Our company gathered in Las Vegas last week for the annual Sales Kickoff extravaganza. It was a chance to finally see everyone in person again, reflect on another fantastic year for Boomi, and set the tone for the record-breaking 2022 in front of us.
As I looked out at hundreds of my colleagues in the large conference hall, it was also an opportunity for me to share something that I truly believe captures what makes Boomi such a unique place. I’ve been in the tech industry for three decades now, and I know exactly what makes our company special and different.
It’s the people.
Year in and year out, one word is associated with Boomi: collaborative. One of our core values is to “play for each other.” Those aren’t just words for us. There’s a real sense at Boomi that we have each other’s back.
We don’t have salespeople who want to hold onto their secret sauce and keep it to themselves. Everyone is willing to take the time to share what they see in the field and reveal their tricks of the trade.
That’s just on my team. As an executive leader, I see how that attitude extends across all departments throughout the business. The product team goes the extra mile to ensure innovation for our customers. Marketing finds new ways to help sales. Engineering delivers on the suggestions for innovations from Sales. And so on. There’s a shared sense of common purpose rooted in empathy and wanting to help each other.
I often tell younger people at Boomi, who are just starting their careers, that they might think all companies are like this. But that’s not the case. Boomi has built an unwavering culture founded on a belief that our integration platform makes a real difference in lives and on the trajectory of organizations.
This is why, in the darkest moments of the pandemic, we launched a “Boomi for Good” initiative. We created an automatic FAQ tool and gave it away to schools, small businesses, healthcare groups, and nonprofits. The “Answers on Demand” bot helped more than 300 overwhelmed organizations provide desperately needed information when time and resources stretched to the breaking point.
Boomi has many active Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). For me, it’s a sign of how committed people at Boomi are to making the world a little better place. For instance, I’m the executive sponsor for our Veterans ERG. We launched a program that, in just one year, placed 34 people in jobs either with Boomi or our partners after they’ve left the military. That’s life-changing.
When companies give back to the community, it’s often in the form of writing a check. While Boomi does give generously, we also like to get our hands dirty. Last year, our employees took to their neighborhoods, collecting nearly 15,000 pounds of trash for a project to clean up our communities.
That attitude is why Boomi employees revel in the chance to refer people they know to work here. They’re proud of our company. It’s a testament to how and why our people-first culture has stood the test of time. It’s also vitally important for a hypergrowth company. We firmly believe our next hire is the most important hire, and our people have the best sense of who will help us thrive.
Working hard and treating people right may start internally. But it radiates outward to our interactions with customers and throughout the marketplace. Businesses notice that we’re genuinely committed to their success. Nothing makes us happier than when we see the positive influence we’re having on customers, both professionally and personally. It can be whether we see people getting promotions because of Boomi or how our platform enables their companies to achieve goals that once seemed unattainable.
It’s why we hear – all the time – that organizations like working with Boomi. It’s because of the way we treat them. On the one hand, you can call it a market differentiator that people like to do business with Boomi. But in truth, it’s just who we are. And now, as we emerge as a standalone company with a laser focus on growth, our commitment to internal collaboration for the benefit of customers becomes more important than ever.
There’s something I first heard years ago that I’ve tried to apply to my life. It’s a quote from Henry Ford. Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right. I find myself saying it all the time because I’ve come to believe your attitude is more important than your aptitude. Boomi is chock full of people who share that sentiment.
I would even take it a step further. Perhaps the biggest difference at Boomi is we know we can.
For more of Rob Evans’ perspective, read “Sales Leadership in Challenging Times.” Also, join him for Boomi’s Integrated Experiences podcast – register here.