Practically Genius 2021 is a virtual event bringing Formstack customers, business leaders, and industry experts together to share stories, lessons, and insights on overcoming today’s toughest workplace challenges. Yesterday marked Day 1 of the event, and what a day it was! Over the course of four hours, we heard from some amazing thought leaders and innovators. Here’s a breakdown of the day’s top takeaways:
The Future of Work
Formstack SVP of Marketing Kathryn Loheide and CEO Chris Byers kicked us off by exploring the reality of work today and how organizations can set themselves up for success. In Formstack’s conversations with customers, we’ve been seeing a historic shift in how work gets done, forcing people to reimagine the systems, tools, and processes they rely on.
Everyone from non-technical employees to IT managers is facing an imperative to automate business processes and create new applications and workflows in hours or days—not weeks or months—to scale and meet customer expectations. But limited time and technical resources prevent many organizations from making critical digital changes or capitalizing on opportunities.
The solution? Putting the power to create solutions in the hands of non-technical employees with the help of digital no-code tools.
Learn more about no-code and how it can transform your world of work by checking out this blog post: Why No-Code Apps are the Future of Work
Formstack Product Announcements
In the next session, Formstack VP of Product Operations Aaron White and his team revealed how Formstack is meeting the need for no-code with some updates to our platform and products. Updates that were highlighted include Field Prefill and Saved Fields for Formstack Forms and a new drag-and-drop builder for Documents.
But perhaps most exciting of all was the announcement of Copilot, a true no-code workflow automation platform that brings our Forms, Documents, and Sign products together in a single workflow builder. Copilot’s intuitive interface will make building solutions faster and easier, and also facilitate step assignment, folders for organizing workflows, and the ability to share what you’ve built with others in your organization. If you’re interested in participating in our Copilot beta, fill out this form. Otherwise, look out for more information on Copilot in early 2022!
Insights from Industry Leaders
Next, we hosted four concurrent breakout panel discussions that included a general session for digital transformation and three industry-specific sessions for healthcare, education, and financial services. During these sessions, leaders from organizations such as University of Houston, Salesforce, NCR, and Orrick discussed how they’ve overcome the workplace challenges they’ve faced over the last year.
We got to hear many amazing stories, such as how InHouse Physicians used Formstack to digitize their clients’ healthcare workflows and save their operations team over $100,000. We also learned how Tri Counties Bank used Formstack and Salesforce to launch an online Paycheck Protection Program application in just one week—funding more than 4,700 loans totaling nearly $633 million. These loans helped to preserve more than 66,000 jobs throughout California.
No matter the organization or industry, the prevailing theme of these discussions was that businesses must go digital. And the best way to do so is by arming your team with tools that are automated, easy to use, and connect well with other systems.
Fireside Chat with Ellen Ochoa
Finally, we capped the day off strong with a fireside chat featuring Ellen Ochoa, first Latina in space and Former Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Ellen shared some incredible stories and insights with us from her time working in space and leading teams at NASA. As only the second woman to hold the title of Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Ellen talked about the importance of diversity and inclusion in creating strong, thriving workplaces. She also spoke on the importance of innovation and agility, traits that all teams should strive for in times of change. By creating initiatives that valued and pushed for these traits, Ellen was able to successfully help her teams at NASA grow and evolve to meet new challenges.
What's Next for Day 2
Day 1 of Practically Genius 2021 was absolutely inspiring, and we are so thankful for everyone who joined us yesterday. However, we’re not done yet! We still have one more day of sessions that will be packed with amazing speakers and insights. Be sure to join us today at 1 p.m. ET to hear from Stephanie Mehta, Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company, as she shares what makes the world’s most creative people and companies tick. We’ll also have additional breakout panel discussions, some Formstack Build sessions that will give you an inside look at our platform and products, and our very first Practically Genius Awards ceremony.
To attend, just log into Socio and choose your sessions. If you’re not signed up for the event yet, register now to get access to Day 2 plus recordings for Day 1.
