At first glance, Verizon Media and HelloFresh might not have much in common, but there is one thing — they’re both Wrike customers and members of our customer advisory board (CAB)! Yes, we know, many companies have these touchpoints with customers, but we’re pretty proud of the standout names we get to work with, and the fact that they’re willing to spend so much time with us to help shape our roadmap and discuss the challenges of today’s hybrid work climate.
In an effort to turn a few hours of discussion into a helpful resource for anyone wanting to learn about how executives are handling today’s biggest work challenges, here’s a quick summary to read while you eat your lunch or take a quick brain break.
Executives from some of the world’s biggest brands believe that:
When it comes to getting companies to adopt a central work collaboration solution, everyone needs to get on board
Adoption was a big theme throughout most of the breakout sessions. Many of the customers in the advisory board see the huge benefits of Wrike’s unmatched configurability, and are thrilled to have a tool that they can customize to their specific needs. But when any new tool is brought into an organization, companies need to set a change management strategy to drive adoption and efficient use of the tool. In the breakout sessions, customers discussed ways they’ve improved adoption, as well as what features and capabilities they believe could be added to Wrike to help increase end-user adoption.
The world is complex, and data needs to be secure — your collaborative work solutions should power that
Permissions and access were other areas in which customers expressed some challenges. Some teams only need to share high-level reporting to executives, or collaborate only on specific tasks or work items with clients or external collaborators. At Collaborate 2020, Wrike announced new functionality in enterprise plans called Locked Spaces, specifically designed to address the pain points around access and permissions. And thanks to CAB attendees, we were able to take additional feedback and ideas to improve access functionality for all users.
We all need to automate ourselves out of the mundane and into the work that robots never can do …
Automation was a big topic of interest in the CAB discussions, especially given the announcement of Work Intelligence in October 2020, which includes new machine learning capabilities like Project Risk Prediction, Smart Replies, and Document Processing. Attendees generally expressed interest in the continued expansion of functionality around automation, as it will be a major driver of efficiency for companies in the future of work. Automation and Work Intelligence will be a large area of the Wrike roadmap in 2021, and we were thrilled about the feedback and suggestions we received from CAB attendees!
Thanks for the laughs, learnings, and fuel for growth!
We had strong attendance at our CAB meeting — above industry standard — and that’s because the way companies and solution providers work together in 2021 can make or break a business. We continue to push into uncharted territory when it comes to work and collaboration — the latest shift being the return to office in 2021. Companies are facing even more complexity with a return to office and hybrid models where employees will be allowed to work from office, home, or other disparate locations, and employees are growing more expectant of the tools available to them to get work done. Solving for collaboration and success in the future of work will take everyone, from the IT department, to individual teams and contributors, to solution providers.
A huge thank you to all of the attendees for the opportunity to change how we work together and improve productivity, as well as for the additional use cases we can bring onto the platform to bring our vision of “Work as One” closer to reality.
