How Invent App Used Whereby to Transition Seamlessly from In-person to Virtual Events
Read why Invent App decided not to create their own DIY video solution for their online digital events and chose a ready-to-embed video solution instead here.
Invent App is a French company that has built its industry-leading business around providing companies with customized, turnkey mobile and web application solutions for digitizing in-person events.
Up until 2020, their core offering had been an intuitive mobile app that enriches in-person events for both attendees and organizers. Attendees get fast, easy access to key event information, check in, agendas, documents, image galleries, session details along with the ability to provide feedback and network with other attendees. Organizers gain access to valuable data insights about participant profiles, session feedback, attendee satisfaction and more.
But in early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person events all around the world, Invent App suddenly needed to supplement that core offering with an adaptation to serve the new reality. Eight of the in-person events they were actively working on at that moment were cancelled outright, but two decided to transition immediately to a virtual platform. If they were going to save the day, Invent App would have to step up with a wholly new experience and set of logistics.
Assembling the pieces for a world-class virtual event experience
Invent App already had a strong and feature-rich mobile platform that engaged event attendees while providing organizers with valuable collective intelligence. To successfully host fully virtual events, however, Invent App needed to refocus their development efforts on their web application.
The two main pieces of functionality missing from the web application were streaming and video calls. The team was able to easily implement a streaming solution through basic integration with players such as Vimeo and YouTube Live. Video calls, on the other hand, presented more of a challenge.
Invent App briefly considered a DIY solution, but decided against that path for two reasons. First, they knew the project would be time consuming and costly up front. Second, a DIY solution would introduce a wide array of support, maintenance, and compliance issues over the long term. Ultimately, Invent App made the business decision to partner with Whereby and integrate Whereby Embedded into their platform.
Delivering all the video conferencing features attendees and organizers want
It only took Invent App’s developer a few short days to get Whereby Embedded fully integrated and operational.
Once implemented, Invent App was able to immediately organize and run 100% virtual events with fully-featured video conferencing including:
Booking one-on-one meetings
Virtual networking rooms
Group sessions (20 to 50 people with a rotation system)
The Invent App team loves the aesthetic appearance of Whereby Embedded within the Invent App platform. They find the simple, uncluttered design and expert use of fonts and colors to be very appealing and easy on the eye. In addition, the intuitive design allows event attendees to understand quickly and easily how to engage with the video conferencing tool. Tasks like turning the mic and camera on and off, chatting with hosts or other attendees, and sending emoji responses have been seamless for their customers.
Just as important, Invent App is confident that they and their clients can rely on Whereby Embedded to be extremely stable as Whereby’s SLA is 99.9%. This level of reliability is mandatory when hosting virtual events for the global companies Invent App serves, like Schneider Electric, NOKIA, Louis Vuitton, Abbott, and BASF.
Adapting to the moment and looking toward the future
In the first six months since implementing Whereby Embedded, Invent App has already successfully hosted more than 50 events, each with an average of 100 participants. Their immersive, virtual event platform—with all the video conferencing features—has hosted events for companies including global pharmaceutical company Lilly; the massive French public administration institution, Pôle Emploi; the French military school Ecole Navale; and the SFIP (French Society of Plastics Engineers).
In addition to averting the immediate crisis for clients who had events in the works as the initial COVID-19 lockdowns went into effect, Invent App was also able to expand their market. Partnering with Whereby started out as a survival tactic that enabled Invent App to adapt their business model on the fly while remaining focused on what they do best. But the partnership has also yielded long-term business benefits by opening up a whole new segment of potential clients and event scenarios.
“Whereby helped us greatly as we stepped up to meet new demands within a very limited time frame,” says Emmanuel Aires, Invent App Founder.
“And implementing Whereby Embedded has also helped us land new clients by making our digital platform a more complete solution, which can now support in-person, fully virtual, and hybrid events.”
Want to try to integrate Whereby Embedded in your product or website? Try it out for free here or get in touch with us here.
