For years Ilit Raz, co-founder and chief executive officer of Joonko Diversity Inc., worked in tech without a single female contemporary. When she joined a group for women in product management almost three years ago, she was inspired to create something that would improve that imbalance she experienced throughout her professional journey.

“The biggest barrier for a company is understanding what’s happening day-to-day for employees. … If the head of HR or head of diversity is sitting in … their headquarters, how do you know what’s happening with employees … around the world?” Raz asked. With a background in cybersecurity, Raz’s solution was to develop what she calls “anti-virus for biases.”

Joonko connects to the everyday software as a service platforms that companies are already using and analyzes data in real-time to look for behavioral patterns that may stem from biases. The engine matches problems to solutions and notifies the person who can make the most impact on the current situation with a plan for correcting the issue. Actions are designed to be immediately applicable and work to address the situation as soon as it’s been flagged.

Raz spoke with Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing event in Orlando, Florida. They discussed Joonko’s strategies for helping businesses improve inclusion through communication and the actions that businesses of all sizes can take to begin the work of removing biases.

Spotlighting company culture blindspots

Because its engine can crawl communications across teams and make assessments automatically, Joonko is especially valuable in calling attention to the issues that may remain invisible to the naked eye, such as applicant demographics. Helpful as it is in discovering unchecked biases, the responsibility is ultimately on the companies Joonko serves to put its suggestions into action. So far, the response to Raz and her team’s insights has proven promising.

“People are really into giving it a try, and then see that it’s helpful and keep using it. We really see high improvement,” Raz said. “For our companies with a few hundred employees, in less than three months, they see five percent to eight percent improvement in recruiting efforts actually hiring more diverse candidates.”

As for larger companies looking to make a change, Raz advises they start small. “Start where the pains really are. … Lead by example by putting money into internal work,” she concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Photo: SiliconANGLE