“It has been 2 hours Shawn, the birthday girl is refusing to cut the cake with a Red Barbie on it. She wants the Pink Barbie. We are waiting for you to get it”, Jerry expressed exasperated over the call. “It is a new area. I do not know where the cake shops are located here. I’ve driven up and down the same road thrice. I need to find a gas station now and I don’t know where it is!” Shawn reasoned back, tired. Do you think these gentlemen working for a newly established Event Management Company would have been able to evert this situation or probably find a solution easily? Well, we are here to find out in this Podcast with Mrs. Meryl Thompson, owner of Firegaze Events and Entertainment!
“Welcome Meryl to the 3rd segment of All Stars Podcast! Today we look forward to exploring the tough life of an Event Manager through your experiences & how tools have helped you. So, can we begin by answering the question one of our listeners asked? What you or your fellow event teammates would have done to get the Pink Barbie Cake?”, James, the interviewer asked smilingly.
“First of all, I’m glad to join you in phase 3 and now to answer your query about Shawn and Jerry getting the Pink Barbie cake, well, it is the Barbie Season everywhere and I’m sure getting a Pink one would not be an issue. The trouble was of being in an unknown area, so, yes, it is a little tricky but fortunately, at Firegaze Events we have Maplytics and its unique features to solve our problems. So, my on-field teammates would not have spent this long deciphering the shops, routes, gas stations, et al”, Meryl happily replied.
“Okay! This sound interesting! You say Maplytics. So, what exactly is this magic tool and how has it helped you? Also, how would it have helped Shawn”, questioned James.
“Okay, let’s assume Shawn’s Event Company has signed up for Maplytics licenses. Shawn can access it on the Mobile App as well. So, when he reached the main road of the Party venue, he could have added that location as his place of interest within the POI Location feature. Having done this, Shawn could have searched nearby bakeries, cake shops, home bakers, etc., and visualized them over the map. From there, he could have shortlisted the nearest ones and plotted optimized travel routes to them. Following the turn-by-turn navigation direction thus gathered, Shawn could have visited them quickly and either gotten the Pink Barbie or at least some alternate solution. POI Location also provides a set of quick-access icons for Airports, Restaurants, Hotels, etc. Shawn could have used the one for Gas Station to plot the nearest Gas Stations!”, stated Meryl factually!
“Maplytics can find nearby places of interest, then it can plot travel routes in between places and gives travel directions as well, correct? What else can you use Maplytics for as an Event Manager?”, further added James.
“Maplytics is Map + Analytics or improving Analytics with Maps. It is a distinguished add-on for Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM and integrates CRM Data with Maps. When enabled, Maplytics empowers organizations with location intelligence. So, apart from travel directions, routes, and finding places nearby, Maplytics helps with creating Sales Territories and Planning Client Appointments as well. So, if Jerry has client meetings to finalize the details of upcoming events post the birthday party, he and his manager would be pre-planned and aware of them days/ weeks in advance. The Auto Scheduling feature would allow Jerry and his Manager to plan such appointments for weeks with their timings, travel time, buffer time, break time, etc. all in place. Jerry can check into these meetings from the meeting venues themselves using his phone, concluded Meryl.
“So, with Maplytics, one is not only ensured about the travel directions but is well planned, is aware of the appointment details, can easily spot pitstops, etc. Cool! What if Jerry and Sam were planning a wedding and had booked the venue but wanted to check for florists and caterers that offered their services at that venue? Can Maplytics help with that?”, asked James.
“Radius or Proximity Search is what they need. Put the venue as the current location and specify the distance or time they wish to travel in terms of a radius. All the available florists and caterers could be plotted on the map and the closest ones could be picked. My Company has organized several weddings using Maplytics where we begin by visualizing even the possible wedding venues on the map and thus searching for other things accordingly. Be it wedding gown stores, centerpiece makers, invitation card makers, et al. Some of our regular wedding cake makers use Maplytics, so, the areas they provide their services in are also visible to us on the Map”, finished Meryl.
“Can you share an incident where Maplytics has helped you manage your on-field Event team members?”, James asked
“Oh, a bazillion times. This app is a boon for the on-field team members. First of all, we can create balanced territories on the maps, so, the team members from the sales team do not cannibalize into each other’s allotted areas which they are solely responsible for. Then there is Real-Time Tracking which traces the live location of the team members in the field. I remember we were organizing an outdoor corporate function and the setup was done. The weather started changing so we ordered tents from our vendor and our delivery person carrying the package had a vehicle malfunction on the way. The clouds were getting and we needed to save the setup. So, we tracked him in real-time, sent another truck there, and got things done in time.”, narrated Meryl.
“Maplytics seems resourceful, eh!”, James added in awe. “Oh, this app is equipped with many outstanding features for both the Barbies and the Oppenheimers of the world, and a proper trial will help reckon the potential within! You can write to their team at crm@inogic.com for mapping requirements, a free trial of 15 days, or a free personalized demo within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse.
To learn more about Maplytics, its applications across industries, and another multitude of features, do visit their Website or the Microsoft AppSource. For further details, one can hop on to their enriching Blogs, Client Testimonials, Success Stories, Industry Applications, and Video Library for a quick query resolution”, concluded Meryl!
Until then,
Happy Organizing!
