they adopt it with ease? Does it feel like added work or is the interaction seamless, even fun?  Spend time exploring the dashboard and measurement system.  Is it robust enough for your needs, but flexible enough to grow with your organization?

The Bottom Line

The entire purpose of Culture Analytics Software is to help your organization and your people work better together.  It’s about impacting your company culture.  It’s about creating, scaling, and sustaining a resilient work culture.   

We hope that this Culture Analytics Software Buyer’s Guide has helped you get a better handle on your search for Culture Analytics Software.  We encourage you to take a look at Unitonomy’s OrgVitals Culture Analytics Software. Sign up for a free trial and start working better together.

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