Going Beyond in 2018: Customer Summit Highlights

The best of the best

‍September in San Francisco is like a month-long golden hour and just about the best time of year to visit. This year, over 100 participants from 52 organizations got to enjoy an absolutely beautiful week in the City by the Bay for our 2018 Customer Summit. Attendees embraced our theme to “Go Beyond” with two days of networking and engaging presentations on digital transformation, data security, and the future of Egnyte.

‍Below are some event highlights:

DAY 1

‍We kicked off day one with Mark Grosvenor and Paul Timberg from insurance brokerage NFP, who delivered a customer perspective on digital transformation. They shared how Egnyte continually simplifies business operations across 200 offices and even streamlines their acquisition process. For an organization that acquires around 45 companies a year, having a quick and painless onboarding process is everything. But how do businesses tackle company-wide buy-in of new software?

Customers with an Egnyte account can see the recording here.

Sometimes it takes explicit user training, or perhaps seeing digital tools work first-hand in the real world is enough to get end users excited. Whatever the process, every industry faces a unique set of challenges. During a customer panel on user adoption, experts in hospitality, advertising, and construction discussed how they get their teams to thrive with Egnyte. Mike Novak from Hakkasan, Mark Lewis from MullenLowe, and Jeff Pistor from Balfour Beatty shared their methods for training (and appeasing) very different end users. The discussion was moderated by our very own, Flavius Cranganu, who previously led the Egnyte deployment at Coach.

Customers, find the recording here.

For speaker Attila Valyi, it’s less about getting users to work in Egnyte and more about making sure his large, dispersed teams have access to the app integrations they need. In a session devoted to Egnyte’s growing ecosystem, Attila Valyi, IT Product Manager at The Boston Consulting Group, offered unique insight into managing accounts and integrations for a large-scale deployment of 20,000 users.

Hearing how BCG leverages Egnyte’s capabilities and partner integrations was the perfect segue into partner demos and happy hour, courtesy of NetGovern. But the fun didn’t stop there…

Following happy hour, attendees were invited for (more) drinks, music, and an array of heavy appetizers just a few blocks away at the beautifully modern, Hotel Zetta. What better way to close out day one than with a plate of hors d’oeuvres in one hand, a drink in the other, and a colorfully-lit dance floor? Our customers sure know how to have a good time. The Scotch tasting and raw bar made for a particularly memorable evening.

DAY 2

‍Chris McClean, VP, Research Director of Security & Risk at Forrester, enthralled viewers when he opened day two. His discussion on the rise of insights-driven business led us to consider how we balance data security and accessibility in the age of digital disruption. Chris explored the relationship between employee productivity and business security procedures, citing statistics straight from Forrester. His presentation was voted the most compelling from our Summit. (We’ll be diving into Chris’ presentation in Part 3 of this series).

Customers, check out the recording in our community.

On the topic of security, Marisela Lawson, founding partner at Sagence Inc., spoke about the importance of controlled data sharing in an evolving enterprise data landscape.

Customers can see the recording here.

Lastly, Matt Murphy, Partner at Menlo Ventures, provided insight into venture capital for the changing tech landscape. Matt defined how Menlo Ventures evaluates budding tech companies in industries like lifesciences, robotics, agriculture, and more.

Customers can view the recording here.

Thank you to everyone who attended our 2018 Customer Summit. We are proud to have brought together such a diverse group of innovators and experts and look forward to making next year’s Summit even more memorable.For those interested in attending the 2019 Customer Summit, sign up for event updates here.