Here’s a fast fact: 57 per cent of companies plan to make a major new HR software purchase in the next 18 months, according to a Bersin by Deloitte research report (‘Managing Talent through Technology’). The $14 billion plus industry is exploding with growth as technology is changing the way companies look at HR processes. From recruitment to interviews, from behaviors to communication, from change management to people management, from learning to assessments, new companies on the block are changing the paradigms with which the function earlier worked.

The world of HR has never been more exciting than it is right now. Not only are they finding a voice in the boardroom, but are also going through a metamorphosis thanks to technology. With the proliferation of many new start-ups, which focus on technology-related products, HR processes are undergoing a sea change. To tap this growing market, for the first time ever, People Matters launched the Spotlight Awards at the TechHR in Gurgaon on August 22nd, 2014, an unprecedented initiative to identify & applaud HR technology start-ups.

If we go by the smattering of offerings from the participants of the Spotlight Awards 2014, it is apparent that many tech start-ups have targeted the space of recruitment. Of course, the range of services they offer is quite different from one another. While Interview Master is a solution that integrates video and mobile, V-IRING (from YOMA Multinational Solutions LLP) is the one stop shop starting from screening candidates on functional skills to taking them through the interview and assessment process. TalentPool from Nitman Software’s stable is an outcome of the user’s requirements and suggestions and can be adopted quite easily, while TalentAuction is a curated marketplace connecting high quality talent with employers in the technology/internet/analytics space. Gamification too has caught the imagination of many companies with products like Playday, RippleHire and First Time Managers Solution.

There are others like Jombay, which is in the business of predicting human behavior. It empowers companies to capture the behavioral thumbprint of their employees to be predictive about their people. There are products in other areas such as people management (Kolme), communication (Socialfire), resume research (iScore), Change management (Change-inc), Employee safety (Safetrax), Interview, analytics (ePoise, Video Recruit), learning (Knolytics) and assessments (CCAT).

Here is a snapshot of the products that participated in the inaugural edition of the Spotlight Awards 2014:

Interview Master (from Interview Master)

Interview Master is a pioneer in mobile and video recruitment solution which is augmented with talent engagement tools and hiring analytics. Our flagship product Automated Video Interviews helps conduct interviews without interviewers and solve issues like Poor Conversion Ratios, Scheduling Conflicts, Travel Issues, Telephonic/Written Test Frauds and most importantly our product has been designed for low internet bandwidth thereby addressing many issues faced in video conferencing and also supports mobile.

Playday

Playday is an online Gamified Platform that enterprises love to use for e-induction, online training and assessments. Playday uses game mechanics such as badges, medals, certificates and leaderboards to enhance intrinsic employee motivation and engages the user to increase enterprise software adoption.

Kolme’ (from BizBites Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)

Kolmè is a secure, integrated, web-based, on-demand business management tool that supports an organization and its management in actively managing its people and resources through an automated self-service portal. Unlike traditional HR products, Kolmè helps companies improve their people and resource planning requirements, while handling the standard HR functions.

Socialfire (from Indus Net Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)

Socialfire is a unified communication solution for enterprises that allows employees to find, connect and collaborate, with other members within the organization in a fully secure environment using multiple channels such as chat, voice & multimedia file sharing through internet enabled devices.

V-iring.com (from YOMA Multinational Solutions LLP)

www.V-iring.com is an integrated Talent Acquisition portal which covers and automates various aspects of the talent acquisition lifecycle. V-IRING is the one stop shop starting from screening candidates on functional skills to taking them through the interview and assessment process.

TalentPool (from Nitman Software Pvt. Ltd.)

Talentpool is a leading Indian recruitment management system offered to organisations of all size and strength and all verticals. Talentpool is running recruitments for small, growing and well known organisations, not just in India but across the globe. Talentpool is an outcome of user’s requirement and suggestions.

Jombay (from Jombay)

Jombay’s Talent Measurement & Analytics platform is powered by People Science. It empowers companies to capture the behavioral thumbprint of their employees to be predictive about their people.

Talent Auction (from Talent Auction)

TalentAuction is a curated marketplace connecting high quality talent with employers in the technology/internet/analytics space. It curates on both sides i.e. supply and demand to ensure matchmaking.

Change-inc. (from Change-inc.)

Change-inc is a product that seeks to create and sustain change for organizations that enable them to grow and develop in the direction that they seek. The product platform enables creation of individual action commitment to any kind of organizational initiative that is relevant to its growth.

Wheebox Talent Acquisition Platform (from Wheebox)

Wheebox Talent Acquisition Platform is a match making platform of Talent Demand and Talent Supply. College graduates register for the Wheebox Skill Test that empowers Skill Data and mid/large enterprise customers use the pool for identifying talent and reaching out to them.

SURPaaS (from SURPaaS Collaborative Technologies Pvt. Ltd.)

SURPaaS is a new and simple recruitment platform designed to change the future of recruiting. It brings together the entire hiring ecosystem into a single user interface. It can be easily configured for the simple needs of a small business and for the demanding complexities of a global enterprise and is available on affordable ‘Pay as You go basis’.

Applicant Tracking System (from Applicant Tracking System)

Applicant Tracking System will disrupt the recruitment software market by giving enterprise grade cloud based recruit software for free. Monetization of the product will be by offering value added services like job posting, hiring recruitment agencies etc.

Safetrax (from MTAP Technologies)

Safetrax, the first product from MTAP platform, solves the problem of providing safe and secure transportation for IT/ITES employees. With Safetrax, employees can easily report any untoward incident with video and audio evidence. The emergency is quickly relayed to the admin team through Safetrax’s dashboard. Employees can also view estimated time of arrival and exact location of the cab through the mobile app. Since Safetrax records the total distance travelled, drivers cannot inflate the distance, thus valuable money can be saved.

ePoise (from ePoise Systems Private Ltd.)

ePoise is an interview automation and analytics product. By making the interview asynchronous and with best-in-class features, it drives marked efficiency and quality improvement in the initial rounds of interviewing. Deep analytics empowers constant improvement in the hiring process.

RippleHire (from RippleHire)

RippleHire is a web 2.0 cloud based product built using the latest trends in design, technology, social media and gamification. It gamifies employee referrals and enables social recruiting. It helps you access passive talent, build/measure your employer brand and ultimately distribute wealth within your organization resulting in a win-win situation.

Knolytics (from Knolskape)

KNOLYTICS is KNOLSKAPE’s analytics engine which is integrated with its experiential learning products. When individuals use our experiential learning products, Knolytics, captures close to 400 data points in a span of 90 minutes durations. The engine also analyze the date captured and provides meaningful insights to the stakeholders.

CCAT (from Knolskape)

CCAT is an assessment toolkit, which is used to evaluate the aspiring consultants on 12 core consulting skills considered critical for a consultant. The toolkit comprises of four different simulations with each simulation focusing on the evaluation of few skills. At the end of it, a consolidated report for each participant is generated showcasing the rating/score for each.

First Time Managers Solution (from Knolskape)

First Time Managers solution is a comprehensive capability building program that aims at all-round development of the participant and he/she will emerge better equipped to handle his/her role as a manager. It is designed using the principles of immersive gamification where the user will experience real life like scenarios and make decisions in virtual environments.

HireAlchemy (from Edge Networks)

HireAlchemy, powered by an intelligent app jScore, is a holistic solution for talent acquisition and workforce optimization. It can tap into a candidate’s social data, perform a skill-gap analysis and suggest relevant training courses to up-skill candidates.

Video Recruit (from Video Recruit)

An automated interviewing solution, Video Recruit helps the recruiters to eliminate interviewing unsuitable candidates also save on multiple fronts like distance, time and expense. It can also handle volume screening offering multiple benefits for both sides.