7 Game-Changing Insights From WorkRamp LEARN Virtual Summit

We came, we saw, we learned. We’re still buzzing with excitement from all of the sage advice and expert insights from WorkRamp LEARN Virtual Summit.

Catch on-demand replays of our fantastic sessions and check out seven key takeaways from our half-day virtual event.

But before we dive into some incredible insights from our guest speakers, let’s recap our biggest product announcements of the year.

As Ted Blosser, WorkRamp’s CEO and Co-founder, shared in his opening keynote, three trends for 2024 include consolidating your learning infrastructure, creating innovative learning programs, and driving business transformation. 

To help teams develop innovative learning programs that can be built on a consolidated platform and have measurable programs for customers and employees that transform businesses, we’re thrilled to announce our two newest products, WorkRamp CMS and WorkRamp Communities.

Erin Paugh, WorkRamp’s Director of Solutions Engineering, shared a sneak peek of the two new products.

WorkRamp CMS for employee learning

Erin demonstrated the three core pieces of WorkRamp CMS.

• Manage. Users can quickly build out libraries of files and links that can be leveraged as resource centers for your go-to-market teams. Set up custom tag filters and make it easy for GTM teams to find specific files or the necessary links.
• Search. Users can create customer filters to find the exact content piece they need. There are various search options, allowing employees to search via web browser, mobile app, and/or Chrome extension.
• Share. Easily share these asset files. Your GTM team can deliver assets in a consistent and easy-to-use way. 

Decrease system complexity by offering a single platform for CMS & LMS. Reduce time searching for the right content and make accessing role-relevant materials and information easy.

WorkRamp Communities for customer learning

WorkRamp Communities allows organizations to connect customers and scale knowledge through discussions, feedback, product announcements, and more.

Customers and partners can:

• Navigate to a specific topic or question or create their own posts. Customers and members of your team can comment and interact directly within the platform
• Enjoy a full discussion experience
• Add feature requests. WorkRamp Communities is a central location for customer and product feedback

Plus, CS teams can create an update or release notes section to share information with customers consistently. Users always know exactly where to go for product announcements and up-to-date information

With WorkRamp Communities, organizations can facilitate engagement and product adoption, build efficient self-service options for customers, and honor the individual learning experience with a community space that allows users to be heard. 

Learn more about WorkRamp CMS and Communities and join the waitlists to be the first to get your hands on these new products in early 2024. 

7 Insights from WorkRamp LEARN Virtual Summit

Now, check out some of our favorite quotes and soundbites from People, Revenue, and CS Leaders from WorkRamp LEARN.

Individuals are only as strong as their team

In his keynote, High Output Management for the Next Generation of SaaS Companies, Aaron Levie, CEO & Co-Founder, Box, shared the strategies that have enabled him to cultivate a dynamic, exceptional team and culture at Box. 

This includes aligning business goals and core values, finding the right balance between founder and facilitator, and empowering individuals and teams to bring their best selves to work.

“You can have the world’s greatest individual contributor for where your business is going, but if you can’t ensure a strong team dynamic and get the most out of the whole team with that individual, it doesn’t work,” he says. “Your role [as a founder or CEO] becomes more about cultivating talent and team dynamic, ensuring and enabling collaboration, layering in when you have strong opinions, and doing your best to pull out the best ideas from people.”

During uncertain times, overcommunication is key

While navigating the complexities of today’s global and virtual workplace, our commitment to transparency and frequent communication becomes our compass.

In their panel discussion, This is the Way: Future-Proofing Your Org Through Enablement, Lissa Songpitak, Head of Revenue Enablement, Enable, and Marit Parten, Head of Revenue Productivity, Sales Enablement, Narvar, stress how communication is more critical than ever.

“Overly communicating is key, especially in these uncertain times,” Marit says. “Job insecurity is heightened. We’re in a virtual world; teams are spread out globally. We’re often just moving so fast and working in a silo. I don’t ever want to lead with fear and anxiety. So, I definitely communicate to the teams when changes are being made or even considered.”

Lissa underscores the importance of communication and adds that helping teams to remain adaptable is also crucial.

“If you think about water, it can be in a liquid state or a solid state,” she says. “So how do we keep people slushy so they’re ready to adapt and rally, especially in our hypergrowth environment? So, there are three things that we focus on. The first is planning, the second is operational alignment, and the third is communication first in planning.”

Personal and organizational success takes a village

How can organizations keep employees motivated and engaged and promote development opportunities?

In this roundtable, Motivating & Upskilling Employees When Times Are Tough, Suzie Rogers, VP of People Partnerships, Checkout.com, and Meredith Fish, VP of People & Culture, WorkRamp, share strategies for teams to promote continuous learning and improvement and to support employee career growth.

“Build your village,” Meredith says. “You need different people, mentors, coaches, peer advisors, sponsors; they’re all going to play an essential role in identifying skill gaps, helping you know where to go in terms of learning, on-the-job opportunities, and external opportunities.”

Suzie agrees that development requires a team but must be initiated by the individual.

“If you come to the table and expect someone else to do it for you, you’ll probably be disappointed. Think about how to set objectives and perform self-assessments and self-reflection.”

CS teams must give customers the support they need when they need it

Organizations must leverage next-generation tools and processes to support customers and outpace competition in an ever-evolving market. 

In her session, Next-Gen CS: Performance-Driven, Digital, AI, and More, Kelly Bray, VP, Product-Led Success and Account Management, MongoDB, dives into ways companies can automate and prioritize CS strategies for an unknown future.

“The whole do-more-with-less phrase can have a negative connotation. It’s in the spirit of working smarter and meeting customers where they need support in various formats. Digital success used to mean the lightest effort for a customer; now it’s how we best design an experience that meets the customer in a specific moment with the right resources.”

In tough times, double down on enablement

There’s no shortage of tech solutions and priorities in the digital age. So, where should teams focus and lean in to improve efficiency and maximize success?

In their panel, The Consolidation of the Sales Readiness Tech Stack, Peter Zink, Senior Director, Revenue Enablement, Sprout Social, and Scott Powell, Co-Founder, EnablePoint, LLC, share their strategies for aligning teams, choosing the right solutions, and proving ROI.

“In tough times, the best orgs double down on enablement. You need people to be more effective in their jobs than ever before,” Peter says. “Even though we’re consolidating, there’s an understanding that these solutions are necessary. We need more yield per rep than when times were easier.”

Scott notes that one of the best, most effective ways to do this is to consolidate your sales-readiness tech stack for maximum efficiency. 

“Consolidating can bring simplicity. Better interfaces with fewer systems. Getting consolidated on a learning platform is an effective way of driving a consistent enablement program.”

Teams must be nimble in achieving strategic goals

If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that anything can happen, and nothing stays the same. This has challenged employees and leaders to be more agile and resilient than ever before.

In her session, All In on L&D: Why People Leaders Are Betting on Learning, Jihye Kim Bower, Manager, Culture and Development, Getty Images, shares strategies for how teams can lean into the areas they can control and remain nimble in the face of change.

“My best advice for achieving those strategic plans and goals is to be nimble. I imagine that most of us set goals in Q3 or Q4 for the upcoming year, and as we work towards those goals, we’re likely to bump into some unknowns that we weren’t expecting. When that happens, we need to move with speed to meet that unknown and iterate on what we’re working on to make it make sense for the current reality.”

She also urges teams to focus on the journey in addition to results.

“The value in achieving a goal is that it meets the needs of the business, and it’s OK if the goal has taken on a new shape while on its journey towards achievement.” 

Customers can only learn so much from a business but can gain invaluable insights from peers

Building a customer community may seem daunting, but the benefits for customers and your business far outweigh the time and cost investment.

In their panel, Everything You Need to Know to Build a Customer Community, Dave Derington, Director of Customer Education, ServiceRocket, and Amy Elenius, Manager of Customer Education, Gorgias, explore the value of building a thriving customer community.

“There’s only so much we can do as a business,” Amy says. “We can show you how to use the product and the tools in the kitchen, for example. But what merchants want to see is what other merchants are making. What does everyone else’s menu look like? So we find that is super valuable because all we need to do is facilitate that space, and then the merchants teach each other.”

Dave notes that customers have a unique perspective and hands-on experience that is valuable for an organization to keep improving and iterating their products and services. 

“They’re using the product more than we are. Our customers are like our family, and we’re learning; they’re teaching us, and we also get that voice from the customers. They’re talking about these cool use cases and workflows. This input is invaluable for product development, helping companies create more tailored offerings to their customers’ needs and desires.”

Get more expert insights from all of our WorkRamp LEARN speakers. Check out our on-demand replays.