Alkami Technology is a premier provider of cloud-based digital banking solutions for U.S. financial institutions, empowering them to grow, adapt, and build vibrant digital communities. Alkami helps clients transform through retail and business banking, onboarding and account opening, payment security, and data and marketing solutions.

Their annual flagship conference, Alkami Co:lab, brings together forward-thinking financial institutions, top fintech providers, and industry analysts for a multi-day event filled with networking and innovation. “Co:lab is that convergence of collaboration and innovation, all coming together to build networks and bridge relationships,” explains Jennifer Cortez, Alkami’s Vice President of Demand Generation. She notes Alkami’s events are also a top-producing pipeline and lead generation channel for the company.

Jennifer explains Alkami’s goal of evolving their attendee base to bring in bigger business opportunities. “Historically, it’s been a customer conference, but we think it’s more than that - it can be the biggest selling event for us in the year,” she shares. “For us, it’s about really trying to grow attendance for those new prospective customers.” 

To achieve these goals, they first needed to create a more cohesive and personalized communication experience. This required better data tracking and eliminating cumbersome manual processes, particularly for speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors. Spreadsheets and email required constant updating and left the door open for mistakes, so they needed to automate processes for these various groups. Jennifer and Nancy wanted more visibility into which sponsors were speaking to certain clients to better identify add-on sales opportunities. 

APPROACH

Powering an innovative technology experience at Alkami Co:lab

Alkami has used Cvent to power Co:lab, along with their larger events program, for years. They rely on Cvent Registration, the Cvent Supplier Network, OnArrival, LeadCapture, Appointments, Attendee Hub, Speaker Resource Center, Exhibitor Management, and other tools. “The Cvent platform has played a critical role in elevating Alkami Co:lab year after year, leaving attendees with one of the best annual conference experiences they have in financial services,” says Jennifer. “My proudest moment in my professional career is what we did with Co:lab this past year, as it was the biggest conference we’ve taken on as a marketing department and an events and brand team.”

Alkami recently integrated Cvent Passkey into the registration process, meaning attendees can now book their room during registration. With custom booking sites, Passkey offers guests a simple, branded experience for self-managing bookings and shoulder night requests. Alkami can map Passkey back to the hotel to sync all reservations automatically, creating a unified process. Dashboards provide consistent communication between the hotel and Alkami so they always have clear insights into pickup and attrition rates. 

Alkami has seen incredible growth in registration rates as they’ve grown over the last few years. In fact, the most recent Co:lab reached their goal within 30 days of launch, meaning Nancy’s team had to quickly source overflow properties. They used the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN) to do so as it offers a huge network of over 300,000 venues. Her team easily sourced and centralized RFP data, tracking rate information to help increase cost efficiencies. CSN can also automate communication with NSO/GSO contacts in order to aggregate the most competitive rates and optimize sourcing activity. With automated analytics and reporting, Nancy’s team is able to maximize savings for the business. 

Reinforcing the Alkami brand at every event touchpoint with Attendee Hub

It’s vital to ensure the Alkami Co:lab branding is carried through every touchpoint of the event, from pre-event marketing to post-event surveys. Alkami therefore relies on the Cvent Attendee Hub as a centralized hub for in-person and virtual attendees alike to access personalized resources and critical information throughout the event lifecycle. “In Attendee Hub, they can manage easy agenda building, see highlights from the show, and easily connect and network with everyone at the conference,” Nancy explains. 

They also used the embedded Appointments tool within the app for client-facing Alkamists to schedule small group meetings with customers and prospects, as well as enabling prospects to request meetings with sponsors and exhibitors. “That was one of the huge successes for us, using Appointments in our exhibit hall to give our exhibitors and sponsors the tool they needed to meet with the right people – and for our clients and prospective clients the opportunity to meet with exactly who they wanted to meet with,” Nancy elaborates. 

With Appointments, stakeholders can create, accept, or reject appointment requests easily right in Attendee Hub. They can also define appointment details like location and include notes for more detailed meetings. Nancy’s team can also outline and manage appointment parameters, set up web and in-app push notifications to automatically trigger when an appointment is canceled or modified, and manage visibility, permissions, and scheduling rules. This creates a seamless experience for attendees while providing the needed control for Alkami’s event managers.  

Improving the Co:lab event experience with the right technology

By leveraging event tech designed to modernize and automate outdated processes, Alkami has eliminated cumbersome manual solutions for speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors in favor of using Cvent’s Speaker Resource Center and Exhibitor Management tools. The Speaker Resource Center centralizes all speaker activities within a single portal, allowing speakers to self-serve and complete tasks like updating bios and uploading assets. Automated task reminders eliminate manual communications, saving valuable time by empowering speakers to oversee their own requirements. Similarly, Exhibitor Management ensures all exhibitors can manage tasks, access reports, and oversee requirements in the centralized Exhibitor Portal. Stakeholders can access floor plans with their booths, see booth allotments, register staff, upload documentation, and manage appointments as admins. Automated reminders ensure exhibitors stay on target with deadlines and deliverables. Importantly, they can access comprehensive on-demand reports to easily track lead generation to better prove event ROI.

They’re also able to harness data from attendance tracking through session scanning for real-time updates, which they can provide to internal stakeholders, sales teams, and presenters to show event progress. Being able to have insights into attendance patterns via the OnArrival app means Alkami can better tailor their content each year. “The data we collect helps us curate that agenda for next year, so it really just makes us get better at our marketing strategy at future events,” shares Jennifer.

Empowering lead generation at Alkami Co:lab

They also used Cvent’s LeadCapture solution to enable sponsors and exhibitors to capture high quality leads while giving Alkami’s Client Sales team visibility into add-on sales opportunities. “LeadCapture is what fuels the biggest add-on sales pipeline from a marketing channel,” notes Jennifer. Sponsors and sales teams can easily scan, qualify, and rate leads for more accurate follow up. “We saw big success in offering one complimentary LeadCapture for exhibitors and sponsors to encourage them to truly show ROI for themselves, with the option to purchase additional licenses,” notes Nancy. Detailed reporting gives them an accurate, up-to-date view of all leads in an instant. “We were able to pull data from that and see the interactions our exhibitors were having, which is going to enable us to promote our event even more next year with those data points,” she adds.

Alkami then pushes their leads and attendee data into Salesforce via an API integration. This integration automatically syncs contact lists and updates, eliminating manual uploads. They can also sync contact updates and activities, as well as automate task and opportunity creation within Salesforce, making it easier for their team. This integration lets Alkami track overall marketing engagement and campaign performance for better data-driven decision making when strategizing their overall events program. “Having all of that information seamlessly integrated and available in one source of truth allows us to better market the event for the future, providing more personalized experiences when we market to the Co:lab audience,” says Jennifer. “Making sure all of that technology interacts well together is really important for that attendee journey, and that all comes back to having the tech stack and Martech solutions that we have.”

The deeply integrated nature of Cvent’s many solutions has been a key factor in Co:lab’s success. “Having all of those Cvent tools in one place to help market that conference and grow it allows us to get that data quicker and really get to those ROI metrics,” says Jennifer. “I don’t have to go to a million places when it comes to attendance metrics, tracking attrition, understanding engagement, and so on so we can more fully understand where we have had influence on certain prospects or customers engaged in different aspects of our event.” 

A future of collaboration and innovation at Alkami

Jennifer and Nancy share that the success of Co:lab – and their larger events program – is due in no small part to their relationship with Cvent. “It takes a certain team with certain specializations to put on a really good event, and I think our partnership with Cvent is what allows us to do that – helping us create one of the best possible events in our space,” Jennifer says. Nancy adds that their team’s relationship with Cvent is built on a shared interest in Alkami’s success. “We really appreciate our Cvent relationship, not just for our big annual event but all year long - and we appreciate knowing they care to know who we are and not just sell us a product,” she notes.

In reflecting on the incredible success they’ve seen with Co:lab, Jennifer insists the collaborative approach their teams take across every aspect of the event is a true testament to the strength of the partnership they’ve built between event management and marketing. “We really came together to put on the best event that I think we’ve ever had as a company – and one of the best events in the industry,” she says. “For me, that was a big highlight and we can’t wait to do more of that in the future.”

Cognizant is a leading multinational technology services and consulting firm that offers a broad spectrum of services, including digital solutions, technology, consulting, and operations across various industries.  Clay Botkin, Senior Director - Marketing Technology, Customer Data & Campaign Operations, and Ashley Sutton, Corporate Communications Associate - Global Sponsorships & Events, help manage Cognizant’s robust global events program, which includes conferences, trade shows, and customer engagements. These events help showcase Cognizant’s offerings while providing opportunities to interact with clients and partners in order to strengthen industry relationships.

GOALS

Streamlining lead management, reporting, and data analysis became critical. “Data is not just our biggest challenge,  but our biggest priority,” Clay shares. “Data is the focal point of measuring engagement and all of the high value touchpoints we have to understand what the leads and ROI are.” He notes the previous processes were prone to errors in campaign syncs and often resulted in the loss of critical data, impacting real-time reporting for their stakeholders. 

Achieving data accuracy and efficiency with custom integrations

To solve for this, Cognizant leveraged custom integrations with Cvent to fully automate the end-to-end event management and data capture process. To develop advanced, two-way integrations with systems like Salesforce and Pardot, they worked in tandem with the Cognizant Sales and Marketing IT team. First, they evaluated different stakeholder requirements and touchpoints across various event types, formats, and sizes. “The challenging piece was we have stakeholders with very different needs from multiple regions on separate teams,” Clay explains. He says they relied on prioritization exercises to help determine key requirements across these teams while also accounting for critical internal processes like event nomination workflows.

This automation includes syncing contacts collected in a custom Salesforce nomination tool to a Cvent event’s invitation list. This connects registration data to participant statuses in real time for accurate, up-to-date metrics. Since Ashley’s division works regularly with Clay’s team, she finds these processes to be integral to event success. “We work regularly to ensure our team is up to date on any new systems, protocols, or new ways of doing events,” she says. 

Since Cognizant launched the integration, time-consuming manual work has decreased by nearly 70%, event data health has improved by 65%, and there has been a 90% increase in event data captured in Salesforce – with 49% of that data coming from Cvent alone. “We heavily lean on reporting to enable our stakeholders and track event progress and impact,” Ashley notes. 

Leveraging Cvent to manage the entire event lifecycle

They now leverage these integrations in tandem with a suite of Cvent solutions, including Registration, Attendee Hub, Meeting Request Forms, Premium Access Portal, OnArrival, Passkey, and Surveys. All these products are fully integrated with Salesforce, enabling Cognizant's event planners, field marketers, and campaign operations team members to effectively plan, execute, and measure the success of events and webinars. “That’s where the magic happens,” Clay says. “It’s when we start to see all of that come together and derive those insights we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Ashley outlines several Cvent solutions as being critical to her team’s success, starting with the Meeting Request Form (MRF). This automated solution provides a centralized platform for managing all global event requests in a fully branded portal. The MRF can be tailored to unique requirements with custom fields or data points. Automated workflows help streamline the procurement process, eliminating manual tasks and reducing errors. On-demand reporting offers valuable insights into the events being requested to better allocate planning resources. Additionally, Cognizant uses the MRF for reporting on events not managed by the Global Events team, such as certain Field Marketing and Healthcare/Life Sciences events. This valuable tool enhances visibility into the scope of the team's events across the globe.

Other solutions like Attendee Hub allow Cognizant to create engaging attendee experiences, no matter the event type, format, or size. The Attendee Hub provides a cohesive experience for attendees, allowing them to build their agenda, view session and speaker details, and stay updated with push notifications. Networking features like one-to-one messaging, attendee recommendations, and discussions enable peer connections. Built to scale for Cognizant’s diverse program, both the web platform and Event App are fully customizable. They offer highly branded experiences with custom cards and pages to highlight key information and cross-promote content, thereby boosting engagement. 

For example, a large global webinar was recently hosted in Attendee Hub. The Cognizant team used Cvent Studio to build and manage a fully branded digital experience. The event garnered over 140 registrations, with an attendee login rate of almost 50% – one of the most successful Cognizant webinars to date. Real-time engagement features like live polling, chat, and Q&A enhance participation. Embedded surveys also provide valuable attendee feedback and, when combined with engagement scoring, allows Cognizant to tailor their post-event follow-up more effectively.

RESULTS

Cognizant’s cohesive tech stack for improved lead management

Clay says the key to Cognizant’s success lies in bringing these technologies together into a seamless tech stack. “Because of what our tech stack looks like as a whole, our ability to harmonize this data across all of our different touchpoints is immensely valuable,” he explains. In fact, Cognizant has successfully managed 14,800 registrants across various events with Cvent, including key decision-makers from elite accounts. They’ve tracked a 96% audience retention rate and the integration has significantly improved the quality of their marketing qualified leads (MQLs). “For an organization heavily focused on relationship development, that engagement rate is so important and it really helps with our ROI,” Clay adds. “As far as the whole lead to revenue process, it’s much easier with the integration and not having to rely on a process that takes weeks.”

This is largely because the Salesforce integration and campaign details provided sales and marketing teams with detailed member status of prospects, along with scoring and campaign attribution. The end-to-end integration enables Cognizant to build better customer segments and profiles for global marketing campaigns, enhancing existing client engagement for the sales teams. Clay notes, “Being able to have close to a 360-degree understanding of what that customer looks like and how we interact with them, and how we’re influencing pipeline through these events, is immensely valuable.” 

With on-demand reporting, stakeholders can now make fully informed decisions in real time to maximize and prioritize event commitments, while sales teams have access to the data needed for timely and more personalized follow-ups. Clay reiterates the importance of actioning this data through the right integrations. He says, “When we look at Cvent and all the things they’ve been able to offer – from Meeting Request Forms to insights post-event – being able to integrate that with our CRM or Salesforce, or pushing it into Snowflake for that data capture and visualization, has really given us a unique understanding of our customers that we didn’t previously have.”

LOOKING FORWARD

A look at the future of Cognizant and Cvent 

This integration and associated Cvent solutions have had a profoundly positive impact on Cognizant's business. Ashley notes they’ve also increased visibility and engagement with senior leadership as a result. She explains, “It’s especially helpful because it allows us to be able to submit that information from the events back into Salesforce, and that information goes to leadership and a number of different stakeholders so it’s a great way for them to be able to measure and look at ROI.” 

Ashley and Clay look forward to further enhancing Cognizant’s use of Cvent solutions to power their global events program. “What’s next for us is continuing to leverage the Cvent platform and enhance our integrations,” Clay says. He also mentions looking forward to exploring how to maximize usage of new features and solutions within the Cvent product portfolio. Ultimately, events are indispensable for Cognizant, allowing the company to build and nurture valuable relationships while fostering collaboration within the industry.

BACKGROUND

TD SYNNEX is a global IT distribution company which sits at the center of the technology partner ecosystem. With its extensive global capabilities and subject matter expertise, TD SYNNEX offers valuable resources, insights, thought leadership, and specialized knowledge to the IT community. Their events cater to the needs of both customers and vendors, enabling business growth and facilitating strong connections within the industry.

Since 2011, TD SYNNEX has partnered closely with Cvent to execute their total event program. Rae Hawkins, Senior Manager of Conferences and Events, and Abby Livingston, Event Specialist I, manage over 400 annual events with their small team alone. TD SYNNEX operates more than 1,000 annual events in the United States as a whole. Across this partnership, they’ve expanded their solution suite to include a number of event technologies and platform integrations. Rae explains, “Over the past 13 years, we've significantly increased our usage of Cvent's solutions, establishing ourselves as experts and strong proponents of the Cvent suite of products to enhance our total event program.” 

APPROACH

Rae notes that TD SYNNEX prides itself on leading the industry as a technology provider. It was therefore vital that their events present an equally innovative experience for attendees. “We’re a technology company and we want to be tech-forward” she notes. “I would say around 2017, we really tried to integrate event technology into all of our events, so from registration to our production, we wanted to be at the forefront of what was going on with technology.” 

As an extensive, city-wide event, Inspire includes hundreds of sessions and over 200 vendor sponsors. With limited manpower, TD SYNNEX needed to ensure they optimized their technology platforms to work effectively and efficiently. Specifically, they needed to automate lead capture to better demonstrate event ROI. They also wanted to align the conference with their sustainability goals to be Net Zero by 2045. Importantly, post-event reporting needed to be streamlined from a technology and resource standpoint. With a goal of more seamlessly integrating Cvent into their technology stack, they wanted to integrate the platform with MarTech solutions like Marketo and their CRM system. They determined improving ROI, enhancing sustainability, and creating greater efficiencies would ultimately further the program’s success. 

This team manages everything from the initial event build to registration and Attendee Hub configuration, exhibitor and content management, the onsite experience, and live event support. Rae adds that relying on the same project managers year over year has allowed her team to build invaluable relationships. “They’ve gotten to know us, know how we’re generally setting everything up, and that’s been very helpful throughout our different events,” she adds. 

To power their event marketing campaigns and drive registrations, TD SYNNEX leverages Cvent integrations with MarTech platforms like Marketo and their own CRM system.  Through these integrations, they are able to track marketing engagement and overall campaign performance. They can automatically sync contact updates and activities as well as automate task and opportunity creation. This ensures they can create more targeted, personalized campaigns using attendee data to accelerate the sales cycle and ultimately increase conversions.

Driving attendee engagement with the Cvent Attendee Hub and Event App

Using one platform ensures all attendee data is synced automatically between Registration and other solutions like the Attendee Hub and Mobile Event App. These solutions together drive attendee engagement while allowing TD SYNNEX to gather valuable insights for a complete picture of their attendees’ interests. With this on-demand data at their fingertips, Rae and Abby’s team can make informed decisions and deliver more personalized experiences for their attendees. “The Event App and Attendee Hub became an all-inclusive event resource at the attendees’ fingertips, allowing more independence and less manpower - and physical resources - to provide critical event information,” adds Rae. 

Abby and Rae’s team relies on the Event App for communicating critical updates, driving attendance, and engaging attendees across the event lifecycle. Abby finds the push notifications particularly helpful and Rae adds that audience segmentation feature allows their team to “really have those targeted notifications to help drive attendance on a personal level.” They’re able to create more personalized experiences using custom cards and session recommendations. Abby also appreciates the self-serve capabilities of Attendee Hub, as attendees can view session and speaker details, manage their agenda, and add or delete sessions from their calendars. This provides accurate session counts for her team in real time and eliminates manual back-and-forth with attendees. Rae notes, “These features within the Event App allowed us to provide real-time updates onsite to keep attendees engaged as possible.” 

Doing more with less: How TD SYNNEX leverages event tech to save time

Rae and Abby’s team also relies on the Appointmentstool to pre-schedule appointments between attendees or with stakeholders onsite. “It’s really helpful to have that interaction scheduled onsite and allow the attendees to fully build out their agenda ahead of time,” notes Abby. Rae adds that the automation capabilities of tools like Appointments saves them invaluable time. “We used to have to build out one on one meeting rooms in our exhibition space and manually manage the scheduling, check-in, and everything,” she says. “Now, using Appointments, they can self-schedule the appointment in a specific location and it automatically gets added to their agenda in Attendee Hub, so it streamlines the process and takes out a lot of steps for us as planners so we can focus on other issues.” With Appointments, they’re able to create appointment types with predefined time slots and locations, maintaining full control of appointments in the backend while granting attendees the ability to manage their schedules on the frontend. Attendees can view all meeting details ahead of time, as well as modify, accept, or decline as needed. 

They’re also able to leverage attendance tracking through session scanning for real-time updates, which they can provide to internal stakeholders to show event progress in real time. It’s an evolution in technology that Rae says speaks to the advancements the industry has made as a whole. “I remember a time when we didn’t have any of that software and we were manually checking people in, reprinting badges, and so on, so from a planner perspective, we’re now able to do more with less people,” she says. She adds that viewing real-time updates in the OnArrival app is an important means of demonstrating event impact to their stakeholders. “Previously, there was a lot of putting that data together in spreadsheets, but now I can just pull a quick report and show my executives who has checked-in with easy-to-read flow charts,” she notes. “They love it and it’s all right there in the OnArrival app, so it really just makes us shine.” 

In addition to providing a myriad of opportunities to drive engagement and capture all-important attendee insights, leveraging digital solutions like the Event App and OnArrival ensures TD SYNNEX can actively support their sustainability goals for a lighter-footprint event. By reducing paper waste for printed agendas or badge stock, they’re able to reduce their overall environmental impact in pursuit of their goal of being Net Zero by 2045. 

To ensure they have an accurate view of event performance, Rae and Abby’s team also leverages Premium Surveys to garner both session and event-level feedback. “Particularly, we want to focus on the value of breakout session offerings for better future program planning,” notes Rae. These surveys allow TD SYNNEX to collect feedback directly within the Event App throughout the event lifecycle, target surveys to specific groups of attendees, and collect data across events for cross-analysis. With enhanced data and reporting, TD SYNNEX can evaluate session, speaker, and multi-event performance. 

With this data housed in a single location, they’re able to provide reports in real time to key stakeholders like their executive leadership. “If there’s any report in Cvent, we’re probably pulling it to show the return on investment for what we’re doing at our event,” offers Abby. “That’s really important to our business, and through Cvent, we’re able to get that data to the people who need it quicker.” They note that collectively, using Cvent has allowed their team to integrate event information and streamline data in a single platform, allowing them to better prove the value of their events program to the business. “We’re in an industry where we need to show our value and the  only way for us to do that is to take that into our data, looking at all the different touch points we’ve had over the years,” adds Rae. 

She notes that relying on a single platform has proven valuable for their team as they continue to expand their events program. “We’re not forced to utilize various platforms and systems to execute attendee experiences at Inspire,” she insists. “From registration to post-event reporting, Cvent has shown to be a high value, event-wide platform for TD SYNNEX’s largest annual event.” 

RESULTS

The results from their most recent Inspire conference have proven this, with over 2,130 registrants and a 94% check-in rate using OnArrival, most within a four-hour timeframe. They also tracked 1,570+ Event App downloads and 2,750+ logins into Attendee Hub, totaling a 73% adoption rate. LeadCapture allowed vendors to capture nearly 6,000 leads in just three days, helping to prove the value of the event to internal executive stakeholders around the pavilion as a key component of Inspire. Equally important, attendee and staff “raved about the attendee experience at Inspire, particularly around the quick check-in and app functionality,” says Rae.

Powering TD SYNNEX’s incredible event program through the use of modern technology and professional support services has proven to be a winning combination. Rae and Abby particularly value the close relationship they maintain with their Cvent team. “One of the benefits of Cvent, and I will say this to anyone who asks me about it, is the amazing customer service and support we get from our account teams,” notes Rae. “They are always there for us, and they’re actively looking at trends and how we can improve, as well as to answer any questions we may have.” This support is a key component of TD SYNNEX’s future growth as well as they look to continue advancing their events program. Rae summarizes, “We will continue to grow and we want to be thought of as a leader in event planning and design, and Cvent helps us get there.” 

PRODUCTS USED

BACKGROUND

Salesforce, the world’s number one CRM, has helped lead the SaaS revolution across the technology industry for over twenty years. With a global workforce of over 70,000 employees, Salesforce’s internal events serve as key drivers of employee engagement and innovation. Gabi Kallmeyer, Associate Event Manager, and Lauren Leto, Event Manager, support Salesforce’s events program out of their New York and San Francisco offices, respectively. Gabi helps manage the Salesforce Tower New York 'Ohana Floor and is responsible for delivering white-glove events for Salesforce executives, customers, employees, and non-profits in the community. Lauren manages a diverse portfolio of event programs in Salesforce's three San Francisco offices, supporting their ecosystem of employees, customers, and partners.

GOALS

Improving internal event efficiencies with Cvent Event Diagramming

Having partnered with Cvent since January 2019, the Salesforce team adopted Cvent’s Event Diagramming solution (formerly known as Social Tables) to help bring their event visions to life. Lauren and Gabi worked closely with their Cvent account team to ensure the success of the events across their portfolio. Since 2019, they have relied on the Event Diagramming solution to design internal events at their global office locations.  Salesforce’s Event Diagramming account is structured as a hierarchy account, meaning there’s one primary team above several other accounts representing their global offices.  They have one primary team, as well as Admin access to each additional managed team in their hierarchy. There are several different offices currently leveraging the tool to support their internal event programs, including Salesforce Tower Atlanta, New York, Indianapolis, London, Sydney, Tokyo, San Francisco, and San Francisco East & West and Burlington buildings. They are also adopting the tool to use at their newly acquired Slack offices.

After selecting Cvent as their solution provider, Lauren and Gabi faced the initial challenge of onboarding their global team. “We have different teams with different leaders, so getting everyone onboarded with the training was a process as we had to align everyone across regions and offices,” notes Lauren. The comprehensive process consisted of self-guided online training courses as well as a live guided training from Cvent product experts. Lauren says she is impressed with the progress her team has made in just a short amount of time. They not only adopted and implemented the tool across their global organization, but have become solution experts in their own right. “Where we came from to where we are now, it’s just incredible to see,” she insists. “Each unique Salesforce office participated in the personalized training offered by Cvent’s Learning and Development team, ensuring that all users understood the ins and outs of the Event Diagramming solution.”

APPROACH

Navigating the global return to office with Cvent solutions

During the pandemic, the Salesforce team faced several challenges. After a significant amount of time managing a largely remote employee base, Lauren and Gabi were tasked with supporting the global return to office. To help facilitate a safe process, Lauren and Gabi relied on the Event Diagramming tool to manage their floor plans. They needed to ensure the floor plans met social distancing requirements as well as other health and safety measures, all without having to manually configure diagrams. Lauren explains, “We had to look at all of our floor plans that were in the system and draw on every space to see what it would look like with six-foot distancing and three-foot distancing.”

Given the global nature of the Salesforce employee base, collaborative capabilities within the tool were particularly important. Different teams across offices were able to collaborate on floor plans while at different locations or in other time zones. The flexibility of the tool was particularly important as the pandemic continued to evolve. Whenever new health and safety requirements were introduced or updated, the Salesforce team was able to make quick adjustments without needing to start over from scratch. “It was a lot of stop and go, so it was nice to have that tool in place and have those floor plans ready,” Lauren adds.

In particular, the features of the solution offered detailed illustrations and accurate diagrams, from overall layout to furniture and even specific colors. The Salesforce team utilizes the tool to create visual indications with arrows and text to indicate the proper flow of the room from where to check-in, which stairwells are closed, and where to enter and exit. This was particularly helpful from 2020 to 2022, when Lauren was the program manager for the COVID-19 Testing Center. The visual indicators helped with the strategy, execution, and rollout of the COVID-19 guidelines and communications across the business and events.

In looking at the efficiencies created for the Salesforce teams through the use of the Event Diagramming solution, time savings are a clear measure of success. Gabi explains, “I used to create 3D renderings in Google Slides and it was a nightmare.” She adds that the previous silos between teams created stop gaps and impeded efficiency. This was particularly problematic given the incredible growth of the company in recent years. She notes, “I can say with confidence that the consistency factor has been important, especially with the amount of growth we’ve had. With new teams and spaces, having certain processes in place that all partners are used to seeing is very helpful.”

Gabi notes that Salesforce typically relies on its own technology, but the team now considers the Event Diagramming solution an integral part of their tech stack. She shares, “Even for the newer teams, they know they’re going to learn the solution, because everyone uses that solution.” Being able to view past events, repurpose saved layouts, note favorites, and use templates ensures consistency amongst their teams. If a power user diagrams a perfect event set-up, then the other users across global offices can easily duplicate the event to modify it for future needs.

Lauren notes that these efficiencies have led to improvements in their global team’s processes. She says, “As far as qualitative results, we can access central floor plans across offices.” Previously, floor plans were saved in each person’s preferred document location, such as Google docs. Having a centralized database of all floor plans across offices has vastly improved global collaboration.

Lauren cites a recent event held at the New York office as an example. “Those stakeholders wanted the same exact floor plan for a second event in San Francisco,” she shares. “I went in and quickly copied the existing floor plan from that event, and it just made things a lot easier and shareable.” Gabi agrees, noting that their executive team’s global meetings are now easier to manage thanks to existing floor plans already housed within the Event Diagramming solution. She says, “I did a reception in February that our Atlanta office was going to duplicate in March, and they were able to just look at the floor plan in Event Diagramming without me having to explain anything.” The Salesforce team uses these features to save ample time when planning their next event.

As they look towards the future and expect more growth across Salesforce’s offices around the world, Gabi and Lauren are eager to continue utilizing the tool to drive time savings and efficiencies for the organization. Moreover, Lauren adds that she appreciates the opportunity to gain technology expertise in a new solution to further bolster her technology skills. “I love having yet another great system on my resume,” she shares. “It’s nice to be an expert in the system now.” They look forward to the continued partnership with Cvent in the future as they expand their global workforce and continue to support Salesforce offices worldwide.