Peoplematter definitely knows how to throw a party. The Charleston based tech company who provides a cloud-based workforce management software platform and whose tagline reads, "A workforce management solution on a mission," hosted Collaborate 2014 last week for their clientele and partners. It's the 4th year that PeopleMatter has hosted Collaborate.

The week started with an opening reception where customers were taken on tours of the corporate office at 466 King Street and the new Sales and Customer Operations center now open at 483 King Street, which will bring 50 new jobs to Charleston over the next 18 months. After the tour, attendees were led to the beautiful rooftop patio to enjoy networking, drinks and the beautiful Charleston sunset.

The first full day of the conference started with a great opening keynote by Mayor Joe Riley and CEO of PeopleMatter Nate DaPore. Big announcements were unveiled right off the bat at the Francis Marion hotel. The first of which is the unveiling of PEOPLElytics™, a brand new mobile app that will use simple, actionable analytics to help you run your business better.

Most of us have heard about the massive amount of data companies have, due in part to the constant collection of data over the years. We've talked about Big Data–-data sets so large they're impossible to sift through and essentially meaningless–-and what it will do, and over the last couple of years we have finally started seeing companies provide a way for their clients to do something with that data.

Imagine you are the HR director of a restaurant chain. With this new app you can now see the trends in hiring across all of your locations combined with what job fit scores they received on their assessment. So you can begin to predict what your workforce will do. PEOPLElytics™ will tell you the story of what is going on in your business so that you can begin to identify and prevent problems in the future.

With over 41,000 locations now using the PeopleMatter platform you can easily see the massive amount of growth the company is experiencing. With big brands such as Noodles and Company, Applebee's, Family Express and Wildflower Bread Company, PeopleMatter receives valuable feedback from their clients on what they need next to run their operations.

PeopleMatter also introduced a mobile-optimized job application and assessment platform as an answer to the "War on Talent"–-companies struggling to find quality candidates yet job seekers unable to find jobs. It's the result of the difficulty companies have filtering through the massive amount of applications they receive for each job posting looking for the right fit.

By releasing the new mobile-optimized job application, PeopleMatter is helping their customers by creating a better candidate experience and shorter behavioral assessments so that they can easily narrow down the applicant pool. The mobile job application will recognize where the job seeker is and suggest the closest location to apply to. It also provides a greater experience for the job seeker, which could be win-win for both.

For customers, finding the perfect candidate is still a struggle, with the new shorter assessments, job seekers will have a great experience and stay engaged with the company while applying. In turn, the customer will be able to quickly identify the candidates that are the right fit, saving them time and increasing productivity.

As if the first two announcements at Collaborate weren't enough, CEO Nate DaPore announced the release of his new book: PeopleMatter: Driving Productivity, Efficiency and Profits Through Happier Team Members. An advance copy of the book was available to all Collaborate attendees. The book highlights struggles that companies are facing today with minimum wage hikes, Obamacare and much more.

The theme of the book matches the PeopleMatter's mission–-that at the core of all companies you have people. People are the solution to facing those challenges and powering through to become a successful company. Two of PeopleMatter's customers were featured in the book to tell the stories of where they came from and how they have thrived in their industry.

John Pepper, Co-Founder and CEO of Boloco talks about his realization that they needed to provide meaning to their people. By taking bold moves and drastically increasing their minimum wage across the board, they increased sales and profits, created a stronger brand and demonstrated that they truly cared about the people.

Louis Basille, President and Founder at Wildflower Bread Company discussed his passion of creating a purpose and value-driven company that cares about people. Through the Wildflower Cares Foundation they donate bread and bakery leftovers to local shelters and organizations every day. These acts of kindness are the things that inspire people and customers to love a brand.

After hearing about the release of DaPore's book and the great new platforms launching this year from PeopleMatter, the rest of the first day was spent listening to industry leaders such as John Sumser, Craig Fisher and Steve Boese, who spoke about HR Tech trends, Social Media Recruiting, and the Modern Employee. It was a great time for customers to interact with each other and learn from what others are doing.

The Thursday night event was held at the new Charleston Distilling Company on 501 King Street, where attendees were invited to tour the distillery and sample the first batch of vodka released. It was an amazing party and one that attendees especially enjoyed. Let's be honest, who doesn't love a party with fresh, local vodka, which was incredibly smooth...maybe too smooth.

Friday, the final day of the event, was rounded out with some great breakout sessions for attendees to learn from other customers and partners of PeopleMatter. We heard more about data, job fit, engaging your workforce, creating brand ambassadors, and how technology is the key to helping you succeed at all of this.

At the closing ceremony PeopleMatter highlighted a few customers that have achieved amazing success utilizing the platform. Noodles & Company, Flash Foods, Family Express, St. Joe Petroleum and Wildflower Bread Company received the PeopleMatter Excellence Award for driving innovation and service to their employees and communities.

It's clear that PeopleMatter is on a mission to change the hourly workforce and improve customer's experience. This event was proof that the team members behind this company are hard working, proud, and excited about the future of growth that is on the horizon.