The Rookie’s Huddle: Impressions of Naviant’s Summit

Last week, the Naviant team took to the legendary Frozen Tundra to catch excellence. With 150 fans eagerly waiting in the seats of our stadium (or conference room if we want to be literal), we hit the ground running. The two days we shared with the crowd were packed to the brim with opportunities to learn, network and gape at the beauty and history of Lambeau Field.

General Assembly: Energy was high as we kicked off the conference at SummitCenter. One thing we have quickly picked up on as rookies at Naviant is to be creative and have fun while learning. Mike Suter, President & Founder of Naviant, taught us the importance of using OnBase to eliminate paper and drive process improvements through humorous and memorable commercial breaks like  “No-Shins Mike Suter” and “Billionaire Mike Suter.”

The momentum carried over to the next session, where the crowd’s fan favorite, Colleen Alber from Hyland Software, presented highlights and features of OnBase 15. She broke down the software capabilities into six simple categories: Capture, Manage, Access, Integrate, Measure and Store. Or the easier way to remember it: Chocolate Muffins Are In My Stomach (CMAIMS).

The Breakout Sessions: The bulk of the content presented on day one came in the form of six breakout sessions: Workflow, Case Management, Free Features & Highlights of OnBase, Outlook & Mobile Integration, OCR and Expert Stations. One of the expert stations featured Naviant’s one and only #52, Clay. Clay was available to answer any ECM related process question under the sun. Each focused session allowed for clients to draft their own experience and attend the sessions most relevant to them.

Throughout the sessions, we could hear attendees whispering, “We could definitely use that!” or “We should look into that a little more,” to the colleagues next to them. Those murmurs combined with questions to the presenters, participation in the activities, and positive survey feedback signaled to us that the audience was engaged and finding value in the content.

The Executive Session: On the other side of Lambeau’s atrium, Jeanne Patti and a group of 35 executives gathered to discuss how to tackle organizational effectiveness. This session focused on giving the leaders new foundation tools and models to overcome challenges in today’s business environments. Here were the top four challenges covered:

1. Resourcing: Businesses go through constant change. With so many projects continuously running, businesses are finding it difficult to staff the projects without being undermanned.
2. Project Prioritizations: Businesses juggle an insurmountable number of projects and are stumbling when it comes to project prioritization and strategy
3. Communication/Change Management: Communication has been a key dissatisfaction measure in organizations for decades.  Now add all of the constant change businesses are experiencing, and the ability to manage this is overwhelming.
4. Leadership / Decision Making:  Businesses are clearly feeling a lack of connection with their leadership and how decisions and priorities are managed within their organizations.

Dinner at the Champions Club: Beyond the sweet tours of the Packer’s stadium, an appearance by Mark Tauscher, and one of the coolest backdrops I have ever experienced for dinner, the value of our time in the Champions Club came from networking with our clients. Being new to the team, we all enjoyed the opportunity to put a face to the names and voices we have heard over the last few months.

Half-Day Training: Bright and early Wednesday morning, we were back at it! Tuesday was the “film review” portion of the conference and Wednesday was the “practice.” The participants of the Half-Day Training sessions were able to “suit up” and leap into a live hands-on OnBase environment and personally configure a variety of different modules.

Throughout the entire Summit, there was an overwhelming feeling that the crowd was made up of partners and friends, who have become more than just customers to us. The Summit not only allowed us to make our own connections, but we were able to witness first-hand the solid relationships that our teammates have with everyone from a 10-year veteran to prospective clients.

All four of us are eager to attend 2016’s ECM conference when we bring it back home to Madison. So, mark your calendars for October 24^th and 25^th, and join us at the Monona Terrace, where all of these rookies will have made the leap to the starting lineup!