“There's a lot of automation that can happen that isn't a replacement of humans but of mind-numbing behavior.” —Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Flickr and Slack

Think of all the tasks you do throughout the week. How many are repetitive or tedious? How many would you qualify as “mind-numbing behavior”? How often do you input data or information manually?

In a 2017 WorkMarket survey, 53% of employees claimed they can free up to two hours a day through automation (totaling 240 hours a year), and for business leaders, those numbers jump to three hours a day (totaling 360 hours a year).  Instead of spending time on manual entry and other monotonous tasks, you can use this free time to perform more productive, higher-level thinking tasks. Tasks that a robot could not possibly perform, such as strategic decision-making and innovation. 72% of surveyed information workers believe automation will allow them to focus on more valuable work.

How does this apply to trade shows and events? 

For anyone that is responsible for trade show leads, it’s easy to pinpoint those areas of your job that are incredibly time-consuming. Manually entering leads from hundreds of trade shows probably tops the list, whether it be formatting and uploading a CSV file or inputting data one by one into your CRM system. This is where automation becomes your best friend. Through a mobile lead capture solution like iCapture, you will never need to manually input a lead into your CRM system again. Yes, you read that right. No more manual entry ever again. Instead, you can spend your time on your many other, and likely higher-value, projects.

How does it work? Instead of using rented lead scanners that vary from event to event or collecting business cards and hope they all make it back to the office, iCapture allows you to use your smartphone or tablet to scan badges and business cards. Those scans instantly process and sync to your integrated CRM system, bypassing the tiresome part of manually entering each lead. Not only is your life better, but sales and marketing can go straight to work post-show and follow-up with leads.

How does it really work? 

In most cases, iCapture uses API requests to send data to your CRM or MA system, including Marketo, Salesforce, Eloqua, Pardot, Hubspot, to name a few. When the initial integration is created, we receive an access token and a refresh token (depending on the system). These are used to authenticate into your CRM system.

Since we are using the API requests, there is nothing to install or configure within your CRM instance.

We understand that every company’s workflow is different. Our team of specialists works with you to ensure compatibility and consistency depending on your tech stack and trade show process. During the launch process our Client Success Team partners with you to ensure the data flows into your system as it applies to your workflows. Each launch plan is customized specifically to meet your team’s needs and processes.

This automation not only creates efficiencies, but it also provides sales and marketing teams with a consistent solution for capturing trade show and event leads. With this consistency, companies are able to gain a better understanding of the quality of leads captured at each event and take a more strategic approach to their trade show lead processes.

Ready to check out some specific examples? Check out our Client Success Stories here.