About Us >> Background

STAR is a joint venture between an organizational development consulting company and a technology company. The principals of STAR have over 70 years of cumulative experience in organizational development and training. In 1995 STAR set out to pioneer paperless survey processes that would eliminate the problems of paper surveys, while increasing the speed and efficiency of gathering data. > Back to top

Phone survey automation

Initially, STAR’s primary focus was the development of Interactive Voice Response and Computer Integrated Telephone technologies. STAR developed a proprietary automated telephone data gathering process and named it STARSurveys™. STAR pioneered many automated telephone survey features, such as (1) the ability to hang up during a survey and call back later—automatically picking up where the participant left off, (2) real time participation updates, and (3) on demand data access for clients. > Back to top

Web and email integration

In 1998 STARSurveys ™ was expanded to include full e-mail and Internet integration. Participants can now begin a survey on the phone, complete it via the web (or vice versa), and the survey administrator can receive automatic e-mail participation updates throughout the process. In fact, in the case of multi-rater surveys, each survey target has access to on-demand counts of how many responses he/she has received and executives have on-demand reports about participation, rolled-up by demographic or reporting relationship. > Back to top

Consulting perspective

As a result of our years of consulting, we quickly recognized that STARSurveys ™ greatly simplified the multi-rater survey administration process. The technology developed for STARSurveys ™ is now being used to create and manage participant databases and automate other complex tasks required to administer multi-rater surveys. By simplifying the survey process, STAR enables organizations to spend their time and energy working on using the data to effect change instead of tracking reporting relationships and survey documents. > Back to top

Results based follow-up tools

In 1999 we began developing follow-up technology to the 360 assessment process. Our goal was to extend the value of the 360 degree survey experience to help organizations turn feedback into action. In May 2002 we released STARiCoachplus. STARiCoachplus is an online action planning and follow-up tool that links survey results to development goals, automates personal development planning, and automatically includes managers and coaches in the development process.

STAR has recently been working on a specialized behavior change system, which integrates phone and web technologies.

This automated program, VictorySeekerª, will soon be available. > Back to top

Unique blend of technology and consulting

The organizational development and human resources background of the founders of STAR are great assets in the development of our technology. Our experience as consultants and HR executives in major corporations helps us understand the difficulties of getting people to take surveys, the complexities of the administration process, and the challenge of translating survey results into effective decisions. All of our products are developed from the client and participant’s point of view.

STAR has offices in California, Utah and Canada, but our business is worldwide. STAR has conducted surveys with participants from coast to coast in the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and South America. We have also administered surveys in many different languages. We have clients that require us to handle large call volumes in short periods, as well as consistent volumes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. > Back to top