B2B Chicago 2024
May 06 - 08, 2024
Chicago Marriott Downtown
Day One: Capitalizing on Growth Through Digital Innovation
Monday, April 29, 2019
Hear actionable takeaways from top B2B eCommerce leaders who have driven digital innovation to grow their businesses.
7:00 am - 8:00 am Continental Breakfast & Registration
7:00 am - 8:00 am Private Invitation Only Breakfast
Kickstart your experience at B2B Online in an interactive breakfast session. Interested in hosting a breakfast to get your conference experience brewing?
Contact Alicia Upchurch 646.200.7452 or alicia.upchurch@wbresearch.com
8:00 am - 8:15 am
Welcome Remarks And Icebreaker
Marissa Alvord -
Program Director,
B2B Online
8:15 am - 8:35 am
Opening Address
Kevin Doohan -
Managing Director,
Accenture Interactive
8:35 am - 9:00 am
CMO Keynote Fireside Chat: Building Trust in a Universe of Digital Noise to Drive Growth and Advance Customer Experience
Steve Baruch -
EVP, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer,
MSC Industrial Supply
Monique Elliott -
VP, Global Head of Customer Experience,
ABB Electrification Products
Drew Neisser -
Founder & CEO,
Renegade, LLC
The acceleration of digital has created a noisy landscape and there is a lack of credibility and trust in the entire eCommerce ecosystem. Businesses are now trying to wrap more capability around the digital offering to drive growth and leverage a trusted destination to differentiate from others in the marketplace. Steve Baruch, EVP, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer for MSC Industrial Supply Co. and Monique Elliott, Chief Marketing Officer, ABB Electrification Products, Industrial Solutions, ABB have been heavily focused on this concept of leveraging internal expertise with the external community to drive customer experience and growth. Steve and Monique will explore external communities and internal expertise as a way to become a trusted, unique and sustainable online destination, including:
• Building credibility to cut through the noise and increase trade
• Creating online communities for people to access information
• Injecting thought leadership and guidance across channels to support customers
• Differentiating in a way that is valuable, unique and sustainable
9:00 am - 9:25 am
Keynote Case Study: Transformation from BI to AI, Building the Customer Genome
Pavan Arora -
Chief AI Officer,
Aramark
As the first Chief AI Officer of a Fortune 500 company, Pavan Arora’s ultimate goal is to drive digital transformation at Aramark. Drawing from his previous role as Chief Data Officer at IBM Watson, Pavan understands how to leverage data as the fuel for the AI engine. At the center of this transformation has been a desire to get smarter about the customer, Pavan will share lessons learned in building a 360 degree view of the customer, including:
• Applying AI to be smarter about your customers
• Driving personalization from promotions to pricing
• Current and future use cases for AI in marketing
9:25 am - 9:55 am
B2B Tonight, This Morning! Not Your Average Keynote Panel!: The Digital Revolution Is A Culture Evolution, Driving Internal Change Management
Shalin Shah -
VP, Omnichannel and eCommerce,
Georgia-Pacific LLC
Sophia Drivalas -
Director, eCommerce,
Home Depot Pro.
Tom Williams -
VP eBusiness Practice,
C2-Competitive
Jason Michaels -
Managing Director,
Accenture Interactive
Eric Johnson -
Manager, Digital Marketing, Safety and Industrial Business Group, Marketing Center,
3M
For most businesses, adopting digital can feel like reengineering the entire business. The journey starts with people, from those who thrive in moments of change, to those who fear it. Find out how to be a champion of digital change with the support of senior management and overcome cultural challenges in large scale digital transformation. Panelists will share success stories and actionable insights including:
• Driving alignment across silos and determining old processes to discontinue as a way to rally the troops
• Breaking past fear, communicating with teams in ways that are meaningful to them
• Examining how collaborative your company culture is to achieve cross-functional alignment and be competitive in an era of digital revolution
• Knowing what should be in your proposals to activate leadership to invest in digital
Eric Johnson
Manager, Digital Marketing, Safety and Industrial Business Group, Marketing Center3M
9:55 am - 10:40 am
Donut Worry Break In The Expo
Join us to kickoff your experience and make new connections. Do not miss the donut wall for a sugar jolt!
10:40 am - 11:05 am
Keynote: Building and Staffing a Center of Excellence to Drive Digital Transformation
Portia Mount -
Vice President and Global Leader, Strategic Marketing,
Ingersoll Rand
Industrial companies are facing the huge challenge of how to re-think about the ways they reach and sell to customers, which is underlying a broader marketing transformation. Portia Mount was brought on as Vice President and Global Leader of Strategic Marketing at Ingersoll Rand to create a center of excellence to build up marketing capabilities to serve the entire enterprise. As a trained executive coach, Portia knows leadership and understands what kind of people are needed to drive transformation to deliver on broader strategy. Hear lessons learned on this journey and next steps, including:
• Defining capabilities, including digital marketing, brand management, demand creation, and marketing analytics and understanding the need for center brained marketers
• Developing a global governing council across the business and creating standardized and repeatable work across capabilities
• Being an agent of change, upskilling marketers within defined capabilities and hiring leaders to drive transformation and capitalize on growth
11:05 am - 11:25 am
Keynote Case Study: Redefining Personalization in B2B eCommerce
Brian Strojny -
Co-Founder,
Insite Software
Jim Nerone -
Chief Information Officer,
Buyers Products
When it comes to personalization it is important to remember the B2B buying cycle is more complex than that of B2C. Yet many B2B eCommerce vendors and representing personalization in a way that reflects a B2C customer experience. In order to redefine what it means for personalization in B2B eCommerce we first need to examine the differences between B2C and B2B.
In this presentation Brian Strojny, Co-founder of Insite Software and Jim Nerone, Chief Information Officer at Buyers Products will discuss:
• Why personalization is important in B2B eCommerce
• The differences between B2C and B2B personalization
• How to utilize data and intelligence to improve your personalization efforts
11:25 am - 11:55 am
Keynote Panel Discussion: Driving Disruption, Harnessing Platform Models to Capitalize on Growth
Adrien Nussenbaum -
CEO & Co-Founder,
Mirakl
Joachim Leistner-Weisgerber -
Commercial Head of Spare Parts Rolling Stock,
Siemens AG
Nick Ostergaard -
Manager, eCommerce Sales & Operations and Marketing Systems,
Toyota Material Handling USA, Inc.
Christopher Shen -
Senior eCommerce Manager,
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Board members are putting pressure on CEOs to be more disruptive - to think and act more like companies like Uber and Airbnb - businesses that don’t own the assets that they make money from. B2B companies are taking advantage of complementary platform & marketplace business models to evolve their business. These platforms bring better visibility into channel partner inventory and allow companies to reach more customers without channel conflict. eCommerce leaders will share success stories on how they’ve driven the business forward. and learned more about their customers, including:
• Gathering more data from customers to provide a great experience in a one-stop shop
• Selling products outside of your brand to keep up with an increasing ecosystem
• Creating new revenue streams without channel conflict
Nick Ostergaard
Manager, eCommerce Sales & Operations and Marketing SystemsToyota Material Handling USA, Inc.
11:55 am - 12:15 pm
KEYNOTE CASE STUDY: Innovation Fuels B2B Commerce Success: Building Disruption Into Your Business Plan
Andrej Maihorn -
Vice President, Customer Innovations,
Intershop
The evolution of commerce is happening faster than ever, driven by customer demand and technological innovation. Customer touchpoints are increasing, the influence of big data is growing, and reality of IoT and connected commerce has arrived. Embrace technical disruption with a strategy that enables ongoing tech adoption to deliver on business goals and customer expectations.
12:15 pm - 12:45 pm
Keynote Panel Discussion: Designing A More Customer Centric and Agile Digital Organization
Matthew Clark -
Vice President, Global Head, eCommerce & Digital Marketing, Premier Farnell,
Avnet
Robert Befidi -
Vice President, Global Solutions, 3M Medical Solutions Division,
3M
Jon Panella -
Group Vice President, Global Commerce Alliances & Strategy,
Publicis Sapient
Jason Michaels -
Managing Director,
Accenture Interactive
Scott Frymire -
Senior Vice President, Marketing,
Unilog
Evolving customer demographics are tremendously influencing digital transformation, but what does customer centricity mean in a B2B environment? What does it mean to be a more agile and flexible eCommerce organization? How can you create an overall picture of your customer as the foundation of your strategy? Leaders in digital will open up the curtains around how to keep the customer at the heart of digital transformation, including:
• Becoming more responsive to customer needs using digital strategies
• Aligning digital marketing, customer experience and sales to delight the customer and exceed their expectations
• Continually keeping up with customer sophistication to be responsive
• Building customer-driven design solutions using digital
Matthew Clark
Vice President, Global Head, eCommerce & Digital Marketing, Premier FarnellAvnet
12:45 pm - 2:00 pm Lunch for All Attendees
12:45 pm - 2:00 pm Private Lunch Hosted by Salesforce
12:45 pm - 2:00 pm Private Lunch Hosted by Solstice
Omni and Operational Excellence
Content and Personalization
Track B
2:00 pm - 2:10 pm Chairperson’s Opening Address Jeff Pratt - Commerce Experience Practice Director, VerndaleInterested in showcasing thought leadership as Chairperson?
Contact Alicia Upchurch 646.200.7452 or alicia.upchurch@wbresearch.com
Growth Strategies, Marketplaces and Global Expansion
Track C
2:00 pm - 2:10 pm Chairperson’s Opening Address Brian Beck - Commerce Strategist and Advisor, Guidance
(Manufacturers and Distributors Only) Interactive Track
Track D
2:00 pm - 2:35 pm B2B Manufacturer Campfire Chat Dave Krohn - Director, Digital Marketing & Communications, Zurn Industries Ales Drabek - Chief Digital & Disruption Officer, Conrad Electronics SERelax by the “fire” and hear from an eCommerce executive in manufacturing about a success and a failure learning opportunity. Then in an open, distributor only discussion, share your story, ask questions of your peers and walk away with a few new takeaways to implement on your return.
Limited to 20 manufacturer executives, first-come, first-served.
Topic: Implementing CPQ, Lessons Learned and Next Steps
2:10 pm - 2:35 pm Case Study: Revamping the Channel Program, Taking Costs Out and Measuring ROI
Nina LoCicero - Director, Marketing and Digital, Johnson ControlsOmni channel programs have quickly grown and expanded over the last few years as brands capitalize on emerging channels and new market opportunities, but how can you be confident that your omni-channel program is financially viable? Nina LoCicero, Director of Marketing and Digital Controls at Johnson Controls and her team spent 8 months assessing the entire channel program to make it more viable from a financial and customer standpoint. From launching the program early to achieving significant cost savings, hear lessons learned including:
- Mapping and measuring the customer journey
- Defining metrics to measure ROI and determine financial viability
- Streamlining communication across the board and getting alignment from marketing to sales to distribution
2:10 pm - 2:35 pm Case Study: One Size Does Not Fit All: Enabling Search That Works for Your Customers and Products
Michael O'Shea - VP of eCommerce & Product Management, Parts TownAll products and companies are not created equal. Their customers have unique search needs when it comes to finding and buying the products and services offered. Search functionality should align with your target customer and how they want to find your products. Michael O'Shea, SVP, eCommerce & IT for Parts Town has been focused on building search capabilities that empower customers and reduce dependency on the sales teams so they can focus on new business. Find out how to align your search with your customers and their unique needs, including:
- Optimizing navigation and discoverability with large amounts of complex products
- Building non-traditional search tools for your specific industry or products
- Mining data to drive continuous improvement of search results
2:10 pm - 2:35 pm Case Study: Two Birds, One Stone, Relaunching a Global Digital Business Platform with Marketplace Capability
Michael Ali - Chief Technology Officer, Omega EngineeringOperationalizing marketplaces and global expansion are two of the latest actions B2B businesses are focusing on to achieve growth. For businesses looking to quickly capitalize on these opportunities, these efforts are happening in tandem. Michael Ali was hired as the first CIO for Omega Engineering and added digital to his role, partnering with the new CMO to drive digital transformation. Find out how he and the team simultaneously upgraded legacy sites for global markets from the UK to China while also developing a marketplace strategy, including:
- Considerations for platforms to support marketplace strategy
- Finding the right balance between central control and local flavor
- Improving the ease of use for new global sites
2:00 pm - 2:35 pm B2B Manufacturer Campfire Chat
Dave Krohn - Director, Digital Marketing & Communications, Zurn Industries Ales Drabek - Chief Digital & Disruption Officer, Conrad Electronics SERelax by the “fire” and hear from an eCommerce executive in manufacturing about a success and a failure learning opportunity. Then in an open, distributor only discussion, share your story, ask questions of your peers and walk away with a few new takeaways to implement on your return.
Limited to 20 manufacturer executives, first-come, first-served.
Topic: Implementing CPQ, Lessons Learned and Next Steps
2:35 pm - 2:55 pm Case Study: How Partsmaster Began Selling Online, Engaging Dormant Accounts, And Laid The Foundation For Digital Success
Ed Kennedy - Senior Commerce Director, Episerver Robert Debault - Chief Software Architect, PartsmasterIn this session Robert Debault from Partsmaster along with Ed Kennedy from Episerver will present the journey Partsmaster embarked on to transform their digital experience and ecommerce site including enabling online ordering, account sign-ups, and request for quote functions. Partsmaster is a premier Maintenance, Repair & Operations (MRO) solutions provider dedicated to keeping our customers running. Our. industry-leading solutions increase customer productivity, improve user safety, increase asset longevity and promote environmental responsibility. Partsmaster was established in 1968 as a division of NCH Corporation, a global leader in industrial and commercial maintenance products and services since 1919. NCH has over 8,500 employees worldwide with offices and manufacturing facilities located on five continents. NCH is relied upon by companies in over 50 countries to solve maintenance problems with the most innovative and effective products and services.
2:35 pm - 2:55 pm Case Study: Switching Up B2B eCommerce Standards With 360° Imagery to Improve CX
Jeff Hunt - CEO, Snap36 Howie Hsu - Director, Digital Experience, Eaton Lighting Stacey Ostermann - Director, Development & Operations, Allied Electronics & AutomationGetting the right part the first time is critical in a fast paced environment. Snap36 has worked with both Siemens and Allied Electronics & Automation to improve the online buying experience for their customers. Both Allied and Siemens are building more trust and confidence with online buyers by allowing them to control all aspects of the product viewing experience. During this presentation, Snap36 CEO Jeff Hunt will join Howie Hsu, Director, Digital Experience, Eaton Lighting and Stacey Ostermann, Director of Development & Operations at Allied Electronics & Automation, to discuss how these 3 innovative and progressive companies are partnering to achieve:
• An efficient virtual product experience that improves the eCommerce buying experience
• Delivery of the right part the first time every time, increasing confidence and reducing returns
• Brand differentiation by becoming a ‘first-mover’ with enhanced product content
• Ownership of a robust product asset library that suppliers can use for syndication across all partner channels
2:35 pm - 2:55 pm Case Study: Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Commerce in B2B with PWA’s
Peter Sheldon - Senior Director, Strategy, Magento, an Adobe CompanyThe status quo for B2B firms seeking to engage with their buyers though mobile has been to "build an app", but apps are expensive to develop and maintain for all but the biggest of firms. Now there's a new sheriff in town - Progressive Web Apps (PWA's) which promise to revolutionize todays mediocre mobile web experiences and deliver engaging “app like” experiences that are lightning fast, fluid and contextual. In this session, Adobe’s Peter Sheldon will discuss the global impact of PWAs and provide practical tips on how B2B firms can drive mobile growth and engagement with this new technology.
2:35 pm - 3:25 pm B2B Distributor Campfire Chat
Ales Drabek - Chief Digital & Disruption Officer, Conrad Electronics SE Dave Krohn - Director, Digital Marketing & Communications, Zurn IndustriesRelax by the “fire” and hear from an eCommerce executive in manufacturing about a success and a failure learning opportunity. Then in an open, manufacturer only discussion, share your story, ask questions of your peers and walk away with a few new takeaways to implement on your return.
Limited to 20 manufacturer executives, first-come, first-served.
Leveraging B2C Principles in a B2B Environment
2:55 pm - 3:25 pm Panel Discussion Remix: Optimizing Your Multi-channel Strategy for eCommerce Success
Kyle Hilbrenner - VP of Digital Marketing, Repair Clinic Bill Di Nardo - CEO, Pivotree Howard Blumenthal - Senior Director, eCommerce, Kaman Industrial Technologies Jody Yeganeh - Senior Director, Digital Marketing & eCommerce, Lawson Products Josh Schoonmaker - Director, Digital Solutions, Consolidated Supply Khrysti Nazzaro - Vice President, Brand Strategy, MoreVisibility Dale Traxler - Vice President, Commerce, RightpointWhile businesses focus on ramping up the eCommerce channel to drive growth, it remains a vital cog as part of a broader strategy. Customers want a multi-channel experience to help them meet their business needs in an easy way. How do all of these pieces fit together? Panelists will share how to successes to help you:
- Optimize the channel footprint
- Get the channels to work together and not cannibalize each other
- Avoid and manage channel conflict
- Determine when to go direct with other channel partners
2:55 pm - 3:25 pm Panel Discussion Remix: Reviewing the Ins and Outs of Personalization to Drive Revenue
Jeff Pratt - Commerce Experience Practice Director, Verndale Guillaume Deudon - Director, Customer Experience Services, Chicago Digital Marketplace Center, The Dow Chemical Company Rocky Sharma - Sr. Director, Product Management, eCommerce, Builddirect Brian Strojny - Co-Founder, Insite Software Eric Rehl - Director, Digital Business, Rockwell AutomationPersonalization is one of the most exciting data-driven opportunities B2B marketers are investing in. We’ve all experienced personalization as B2C buyers, but what does personalization mean in B2B? How can you provide relevant information to current and potential customers? How can it be used to show value over competition? How can you use search metrics for a more personalized web experience? Hear from early adopters of personalization to find out how to:
- Get personal to one person when it’s an aggregated purchase
- Capitalize on spend data through multiple opportunities
- Take an offline experience and provide it virtually with a sense of personalization at a lower cost
- Leverage personalization to support catering to high value customers
Guillaume Deudon
Director, Customer Experience Services, Chicago Digital Marketplace CenterThe Dow Chemical Company
2:55 pm - 3:25 pm Panel Discussion Remix: Going Global, Scaling and Growing the eCommerce Business
Brian Beck - Commerce Strategist and Advisor, Guidance Ken Novak - Global eBusiness Marketing Manager, Parker Hannifin Nils Timmermann - Head of eCommerce, North America, Ottobock David Harrelson - Vice President, Customer Experience GTM Leader, Lyons Consulting GroupeCommerce is opening up the world, making global business easier, but not without growing pains! From language and cultural considerations to operations, logistics and IT capabilities, global eCommerce requires a different toolkit. Find out how to handle the challenges when operating in different international areas and foundational considerations, including:
- Understanding how to personalize to different countries
- Knowing what converts from a website and content perspective
- Going beyond translation to gain penetration and adoption
- Optimizing websites and platforms for multi language geographies
2:35 pm - 3:25 pm B2B Distributor Campfire Chat
Ales Drabek - Chief Digital & Disruption Officer, Conrad Electronics SE Dave Krohn - Director, Digital Marketing & Communications, Zurn IndustriesRelax by the “fire” and hear from an eCommerce executive in manufacturing about a success and a failure learning opportunity. Then in an open, manufacturer only discussion, share your story, ask questions of your peers and walk away with a few new takeaways to implement on your return.
Limited to 20 manufacturer executives, first-come, first-served.
Leveraging B2C Principles in a B2B Environment
3:25 pm - 4:10 pm
Margarita Monday Break In The Expo Hosted by InteractOne
Enjoy a tasty margarita (frozen or on the rocks!) and churros to keep up your energy for the last half of Day 1 to keep your note-taking going!
4:10 pm - 5:25 pm
Invite Only Private Tasting Hosted By Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Omni and Operational Excellence
4:10 pm - 4:40 pm Case Study Remix: How to Easily Add $370,000 To Your Marketing Budget Through Social Media Advocacy Selling Programs*
Charlie Riley - Director, Marketing, Curbell Plastics, Inc.*This presentation on employee advocacy programs via social media selling will not guarantee a $370K bump in your marketing budget, but it will show you the steps to get there by extending your company’s marketing reach through your employees use of social media selling. Charlie Riley, Director of Marketing for Curbell Plastics, Inc. understands the value of social selling. Find out how he coaches the sales team and develops content marketing to leverage platforms like LinkedIn for lead nurturing and more, including:
• How to create and distribute content marketing to your sales team when you may not have the resources to do it alone
• Understanding social media platforms with high customer engagement and how to use that for prospecting and branding
• Tying social and digital resources to the CRM to get people in the pipeline and understand what products/services they may be interested in
• Utilizing social advocacy to recruit employees, drive more leads and grow website activity
• Developing online relationships to replace cold calls and know who your hotter prospects are
Content and Personalization
4:10 pm - 4:40 pm Case Study Remix: Activating a Grassroots Content Strategy Using Storytelling
Paul Shrater - Co-Founder & COO, Minimus LLCContent is exploding at a rapid rate and emotive content continually cuts through the noise. Paul Shrater, Co-founder & COO, Minimus.biz was a writer and producer in TV and film in the earlier part of his career and understands that modern day marketing is mimicking the concept of storytelling from the entertainment industry. As B2B businesses ramp up content strategies, it’s a great opportunity to break the rules to speak from a place of authenticity and produce low-budget and compelling content that appeals to buyers on a human level. Paul will explain how he’s taking this storytelling approach in his quickly growing foodservice distribution business, including:
- Understanding customer pain points and solving them in an entertaining way
- Building authenticity and authority in the content you’ve created
- The roles of influencers and low budget B2C approaches that captivate the human buyer
Growth Strategies, Marketplaces and Global Expansion
4:10 pm - 4:40 pm Case Study Remix: Building a Marketplace to Capitalize on Growth
Ales Drabek - Chief Digital & Disruption Officer, Conrad Electronics SEReviewing the industry landscape, Ales Drabek, Chief Digital & Disruption Officer, Conrad Electronic SE recognized that Germany is the second biggest market for Amazon, while Alibaba plans to launch their platform in Europe soon. He and his team realized the timing was critical to create a platform strategy to be able to offer B2B customers a one-stop shopping experience for all technical products. Hear Ales Drabek share the story of transforming a 95 year old retailer and distributor into a platform company that leverages service and the IoT platform to offer customers innovative solutions to meet their needs.
- Reviewing lessons learned from the development of multiple B2B platforms
- B2B Product Marketplace for technical orientated customers
- B2C services marketplace as test for B2B services platform launch
- IoT B2B services platform for connected devices
- Activating marketing, fulfillment and customer service to deliver on marketplace growth
Manufacturers and Distributors Only Interactive Workstream
4:10 pm - 5:25 pm VIP Think Tank Hosted by Accenture
Kevin Doohan - Managing Director, Accenture InteractiveExecutive Speaker to be Confirmed, Accenture
Exclusive to 30 executives
A bespoke meeting providing Heads of Digital the opportunity to address a specific concern in the privacy of a closed-door session.
4:40 pm - 5:00 pm Case Study: Harnessing B2B Growth Opportunities With eProcurement to Make Purchasing Easier
Brady Behrman - CEO, PunchOut2Go Kyriakos Zannikos - Commercial Leader, Global eCommerce, GE HealthcareThe B2B market is continuing a rapid pace of growth, and buyers are increasingly leveraging eProcurement systems. It’s mission critical for merchants, distributors and suppliers to move from a reactive state to build proactive strategies to expand the ways buyers can purchase from suppliers. Brady Behrman, CEO for PunchOut2Go will share best practices to help lead suppliers down the path towards eProcurement success to make purchasing easier. Find out how to grow existing accounts and win new opportunities, while making it easy and seamless for customers to purchase from your organization.
- Understand eProcurement and why it is important to your customers
- Grow existing accounts, win new opportunities and close deals faster
- Increase order accuracy while improving customer stickiness and retention
- Lower the cost to serve your customers
4:40 pm - 5:00 pm Case Study: Growing Digital Revenues By Combining e-Commerce & Account Management With AI Drive Personalization
Robb Miller - SVP, Americas, Rich Relevance Jamie Werve - Director, eCommerce Strategy, Insight EnterprisesB2B buyers are now digitally mature; they’ve been shaped by the B2C world around them and they’ve brought those expectations into their B2B life. So why don’t B2B digital experiences live up to B2C experiences? Endless catalogs, nuanced contractual requirements, multiple buyers, account management and complex buying processes make the self-service digital experience remit difficult to live up to. B2B leaders are turning to personalization to simplify, guide, and differentiate. Come learn how B2B companies are using personalization technologies to create superior ecommerce buyer experiences.
4:40 pm - 5:00 pm Case Study: Relevance to Revenue: How Buyer-Driven Experiences Can Create Business-Driving Results
Brandon Spear - President, MSTS Chris Schermer - President, SCHERMERIn this high energy presentation, MSTS President, Brandon Spear, and Schermer CEO, Chris Schermer show you how to create a buyer-driven purchasing experience. Using real-world case studies, Brandon and Chris will present effective solutions to help your business grow. Attend this engaging session to learn what happens when buying and brand experience come together.
Key Takeaways:
• Design business processes to support customer needs, not internal infrastructure
• Create personalized experiences so customers can buy how, when and where they want
• Hear real world examples from B2B leaders who have taken this approach
4:10 pm - 5:25 pm VIP Think Tank Hosted by Accenture
Kevin Doohan - Managing Director, Accenture InteractiveExecutive Speaker to be Confirmed, Accenture
Exclusive to 30 executives
A bespoke meeting providing Heads of Digital the opportunity to address a specific concern in the privacy of a closed-door session.
5:00 pm - 5:25 pm Lightning Round Panel: Consolidating Online And Offline Data For A 360-Degree View Of The Custome
Bill Di Nardo - CEO, Pivotree Jennie Stenback - Vice President, Marketing, Communications & Digital Strategy, 3Wire Group: A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company Howard Blumenthal - Senior Director, eCommerce, Kaman Industrial Technologies Shalin Shah - VP, Omnichannel and eCommerce, Georgia-Pacific LLC Matthew Conrad - Director, Product & Segment Marketing, Ingersoll RandMarketers are quickly capitalizing on the value of data to gain a better understanding of the customer. Through spend data, buyer behavior and more, you can build a more comprehensive view of the customer to better anticipate their needs, improve customer experience and increase purchases. Data centric marketers will share actionable insights to leverage data, including:
- Sharing PIM across channels for top insights into order process, beginning to end
- Establishing real-time collections of product sales data across channels
- Integrating customer data through RFP, future business plans and objectives for product demand
- Pulling in online pricing model configuration to see how the customer is digitally interacting with product
Jennie Stenback
Vice President, Marketing, Communications & Digital Strategy3Wire Group: A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company
5:00 pm - 5:25 pm Lightning Round Panel: Advancing and Improving Your Content Strategy to Drive Customer Engagement
Jeff Pratt - Commerce Experience Practice Director, Verndale Lindsay Herda - VP, Marketing, Ergodyne Jesse Lazarus - Chief Process and Innovation Officer, Kravet Inc. Christine Owens - VP of Marketing, BayWa r.e. Solar Systems Ricky Hernandez - Senior Director, Sales and Merchandising, eCommerce Channel, Avery Products Corporation Corbin Faber - Director, Managed Services, ConductorContent’s reign as king has created a lot of noise. Customers expect high quality content and good content can increase engagement and improve retention. What considerations should you make to improve your content strategy? How do you decide what content you need and determine where to expand? Panelists will answer these questions and more, including:
- How do you reuse content and integrate to omni channel without multiple reauthorizations?
- How do you improve the content of your site?
- How should you scale content and drive results through SEO?
- What types of content captivates your customers?
Ricky Hernandez
Senior Director, Sales and Merchandising, eCommerce ChannelAvery Products Corporation
5:00 pm - 5:25 pm Lightning Round Panel: Competing With and Participating in Marketplaces While Maintaining Margin
Brian Beck - Commerce Strategist and Advisor, Guidance Jospeh McGoldrick - Senior Director, Marketing, Philips Healthcare Miriam Metcalfe - Marketing Manager, Dormer Pramet Charlie Riley - Director, Marketing, Curbell Plastics, Inc.The marketplace model has disrupted B2B eCommerce and it’s here to stay. Marketplaces offer the opportunity to reach more customers and create an easy experience for the buyer, but the ease and growth potential are not without challenges. Pricing pressures and brand integrity are among some of the top concerns of B2B businesses when capitalizing on marketplace opportunities, but solutions are already out there to balance these concerns while growing the business. Early adopters of marketplaces will shed light on how thrive in a marketplace economy, including:
- Navigating relationships between manufacturer and distributor where there are different marketplace approaches
- Considerations for setting pricing you can rely on a global scale
- Limiting short term incentives like promotional pricing and coupons for a long-terms pricing strategy
- Different strategies for different categories: testing which pricing models work best per product vertical
4:10 pm - 5:25 pm VIP Think Tank Hosted by Accenture
Kevin Doohan - Managing Director, Accenture InteractiveExecutive Speaker to be Confirmed, Accenture
Exclusive to 30 executives
A bespoke meeting providing Heads of Digital the opportunity to address a specific concern in the privacy of a closed-door session.
5:25 pm - 5:30 pm
Please take these 5-minutes to make your way to the Roundtables, Think Tank, Business Card Swap, or Business Partners Meet-Up
5:25 pm - 5:30 pm
Business Partner Meet-Up
Digital transformation requires a lot of technology and support, with many solutions requiring one another to support digital transformation. Take this opportunity to meet up with your fellow business partners in the exhibit hall, meet old colleagues and peers and seek out new connections to drive your business forward.
5:30 pm - 6:20 pm Beer Bucket and B2B Roundtables
Paul Wlodarczyk - Vice President, Digital Practice, Dakota Systems Mark Bartlett - Chief Experience Officer, FPX Brian Strojny - Co-Founder, Insite Software William Dunn - President, Dunn Solutions David Crouch - President, ten24 Digital Solutions Jill Steinhour - Marketing Executive - High tech/B2B, Adobe Andrej Maihorn - Vice President, Customer Innovations, Intershop Jordan Hahn - Senior CPQ Product Manager, Vendavo, Inc. Corbin Faber - Director, Managed Services, Conductor Patrick Cadic - Head of Merchant, Ware2Go Steven Engelbrecht - President & Founder, Sitation Steve Miller - Partner, XCentium Andy Peebler - Vice President, B2B Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud Laura Madden - Vice President, Retail Solutions, Transperfect (20 Roundtable Discussions Available Only For Manufacturers And Distributors)
These interactive sessions are your opportunity to learn about the most innovative digital and omni-channel solutions on the market in a relaxed setting. Each roundtable will have a specific theme for you to learn from. A highlight of B2B Online, roundtable discussions are your best opportunity to deep-dive into discussions and idea-share with your peers. You pick 2 themes during this session. Priority seating for Manufacturers And Distributors. To sponsor a roundtable, contact alicia.upchurch@wbresearch.com
1.Customer-Centric Thinking: Making Personalization Real & Practical
Paul Wlodarczyk, Vice President, Digital Practice, Dakota Systems
2.Co-Creating Success: How B2B Sellers Connect With Modern Buyers
Hosted by Mark Bartlett, Chief Experience Officer, FPX
3.Redefining Personalization in B2B eCommerce
Hosted by Brian Strojny, Co-founder, Insite Software
4.Executing On Your Digital Strategy For Growth And Innovation
Hosted by Andrej Maihorn, Vice President, Customer Innovations, Intershop
5.Unleash Mighty B2B Commerce Experiences by Adobe Experience Cloud
Hosted by Jill Steinhour, Marketing Executive - High tech/B2B,Adobe
6.Maximizing Online Growth and Connecting Commerce With Everything
Andy Peebler, Vice President, B2B Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud
7.The Value of a Global Content Strategy
Laura Madden, Vice President, Retail Solutions, Transperfect
8.Beyond The Hype Of AI And Machine Learning – What’s Real And How To Use It?
William Dunn, President, Dunn Solutions
9.How To Make Sure Your B2B eCommerce Platform Makes Money
Jordan Hahn, Senior CPQ Product Manager, Vendavo, Inc.
10.Successful B2B Ecommerce Starts with a Roadmap: Platform Best Practices
David Crouch, President, ten24 Digital Solutions
11.Help People, Don't Just Sell Stuff: Using Search to Create Content Customers Need
Corbin Faber, Director, Managed Services, Conductor
12.Designing A Scalable and Elastic Distribution Network
Patrick Cadic, Head of Merchant, Ware2Go
13. 5 Hidden Costs in B2B E-Commerce: Finding and Eliminating Dysfunction in the Digital Channel
Steve Engelbrecht, President & Founder, Sitation
14. The ROI Case for B2B eCommerce
Steve Miller, Partner, XCentium
15. The Secret Steps to Creating a Design First Organization
Will Krispin, Vice President, Enterprise Partnerships, SketchDeck
Laura Madden
Vice President, Retail SolutionsTransperfect
5:30 pm - 6:20 pm C-Level Innovation Forum
Paul Lin - CEO, Drillspot.comFor C-Level Manufacturers and Distributors, this is an open forum to talk innovation
Exercise your minds and leverage those who are exploring today’s top tech. Together, discuss B2B’s current environment, and where you think areas of growth (or decline!) may be. Validate your ideas. Inspire others. Discover partnering opportunities. Get an “outside-in” unique point of view to discover diverse thinking that can transform your mindset—for both you and your business.
Limited to 20 C-Level M&D executives, first-come, first-served.
5:30 pm - 6:20 pm Small to Mid-Size Company Meet-Up
Paul Shrater - Co-Founder & COO, Minimus LLC(Limited to 25 participants from manufacturers and distributors only)
Small to mid-size manufacturers and distributors are capitalizing on the growth of eCommerce and everyone is at a different point on their digital transformation journey. This is your opportunity to meet peers and create new connections. During this structured meet-up you will:
• Outline your business priorities
• Reveal your pain points
• Share your learning objectives at B2B Online
6:20 pm - 7:20 pm
B2B Welcome Carnival Reception In The Expo
Unwind after a content packed day of learning and enjoy delicious fare and entertainment in the Expo! Reconnect with old colleagues, make new connections and peruse the latest innovations to enhance your digital business.