The transcript of our article on People matter is as below

The innovation that has caught everyone’s attention in HR community currently is the Gamification of T&A platform by Cuckoo Tech. It was a leap that was proactive; Opportune Technologies has put a lot of resources, skills, and man hours in creating this breakthrough.

Now that the initial roll out is over, we asked Dhwani Mehta, M.D. of Opportune, the imminent question. Apart from being the first one to crack such a solution in the world, did it make business sense to innovate?

He shared with us the insights:

1. Engagement: As per the Opportune research team, in the initial 1st month of inception, the employee engagement of the user clients with T&A function have gone up by 18%. The complaints regarding the missing attendance inputs have gone down by 67%, now employees want the game points to win the rewards and make sure they input the attendance data.

2. Client Delight: A senior HR manager from a retail firm says, “What an ideal employee engagement on the platform, never seen before, in fact, never imagined before!”

There is a reason the HR is so excited about this new innovation, it solves some of the worst nightmares for them.

For example, about 70% workforce of a finance house is in sales. Generally targets are the only benchmark and attendance was always ignored by the sales employees. It caused panic in the HR team at the time of consolidating the month end attendance & payroll. The company typically did not take action against the sales people but was looking for a solution to this recurring problem. Cuckoo gamification instantly struck a chord. The gamification leaderboard and the redemption catalogue was the perfect solution. The sales people being competitive wanted to earn as much points.

In a midsize IT company with all young resources, the employees work their heads out, writing great software piece, but when it comes to marking their attendance or informing in advance for a leave they were lethargic.

The scene changed as soon as the gamification was rolled out. The young team loved the upgrade. The HR managers informed Cuckoo team, “First time my people went gaga over someone else’s software! And attendance and time sheet capturing has improved at least by 65%, thanks!”

3. Demand For Demos: The sales phones are continuously ringing for demo. It was a pleasant surprise for the Cuckoo sales team. The sales head Akshath says, “I told my team not to make any new business pitches till we roll out the gamification upgrade to our current clients, but the good word spread fast through the HR grapevine and we were flooded with a demand for demo. We had to put many prospective clients on a waiting list.

He adds, “In the gamification development phase I had my own questions, why to go for such a leap when no one was asking for it. But now I know the power of innovation. We have closed some high value clients in 1st month itself.”

4. Gamification Partners: The best thing about the Gamification Platform is, the organization doesn’t give the rewards, Cuckoo’s partners extend the reward to the employees.

The innovation has attracted big restaurant chains & retail giants to extend the coupons / offers to the Cuckoo subscribers. Dominos, Shopper stop, PVR cinemas, Locoff, J P Electronics are just a few of the names.

More and more partners are asking to be a part of this initiative; Cuckoo team is evaluating them based on the value addition they can bring to employees using the platform.

5. Development Team Celebrates: The development team at Opportune.lab was more than thrilled after the successful launch; especially that HR journals and magazines took note.

They are geared for the next release!

7. Conclusion: Innovation Works, Big Time! Dhwani Mehta says, “I can say with utmost conviction that innovation makes business sense. After the gamification bit, now we are getting calls from some of the biggest organizations in the country. In fact, the response is so overwhelming that we had to expand the sales force, and the development and customer service team.”

He adds, “Gamification is the culmination of many product and process innovations that we created over the past 3 years. We are committed to innovation. In fact, we have India’s foremost innovation coach Mr Puneet Bhatnagar as an integral part of our team. To all Indian business people I want to say, “An investment in innovation is the best investment we can make!”