NICE is the worldwide leading provider of both cloud and on-premises enterprise software solutions that empower organizations to make smarter decisions based on advanced analytics of structured and unstructured data. The company serves several different industries such as healthcare, telecommunications, financial services, and more. Their goal is to help organizations deliver better customer service, ensure compliance, combat fraud, and safeguard citizens. Over 25,000 organizations in more than 150 countries are using NICE solutions.
NICE worked with the ProGlobalEvents team to build their event using the XtendLive platform. The project scope required creating a unique and fun three-day virtual sales kickoff event with more than 1,000 employees from around the globe. The client wanted an immersive 3D experience that transported their employees to NICEr Island for a combination of structured meetings, self-guided training, and exploration. The venue utilized the ProGlobalEvents island resort template and was completely branded with NICE event messaging.
Design Challenges
- Customize an extensive virtual venue with unique client branding and graphics.
- Make each user experience visually be the same 3D environment and let them see only the content specific to their user group.
- Create more than 50 unique group agendas with group permission-based content. This required customizing the hotspot content according to a user’s group affiliation. For example, a user from Group 1 would click on a spot in the environment and see Content Video A, but another user from Group 6 could click on the same spot and see Content Video C.
- Schedule content to only be available at certain times, according to the users’ unique agendas. This was done to keep people on schedule. Group meetings were conducted after the content viewing time to reinforce the training and promote better discussions.
- Gamify an extensive 3D virtual experience by providing points for attending sessions and viewing training materials.
- Hide more than 20 “Easter eggs” throughout the experience to encourage detailed exploration of the 3D space.
- Incorporate extensive content, including over 90 informative videos and PDF files providing sales training, as well as more than 50 group video conferences.
Incorporate much of the content and branding elements quickly as they came together near the end of the project.
Solutions
Working together with the client, the ProGlobalEvents team was able to deliver solutions for the complicated permission- and time-based content by enhancing the features of the advanced XtendLive backend system. All content was scheduled in advance to appear on specific dates and times and was viewable only by certain groups. More than 50 unique agendas were produced, and the session times were presented in their own time zones. Employees were pre-registered and assigned to groups ahead of time so it was simple for them to log in and see their specific three-day agendas.
Simu-live stream sessions were managed by a dedicated technical director to carefully control and deliver the sessions for each global region. The client wanted to use their own video conferencing application, so ProGlobalEvents included these links in the 3D environment and agendas. Overall, the project required a great deal of custom development both for the backend system and for the visualization system.
Results
After logging into the event, attendees entered the immersive environment on a yacht with an audio message welcoming them to the conference. Next, they arrived at Port NICE, where they viewed a welcome video and were invited to start searching for the hidden “Easter eggs,” which gave them points. The points were tracked on a leaderboard, and the winners were awarded valuable prizes. Attendees also earned points for engaging in sessions and other activities.
The CEO and other major speakers were live streamed on a large stage on Keynote Island. Using their customized agendas, users were able to access only their relevant training content and attend their specific meetings. Fun activities were also included, such as an awards ceremony and master classes on cooking and other subjects.
NICE prides itself on being a technology-forward company. Its global events team delivered an innovative virtual conference. Compared to a live conference, this event provided significant cost savings and eliminated productivity losses due to intercontinental travel. The 3D immersive environment kept employees engaged, which is critical for a multi-day conference delivering not-to-be-missed content.
