Why we Sponsor FIMA Europe

Has Cloudera sponsored FIMA before?

We have sponsored FIMA connect before, but this is our first time sponsoring FIMA Europe.

We chose to sponsor FIMA as we had a great event with FIMA Connect. Financial services are one of our biggest industries and data, and FIMA hits the sweet spot between the two. The connect was so successful, the reps that attended last year gave really good feedback, so we definitely wanted to sponsor to this one.

How have you found the quality of delegates on site?

The quality of delegates has been great. I would say it's quality over quantity, so we've had probably less volume, but good-quality conversations, which is what we're after. We've been approached by a lot of people, which is good.

There are customers we know already here, as well as new people from those organizations and new companies that we haven’t spoken to before. It's good just to reconnect and see everyone again, some of the delegates here we haven’t seen in person in over a year. It’s great to see our customers that aren't in the UK too, who also attend FIMA.

How did Cloudera’s session go?

We had a track speaking slot, which went very well. We got lots of questions and people following up after our session. It was important that we did a thought leadership session, rather than trying to sell our product. By doing this, we got more people coming afterwards wanting to learn more about what it is we do.

My colleagues and I went to quite a few of the sessions too, particularly when it was our customers speaking who mentioned us during their slot, which was good as it tied into our story as well. We found the sessions very useful; it was interesting to get little bit more insight into what they want, rather than what you think they want.

How have you found all the networking opportunities?

We've been very busy during the breaks. As soon as they happen, we have had conversation after conversation, quite quickly. There is so much content covered, and a lot of good people talking, so when everyone comes out in between sessions, the room fills up.

We’ve had a lot of people just coming up to ask us questions during the breaks, which is good.

How would you rate the organization of the event?

The organisation has been great, we are really happy. We’ve also had really good feedback from everyone that's attended, even some of my reps that aren't huge fans of conferences given great feedback and want to come again next year.

The biggest factor is that there aren’t too many vendors talking, and yet it seems to be a very good network of people that attend. FIMA is the one event that the whole financial services industry attends. A few people we have spoken to have said this is the only event that they really come to. They don't go to any others.

Do you think many of the connections you have made should lead to good follow up after the event?

Sponsoring has been good for our existing accounts for sure, but there's definitely potential new business for us following the event. Again, the quality over quantity thing, we've got good, qualified lists of names, rather than just scanning everyone. There has even been people I haven't scanned because we know them already.

We have got some great names and even if they're not the right person here, they're the right person to make the introduction to who we should be speaking to. There might be a couple of people we have met that are too senior, but they can then introduce us to their team.

Even just getting a referral to the right person is a great thing, as it’s then a lot easier to take the next step. It’s now down to tracking with the reps after the event, which should lead to some good follow ups.

Do you see sponsoring to have a positive impact on your early 23 goals?

Sponsoring should have a positive impact on both our short-term and long-term projects going into 2023. ESG seems to be a big topic this year, so it will be interesting to see next year what the big topic is. A lot of the people we have spoken to seem to have the same challenges, so there's some short-term projects for us to be working on off the back of this, but a lot of longer-term projects for the following year.

Would you say sponsoring FIMA is important for Cloudera?

Yes, FIMA is probably our best event for financial services and what we do. It’s valuable for us to sponsor both Connect and in Europe as well.