How Informatica Cloud's content stays fresh and relevant

As the VP of Marketing for the Informatica Cloud, Darren Cunningham supports an inside sales team. He is responsible for providing that team with leads, tools, and the marketing materials they need to be successful. Darren’s business unit—which provides subscription-based integration services—is experiencing exceptional growth and people need to react very quickly, even by the standards of a dynamic industry. With 3 – 4 releases per year, there’s an ongoing, urgent need for content that’s up to date and a system that’s flexible to manage. “We just move at a different pace, so we needed different tools,” Darren said.

When Darren joined Informatica two years ago, he recalls being given a Document tab in Salesforce and access to Sharepoint. While reviewing the materials–when he could find them–he realized that those materials were often inconsistent, stale, and redundant. Given this state of affairs, it was not surprising that the reps weren’t using the materials and were creating and distributing presentations ad hoc. “It was a massive waste of time and energy,” Darren said. “From the content producer’s point of view, it was impossible to know what content was relevant and useful. And for the people who needed content, it was hard to find and to trust the quality. It’s no wonder people just emailed each other to try to find the best content.”

Up and running in no time

Darren and his team decided there had to be another way. Because they already were using Salesforce CRM and Darren was familiar with the content library, they decided that this feature would be the way.

Darren started by creating a few workspaces, including spaces for various product offerings and competitive information. He got it up and running within a few hours. “That wasn’t the hard part, since it’s mostly a matter of roles and access rights to define who can create and access content,” he recalled. “What was harder was changing people’s habits and getting them to subscribe and contribute.”

For example, people were used to sending big files as attachments, so multiple versions floated around that were difficult to track and impossible to keep consistent. Darren consistently reminded people to send links to the single, latest version of any document instead . Just this simple change eliminated lots of confusion and extra work—and clogged mail boxes. And because people were notified whenever a document changed, it freed them from trying to hunt for the latest version.

To get people started, Darren put a Workspace tab into everyone’s app, so that content was always at their fingertips. He also trained people, particularly on how to best use search, and encouraged them to participate. “People are learning that the more they put into a workspace, the better it becomes,” Darren said, and stressed that it’s key to find a few people who become advocates and lead the way for producing content. “We really celebrate these contributions to show the value and encourage others to contribute.”

To measure progress, Darren looks at recent activity to see exactly how reps are both contributing content and consuming it. “It’s not anecdotal any more,” he said. He also looks at the number of downloads and subscribers to key decks to track how adoption is progressing. Now, he says, most of the team can’t imagine Salesforce without the content library. “It’s been the key to establishing relevancy and credibility.”

What’s next for content and Informatica

What’s next for the team? Darren said they’re exploring Chatter to help change behavior even more quickly and make content more relevant. For example, people can subscribe to content from their Chatter desktops. And because anything published on Chatter instantly pops up in everyone’s desktop, it adds the dimension of working together in real time. He recalls posting a new presentation and getting a message, within minutes, about a typo. “I really see the potential for a whole new way of working together,” Darren said. To fully realize that potential, he is now championing using content and Chatter for other areas in the company.

What advice would he give? Make sure you show business value from a sales perspective. Get a champion on the sales side who’s frustrated with a lack of consistency and up-to-date materials. Integrate—the content library can live alongside Sharepoint or any other system, it’s not either/or. And most importantly, be sure to tie your content strategy to an overall sales methodology.

What’s changed for the Informatica Cloud team?

The content library has made life better for both the producers and consumers of content. Content is easier to create. It’s easier to find and use. Because everyone can contribute, it tends to be better quality. It has made the sales team more responsive and effective in their relationships—with each other and with their customers—because they’re always armed with the right message and materials. And that, in turn, has made it easier for marketing to stay aligned with sales.