SCHOTT AG

The team at SCHOTT AG needed a solution that would enable them to optimally utilise their limited capacity to maximise their efficiency.

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3 days of work reduced to ½ day

100% app adoption rate

30% increase in survey response rate

“The greatest benefit of Cvent solutions is simply that we can reduce the workload of our fairly small team considerably, enabling us to completely redefine our focus in the organisation of events and projects. This means that we can either complete mostly administrative activities extremely quickly or Cvent handles these activities on our behalf.”

-David Willmes, Manager Fairs & Events, SCHOTT AG

The issue

SCHOTT AG has a relatively small event planning team made up of around four employees, they are tasked with the delivery of event projects in addition to company-related affairs from a wide range of business areas. The number of projects means that organisational processes must be highly efficient and optimally designed. The main issue faced by the team was how could their limited capacity be optimally utilised to maximise efficiency. Processes such as participant registration or the creation of event websites were completed manually in a time-consuming process or outsourced. As a result, the team not only lost valuable time, but also incurred unnecessary costs and from time to time human error that could be avoided if there was a solution in place. The associated loss of control and extensive reporting requirements were a thorn in the side for the team.

This can be primarily attributed to the separation of planning processes for the planning and implementation of events –related tasks were completed with different point solutions. The key thing missing was an integrated system as an overall concept for all aspects of event planning. The aim was therefore to be able to handle automated event management processes integrated and bundled into a single platform.

Why Cvent?

SCHOTT AG finally decided to bring Cvent on board in 2014. The powerful and intuitive event management platform from Cvent not only contains precisely those automated and user-friendly processes that the team so urgently needed to reduce their workload when planning events, but also provides additional solutions for the entire life cycle of an event that are synchronised via the cloud. Cvent therefore supplies everything the company needs for planning its events.

The transition from manual to automated processes, the ease-of-use and the seamless data stream makes event organisation at SCHOTT AG quicker, simpler and more cost-effective and ultimately enables efficient use of the small event planning team.

Worry-Free Complete Package

SCHOTT's AG events are supported by event management solutions from Cvent throughout the entire life cycle, that is "from the initial idea to successful event conclusion. This starts right from the registration process and ends with the mobile app, making the entire process seamless, or a pleasant attendee journey, as the expression goes". The team use Flex to create their event websites for participant registration, while OnArrival is used to check-in attendees and to supply their name badges at the venue and CrowdCompass serves as the event app. For larger events and conferences, SCHOTT AG also makes use of the 'Event-in-a-box' solution.

“Needless to say this means that when we use the term "connected", Cvent provides the perfect options to make the idea of "connected" a reality.”

- David Willmes, Manager Fairs & Events, SCHOTT AG

Ease of Use

The team can now manage tasks extremely quickly and easily using the tools from Cvent, that were previously completed "in a very rudimentary way, requiring a lot of updates to complicated Excel spreadsheets". This made website creation and the associated registration function especially time-saving for SCHOTT AG. Thanks to the ease of use and incredible flexibility of the system, it allows all members of the team to develop event websites through Flex in only a very short period of time using drag and drop and to do so in line with branding requirements. This also makes event registrations extremely easy to manage. In the past, this task was done partly in collaboration with an agency, which not only cost the team significant amounts of time, but also involved a large loss of control. The user-friendliness of the system also provides a huge advantage for attendees – registering for an event takes just a few simple steps.

"Registration is also simple and easy to complete for users visiting the website." David Willmes, Manager Fairs & Events, SCHOTT AG

Smooth Attendee Experience

Participant data that has been collected as part of the registration process can, among other things, also be linked with the OnArrival solution as well as the CrowdCompass event app from Cvent, which SCHOTT AG uses as an additional tool for managing its events at the venue. The "extremely simple synchronisation option makes it possible to view the change directly on the end device in the back end within seconds". Thanks to seamless data exchange, it is now possible for the event planning team to manage check-in and print name badges at the venue in just a few clicks. The incredible flexibility enables the team to make changes and carry out registrations directly at the venue –gone are the days of trying to maintain lots of cumbersome Excel lists or print name badges with PowerPoint. It also enables the team to manage participant check-in at the venue.

Data in the Right Place at all Times

The event management platform from Cvent provides the team from SCHOTT AG with much, much more. Various evaluation options integrated in the cloud-based software enable data to be presented in an appropriate design via a user-friendly interface.

This means that for the first time, the team now has the option to make event management measurable and therefore also has a lever to improve the development of future events and also to continuously improve internally. Individually tailored reports and analyses provide the team with quick overviews and the right information for the higher-level stakeholders from various departments, who commission the event project, at each point in the life cycle of the event. Qualitative and reliable data are not only collected and presented through the system, but are also collated and evaluated by the team via extremely simple feedback solutions, including directly in the mobile app CrowdCompass during the event. This means that in addition to the standard measured values, SCHOTT AG also receives valuable insights into participant behaviour and interest in thematic contents, for example.

"These are new options for us that we couldn't have even imagined three years ago." David Willmes, Manager Fairs & Events, SCHOTT AG

Essentials at a Glance

Thanks to Cvent, tedious manual and isolated processes are now a thing of the past, and the company can devote itself more fully to strategic aspects – something that was limited up until now. Time-consuming, day-to-day administrative tasks as part of event planning can now be dealt with quickly, easily and in a user-friendly way for the team using event technologies from Cvent.

The interaction between the individual event management solutions within the platform made a significant contribution to this.

For the first time, the integration of the various tools has made it possible for the SCHOTT AG team to generate a seamless data stream from participant registration via the event website to check-in at the venue with the OnArrival solutions from Cvent and the CrowdCompass event app.

One particularly huge advantage is the various evaluation options that are included in the Cvent event management system. These options mean that it is now possible for the event planning team from SCHOTT AG to obtain a detailed overview of the success of their events and their participants, enabling them not only to improve future events but also ultimately to achieve their corporate goals.

"We are better able to focus on and achieve both our corporate and strategic goals with the help of Cvent." David Willmes, Manager Fairs & Events, SCHOTT AG

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About the Company

SCHOTT AG is a leading international technology group in the areas of glass ceramics and speciality glass. With approximately 16,000 employees, the company is represented in a total of 34 countries. The broad product portfolio of the corporate group includes innovative and high-quality specialised glass solutions for, among others, the pharmaceutical, automotive and aviation industries, domestic appliances and other applications.

Each year, SCHOTT AG organises 70 -80 events around the world. These include customer events, product training, conferences, onboarding events, employee events and charity events. They run a variety of internal events that consists of a range of attendee sizes, typically between 20 –250 employees, with their "employee party" at headquarters in Mainz having up to 9,000 participants.