What’s behind Informa’s B2B platform IIRIS?

It is one thing for a company to collect data, but are eventprofs harnessing the power this information can bring to create value for customers and our industry?

That’s the questioned raised by Max Gabriel, president of IIRIS at Informa, as he explains the role of the B2B platform in helping them to better understand the needs of their clients.

This exclusive interview also sees him explain the thinking behind a digital training scheme which hopes to empower colleagues to contribute to the company’s transformation.

Max told ExpoPlatform: “IIRIS enables the network effects – with every new interaction and connection, the more valuable it becomes for both the client and the audience.”

The platform is used for curating, collating and managing customer profiles as well as behavioural data – helping the organizer to better understand their clients through analysis of interactions.

The depth and range of Informa’s live and on-demand events as well as specialist content products means it learns from billions of audience interactions, allowing it to build intelligent profiles of their audience.

Actionable insights

Collecting all this information is the first step in this journey, but Max set out how it is how you “unlock the power of the data” through insights which is most important.

He explained that this process has three key benefits: improving audience experience, increasing their engagement and empowering colleagues with deeper understanding of  their customers.

Max said: “All useful insights start with asking the right question. This means in the event world, going beyond asking how many people attend a particular event.

“Measuring the quality of interactions over quantity of interactions.”

An example was given of this year has seen the use of a common audience metric called KEMA.

He added: “KEMA stands for known, engaged and marketable audience. IIRIS is enabling all the brands to monitor their KEMA progress on a single dashboard.

“By measuring and monitoring the right performance metrics, we can have a meaningful improvement of customer experience and engagement.”

Improving customer experience and engagement

Informa are already putting the benefits that IIRIS brings to use in many areas, particularly to enhance their Smart Events program.

This format combines the best elements of live and on-demand events to improve the experience for attendees while layering better data capture on audience interactions to improve their experience.

Max shared the example of Pharmapack 2022, which saw a simplified registration process significantly reduce the drop off rates.

He believes this ultimately led to better customer experience and an overall increase on event registration.

Meanwhile, find out how ExpoPlatform Lead Intelligence helped Pharmapack Europe 2022 boost leads by 258%.

Customers who arrived at the event used a new badge scanning process which enabled them to make connections more easily.

They would also receive curated recommendations based on their preferences and interests.

The insights coming out of these programs were said to be empowering the colleagues to continuously improve the value proposition.

Empowering colleagues

Max believes people are essential in driving impactful change within Informa, which is why IIRIS recently launched its “Data Driven Journey” across the organization.

This scheme kicked off with a data literacy green belt certification suitable for all colleagues, having so far seen more than 5,000 Informa B2B Markets colleagues around the world complete the qualification.

Max said: “It was a very ambitious plan to run a company-wide learning program and one we wanted it to engaging and insightful.

“More than 5,000 colleagues is an incredible completion rate and now we have a common language within the company when it comes to data.

“This journey has truly unlocked the potential value of data and has empowered many colleagues to seek more actionable insights in their day-to-day operations. We are at the early stages of an exciting journey.”

He gave an example of a quote from David House to set out some of his key learnings from running such a largescale transformation program.

This is that “people overestimate what they can accomplish in the near-term and underestimate what they can accomplish in the long-term”.

Max added:  “I keep reminding myself about this all the time to reflect and correct course along the way.

“Essentially, my advice is to be mindful of what these things may be and keep asking questions – this way you can adapt where needed.”

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