About us Since 1999
Giving a voice to what lives inside
In every organisation, employees know what is not working and what could be better. That knowledge rarely comes to the surface. Synthetron lets large groups join in anonymously and live, so that what they know counts when decisions are made.
- Founded1999
- Clients450+
- Participants200,000+
- Countries40
Our team Active in 40 countries
The people behind the dialogue
Colleagues in the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden, with one shared method. You work with someone who knows your sector and your language.
Leo Dijkema CEO Netherlands
Rik Arkema CTO Netherlands
Anna-Karin Samuelson Senior Advisor Sweden
Clara Dijkema Regional Director Nordics Sweden
Joost van Rhee Analyst Netherlands
Ilse Bracke Regional Director Belgium/France Belgium
Our story 1999 to today
Crowdsourcing before the word existed
Decision-making often misses valuable input. Out of that observation Synthetron was born: using the internet to make structured conversations with large groups possible.
- 1999 Research and development
Three founders, one observation
Paul Verhaeghe, former director at McKinsey, Baldo Faieta, mathematician from Carnegie Mellon University, and Joanne Celens, former international manager at Shell, start work on the solution under the working name VPSE. They bring experience in management processes and in collaboration software from Silicon Valley.
- 2003 First releases
From prototype to product
After more than four years of research and development, Synthetron brings the first versions of the platform to market in December 2003.
- 2005 to today International
Beyond the Benelux
At the end of 2005 Synthetron expands beyond the Benelux, to multinationals, banks, governments and consultancies. Sessions have since taken place in forty countries.
Over twenty-five years, more than 4,000 dialogues
We were finding answers through crowdsourcing before the term existed. Since then we have helped over 450 clients gain insights from their employees, citizens and customers.
Our partners Collaboration
Who we work with
The people who ran the dialogue
Directors, advisers and project leaders on what happens when a large group gets to weigh in.
‘Together with Synthetron we were able to gather input from our employees in an accessible way, resulting in core values supported by our people. The process was thorough and the collaboration excellent.’
Vera DuboisTransformation Project Manager at KLM‘Synthetron combines the best of both worlds. As with a focus group, you get highly valuable, substantive insights thanks to the open questions and the interaction between participants. But the number of participants you can involve at the same time is practically unlimited.’
Hilde SelsQuality expert at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences‘I had long been looking for a solution that lets me gather ideas and feedback from a group of managers worldwide in a short time, such as an hour. The usual conference call tools do not deliver that. I have just experienced Synthetron and find it a highly efficient tool for exactly this need.’
Herve CoureilSenior executive at Schneider Electric, Paris‘Synthetron has proven to be a very powerful tool for hearing the voices of all employees. Listening to what lies beneath the surface reveals unspoken obstacles and untapped strengths. It is a real trigger in a change journey, because employees themselves co-create, own and steer the future.’
Liesbeth DillenYIN-United
Ask one question of everyone it concerns
In a demo you see Upvoice with your own question: what you ask, who you invite and what you'll have at the end.