SAP Startup Spotlight: Anthill

Muriel Clauson is the CEO and co-founder of Anthill. She is an active speaker, advisor, and thought leader on the future of work and artificial intelligence, and has authored scientific publications, was a scientific advisor for several governments and organizations around the world, and is an advisory board member for Humans for AI. Muriel is completing her doctorate in industrial-organizational psychology at the University of Georgia and conducted research at Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. In this interview, she explains how Anthill achieved its goals, how the company is connected to SAP, and what’s next for the startup.

E-3 Magazine: What exactly is Anthill?

Muriel Clauson: Anthill is the first talent management software for the deskless workforce, the 80 percent of the global workforce that does not work at a desk or computer. Anthill has broken the barriers to connecting with and understanding deskless employees in manufacturing, supply chain, and retail sectors, which exist in almost every large enterprise.

How does your solution work?

Clauson: Anthill is built upon a predictive relational model linking hundreds of assessments. Our backend technology allows us to ask employees a few questions on our mobile experience and learn a lot about them, because each answer helps us predict responses for the rest of the questions in our model. This is made possible by Anthill’s machine learning technology based on years of historical data, which is able to predict a wide range of people insights, like skills and turnover drivers, from limited responses and deliver a comprehensive map of the talent in an organization in an ongoing, rewarding way for employees. Anthill’s predictive model is complex but results in a seamless and fun user experience for workers. Anthill is available via app or SMS texting for employee users. Anthill’s dashboard capabilities focus on engagement and retention, internal mobility, and reskilling and development tools.

What are the customer-side requirements?

Clauson: The requirements for customers are that Anthill requires SMS access for employees and is cloud-based for employers. Large enterprises use Anthill with at least a few hundred employees up to entire enterprises to understand and retain their employees at every level – specifically the deskless workforce, those who do not work at a desk or computer. Organizations partner with Anthill to quickly deploy the solution, focusing on retention, internal mobility and/or reskilling goals to reach together while the employees receive a unique, mobile, personal coaching experience that anonymously and safely shares data with employers. Customers use Anthill for understanding voluntary turnover drivers through a safe, anonymous way for employees, connecting with deskless employees, and reducing turnover by ten to twenty percent in the first year of using Anthill.

Why did you found Anthill?

Clauson: Young Jae Kim (now CTO) and I (now CEO) met while pursuing PhDs in industrial-organizational psychology. We have worked extensively in shaping future of work strategies for large corporations and governments worldwide as psychometricians. Repeatedly, companies would come to us with the same challenge – they couldn’t reach and truly understand their deskless workforce. From there, Anthill was born.

How could your solution potentially help customers navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and the different challenges of reopening?

Clauson: Anthill happened to be founded right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020. We were lucky enough to not only survive during such a hard time, but find we could help deskless and frontline workers thrive. Especially as the “turnover tsunami” comes underway, a risk of national importance for all industries, Anthill is here to help organizations connect with those deskless workers who are at the highest risk of turnover and who are looking for more fulfilling opportunities.

How are you connected to SAP?

Clauson: Anthill is integrated with SAP’s SuccessFactors and can also be integrated with S/4 Hana; other SAP platforms can be integrated with Anthill through a simple data integration and data upload.

How has SAP.io’s involvement impacted your journey?

Clauson: SAP.io really opened Anthill’s eyes to our focus around the deskless workforce. We learned not only how to hone in on our market through the foundry program, but also which SAP platforms and customers will be the best fit for Anthill’s platform and mission.

What’s next for Anthill?

Clauson: Anthill seeks to grow its team further in 2021, expand our product capabilities to provide our customers and employee users with the communication and data platform they desire, and continue to tackle the market of 2.7 billion deskless workers we may serve!

Thank you for the interview.

Enjoyed this interview in our SAP Startup Spotlight Series? You might also like our piece on Gapsquare, a software that allows businesses to input their workforce data and break down, analyze, and track pay disparities across demographics.