On Tuesday 21st November, the 2023 Innov8 Insights LIVE event finally arrived. The buzz created in the months and weeks leading up to the day was unmatched, both from customers and our wonderful Innov8er’s, and it certainly lived up to the hype!
The venue we chose in the heart of Halifax was incredible; the perfect place to welcome our guests (if you’re looking for a venue in the Halifax area, look them up - The Arches @ Dean Clough) and although it was a chilly day outside, the Innov8 team welcomed our guests with rays of warmth, all enthused with excitement for what had been promised to be an event to remember.
After a warm welcome at registration, the guests took their seats and received their Innov8 goody bags and a big warm welcome from Innov8 Managing Director, Carl Maher, who kicked things off with how far we’ve come in the last year, our Get Further Faster mission and how Innov8 are immensely proud to take customers on that mission too by putting them at the heart of what we do.
Never one to under-deliver, Carl even managed to get Steve Hare, CEO at Sage PLC to record a short welcome message to customers, which was incredibly exciting and really demonstrated our strong relationship with Sage as a Sage Business Partner.
Following on from Carl we had a jam-packed day of insightful and informative sessions from some of the Sage team, Microsoft and, of course, our own Innov8er’s on lots of great topics; from ‘Tech Adoption’, ‘Microsoft 365 Collaboration’ and ‘Demystifying Sage Addons’ through to The Engagement Revolution. All the sessions were interactive, giving customers opportunity to ask questions and engage frequently throughout.
With frequent breaks to network, socialise and speak to some of our guest partners from Phocas, Webexpenses, Yooz, Draycir, Realisable, Sicon, Eureka, Inventory Planner and TD Synnex, customers were able to seek out information and thought-provoking new solutions for themselves.
All in all, the day's agenda went incredibly smoothly and the initial buzz that radiated throughout the morning only grew more as we rounded the day off with Chris Housecroft announcing our raffle prize winners (an Apple HomePod, a Fortnum and Mason hamper, 2 Amazon Echos and lots more) which were donated and awarded by our partners.
Although the daytime was finished, there was more – ‘ain’t no after-event party like an Innov8 after-event party!’ We hosted a customer dinner in the evening and held the Innov8 Customer Awards, where we awarded customers for milestones on their own Get Further, Faster missions. The awards and respective customer winners were as follows:
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Further, Faster Award 2023 – Nominees - Freedom Finance - Aro; Whitby Seafoods and Paystream. Winner – Paystream
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Customer Success Award 2023 – Nominees - Online Home Shop; Fenton Packaging and Rakem. Winner – Online Home Shop
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Excellence Through Innovation Award 2023 – Nominees – Formkraft, Herose and Flue & Ducting. Winner – Herose
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Digital Transformation Award 2023 – Nominees - Alex Stewart, Main Line Bearings and B&J Toys. Winner – B & J Toys
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Building on Sage Award 2023 – Nominees – Flowtech, Beaucare Medical, Daleba/GSPK. Winner – Flowtech
It really was a day (and night) of celebrating our customers, our partners and Team Innov8. And whilst we’re a humble bunch, the feedback we’ve had from attendees has been truly amazing. Customer’s have gone away and reached out the next day with an abundance of positivity to say how much they loved seeing the passion, knowledge and expertise on display and that they could see just how much every member of staff loves being an Innov8'er.
We can’t wait to see everyone again next time – and some new faces too, as this isn’t just a customer event!
We already have the date for next year provisonally booked - Watch this space.
Our Event Team of Gemma Rowley, Michael Armstrong and Chris Housecroft definitely need some time to recover after pulling all of this together (well done) and in the meantime, we know this was the perfect event to wrap up 2023 and take us into 2024 with that same Innov8 energy to continue to Get Further, Faster.
Want to access the dedicated event page? Get access here.