increase in registration for digital experiences compared to in-person events.
virtual events per month with ON24, compared to 1 in-person event per month
attendee satisfaction rate thanks to the engaging ON24 platform
visits to the company’s ON24 Virtual Conference
Employees: 300
Product: ON24 Virtual Conference
Use Cases: Demand Generation, Customer & Product Marketing
Industry: Technology
SAP Concur takes companies of all sizes and stages beyond automation to a completely connected spend management solution encompassing travel, expense, invoice, compliance and risk. The organization’s global expertise, industry-leading innovation and dynamic ecosystem of diverse partners and applications unlock powerful insights that help businesses reduce complexity and see spending clearly so they can manage it proactively.
SAP Concur is committed to reinventing travel, expense and invoice management with technology solutions that simplify everyday processes and create better experiences. The company helps its customers solve big problems, small problems and problems they didn’t even know they had.
SAP Concur is continuously developing new ways to automate and integrate processes that use emerging technology to help every business run its best. Part of this includes digital experiences, which enable the organization to maintain a connection with its audience through video. Face-to-face connection is important to SAP Concur’s stakeholders, particularly in Japan, and essential for driving pipeline.
A need for on-demand content with a face-to-face feel
SAP Concur Japan used to run many in-person events, which are essential to business development in the Japanese market. However, sales follow-up took a long time after these events because sales reps would collect up to 4,000 business cards per event.
In-person events also posed a challenge for SAP Concur Japan’s small business audience, who couldn’t always afford to travel to these events all over the country, and who didn’t always have time to attend. In addition, limits on hotel capacity for in-person events were sometimes an issue. The company needed a digital experience solution that could engage its audience, no matter their location, and help generate pipeline.
In addition, SAP Concur Japan’s target market includes Vice Presidents and Chief Experience Officers who have demanding schedules. This meant the organization needed a Platform that could deliver on-demand content for the audience to watch when time allowed.
“The engagement data we get from ON24 is wonderful. We can see who visits the Virtual Conference, and who’s interested in which topics and products in real time. This data is synchronized with our other marketing tools and is quickly shared with our sales team.”
Tomoko Hashimoto
Marketing Manager
Accessible, engaging digital experiences that drive lead generation
At first, SAP Concur Japan started using ON24 Webcast Elite and a year later, the company decided to purchase ON24 Engagement Hub and ON24 Virtual Conference, as well, to respond to increased demand for virtual events.
With ON24 Webcast Elite, SAP Concur Japan creates digital experiences with Q&A and survey engagement tools to engage its audience and gather feedback. The organization uses the ON24 Engagement Hub to share multimedia content on-demand after each digital experience.
By allowing audiences to access this content after the live event date, SAP Concur Japan is able to extend the life of the content itself and engage attendees in multiple time zones who were unable to attend the live event. These touchpoints are tracked and monitored so the SAP team can use data to gage intent signals, tailor follow up messaging based on unique prospect needs and interests, and trigger outreach to sales-ready leads without having to shuffle through thousands of business cards, significantly shortening their sales cycles and driving net new business.
In addition, SAP Concur Japan uses the ON24 Virtual Conference to create interactive virtual rooms with personalized video greetings. The video aspect of ON24 is integral to the organization because it allows digital experience attendees to see and connect with the presenters face-to-face (albeit virtually).
The ON24 platform enables the company to introduce its technology solutions and case studies to its audience. For example, using digital experiences, the company can introduce its reports directly to chief financial officers in its target market. Virtual events also enable SAP Concur Japan to reach small business audiences who may not have had the budget to travel to attend its in-person events. “Our customers are all over Japan. This year, they don’t need to book hotels or travel—they can simply watch our videos, which has been a big advantage,” said Tomoko Hashimoto, Marketing Manager at SAP Concur Japan.
In addition to smaller events, the organization used the ON24 platform to scale its SAP Concur Fusion Exchange Virtual Summit, which had over 8,000 registrants. “We’re very impressed with the reliability of the ON24 platform. We had no system troubles with any of our 146 sessions at the summit. The ease of use was great, even though we were new to the platform. Also, ON24 supported our team from end-to-end and got rid of any small concerns,” Hashimoto said.
Digital experiences enabled SAP Concur Japan to scale its marketing efforts and increase pipeline. The company ran 10 virtual events per month this year, compared to 1 in-person event per month prior.
Digital experiences are more accessible to SAP Concur Japan’s audiences than in-person events, because attendees can watch from anywhere. As a result, the organization saw a 50% increase in registration for digital experiences compared to in-person events.
With the ON24 platform, SAP Concur Japan seamlessly executed 146 sessions with 40 sponsors for its Fusion Exchange Virtual Summit. The company’s digital experiences have garnered a 90%+ attendee satisfaction rate thanks to the engaging ON24 platform, and have generated 220,000 visits to the company’s ON24 Virtual Conference. SAP Concur Japan’s inside sales team uses the engagement data from the digital experiences in follow-ups.
“The engagement data we receive from ON24 is wonderful. We can see who visits the Virtual Conference, and who’s interested in which topics and products in real time. This data is synchronized with our other marketing tools and is quickly shared with our sales team,” Hashimoto said.
“We’re very impressed with the reliability of the ON24 platform. We had no system troubles with any of our 146 sessions. The ease of use was great, even though we were new to the platform. Also, ON24 supported our team from end-to-end and solved any small concerns.”
Tomoko Hashimoto
Marketing Manager
