Applaud

Applaud answers and acts in chat, but its contract caps what it owes you

It suits staff who work in Teams, Slack and WhatsApp

It sits on top of your HR system and its contract limits are tight

Applaud Solutions UK Ltd was incorporated in December 2008. Two people hold significant control, the co-founders Duncan Casemore and Ivan Harding. Its Terms of Use say English law governs the agreement and any dispute. Plan for that if you employ people outside the UK.

You pay per user per month, and you must ask for the number

Applaud sells its AI Assistant per user, per month, on a subscription. Its pricing page reads “Contact us for pricing.” There is no rate to check before you call. Ask for a price per user at your headcount, in writing.

You can start with as few as 500 users and grow to your full population later. Because your user count cannot go down during the term, a pilot of 500 is a safe first step. A guess of 5,000 is not.

If you leave, the Master Services Agreement lets Applaud keep running the service for up to three months. You both have to agree to that. Applaud will also give reasonable help with moving to another supplier. For up to three months it will give you access to information about the service that it still holds.

The Terms of Use set a tighter clock on your data. Applaud may destroy it unless you ask in writing for the latest backup. You have 10 business days after the contract ends. Put that date in your own diary before you sign.

Seven questions to put to Applaud before you sign

1. Which document governs our contract, the Master Services Agreement or the Terms of Use? Will you cap liability at more than 12 months of fees? Good answer: One named document, and a higher cap in our order form for pay and personal data.
2. What do you charge per user per month at our headcount, and what does it cost to add users later? Good answer: A written price per user at our size, and the same rate for every user we add.
3. What happens if we start with 500 users and need to cut back after six months? Good answer: A written right to reduce users at renewal, with no penalty.
4. After we leave, how do we get our chat logs and data back, and how long do we have to ask? Good answer: A file format, a delivery date and a request window longer than 10 business days.
5. Can the assistant write changes into Workday, ADP or Oracle for us, or only read from them? Good answer: A list of the exact changes it can make in each system we use, with the approvals required.
6. Which of our HR systems is the assistant already running against at a customer like us? Good answer: A named customer on our HR system that we can speak to.
7. Which region will hold our chats, backups and logs, and who can read the logged chats? Good answer: Frankfurt or Oregon, chosen by us, with a named list of who can open the audit log.

Alternatives to Applaud

If Applaud comes off your list, look at Leena AI, Moveworks, Workativ and Wisq Harper. Buying nothing and keeping HR questions with your team is a fifth route.

Workativ publishes a price. Its Business plan costs $349 a month. Leena AI quotes a flat price per employee per year, with unlimited use. You get a number in one business day. Moveworks asks you to request a custom quote.

Leena AI also works on WhatsApp, like Applaud. Harper reaches employees by chat, email, Slack, Teams, SMS and mobile. It can resolve leave requests and benefits questions from start to finish.