Disco to market. Yeah, but why?
‘Why’ is a small word, unassuming in its form, but it’s just as formative to driving innovation and change in business as it is to an incessantly questioning toddler.
We recently announced that we’ll make our own in-house people analytics platform Disco available externally. In fact we opened our early adopter program, and filled all the spaces within a matter of days. Regardless of the appetite, it still begs the question: why would we launch Disco externally? In fact the Disco story is littered with ‘why’s so let’s dive into some of them.
Disco launched at the end of 2020, giving everyone at Spotify – HR and employees alike – a single, trusted source for all people-related metrics. It is formed of two parts, a back-end data warehouse that combines all HR data in one place, and a user facing app that is a new take on the very traditional dashboard format. The inspiration for the user facing part of Disco actually came from our main consumer product. We saw clear parallels between what a great data product should be and what Spotify does best – connecting people with the content they love. So, we reimagined what a people analytics platform could be.
Why? Simple really. We created Disco because nothing in the market matched our ambitions. At Spotify, data has always been at the heart of what we do, and our people data is no exception. We needed a platform that could unlock its full potential while evolving at the pace of our company. It is that last part that is actually the hardest to design and build for since today’s problems are unlikely to be the problems of the future. In the HR tech space it can be very difficult to find a product that has a level of flexibility that can adapt at the rate needed, which is why most companies need to constantly consider new products. Disco solved that, and continues to solve for it.
Future planning has been the consistent ‘why’ that informs our HR tech strategy at Spotify. Scout and Bounce were born from the same thinking. Too often HR tech gets stuck in proclaiming to solve for a moment in time. Every year there is a theme. Always over-hyped and always lacking credible evidence. This isn’t intended to be overly provocative but the frequency at which they change does cause one to think. The challenge is that it doesn’t do much to actually move the HR tech space along within companies. To make the point in a different way – how often have you read, or heard about the importance of data within HR? Or how often is it one of the key differences between those who succeed and those that fail? And yet, despite this importance, it still ranks as one of the most immature spaces within HR. The math is not adding up.
Back to the first ‘why’ asked above: why are we looking to bring Disco to the external market? Because we want Disco to stand for something different. We want Disco to be a product that moves the needle for others. Disco is unique in that it wasn’t built as something to be sold. It was built to solve the day to day challenges we were experiencing with people data at Spotify. Looking to bring it to the market is in response to the enthusiastic requests from everyone who received a sneak peek and immediately asked if they could buy and use Disco. This is our way of meeting the needs of our network for a people analytics tool that we have grown to love and depend on.
We opened the early adopter program because we want Disco to work for others and for us it’s really important to find the right partners to test that with. We are sincere in our words on Disco standing for something different. Disco isn’t just something we’re looking to sell for the sake of it. If we don’t think it can have the desired impact we will be the first to say it. Think of this as a rally call of sorts. A line in the sand. It’s time for the HR tech space to evolve and with the market’s help we think we can lead that evolution.
To truly disrupt the HR tech space, innovation cannot be confined to just the tools we create; it must also extend to how we think about collaboration and progress. Disco isn’t just about building a product that works – it’s about fostering an ecosystem where the sharing of insights and ideas becomes as seamless as the tool itself. By opening up Disco to early adopters, we’re not just creating a platform; we’re opening the door to a broader conversation about the future of people analytics. Our goal isn’t just to sell a product, but to spark a movement that challenges how HR technology serves its users, encourages continuous feedback, and ultimately drives collective growth. We want to build something that evolves alongside the people who use it, ensuring that every insight gained adds value to the broader HR community.
But why? Well as the incessant toddler is often told “just because”.
