Bradford Networks Wins More Clients with ON24 Webcasts

Situation: Cost-Effective way to Reach National and International Audiences

Bradford Networks is dedicated to solving the security challenges facing institutions, enterprises and government by developing innovative network access control products and services that deliver automated security solutions by leveraging existing network infrastructures.

The company's technology provides users access to the network based on their role, the type of device being connected to the network, and the security level of that device.

When Jerry Skurla joined Bradford Networks as vice president of marketing in July 2006, Skurla had previously leveraged webcasting for marketing initiatives. "Webcasting is a cost-effective way to reach national and international audiences, and I wanted to incorporate it as a key component of our overall marketing strategy," said Skurla.

Challenge: Reaching the Early Adopter Market

An important early adopter market for Bradford Networks is higher education institutions. As students connect laptops, iPods, and mobile devices to a school's network, the network can get infected with viruses, which can cause the network to crash.

Based on Skurla's experience, webcasting was a more cost-effective and impactful way to speak to potential customers than any other marketing vehicle. In Fall 2006, Bradford Networks decided to hold a series of customer case study webcasts to reach sales prospects at colleges and universities.

Solution: Telling the Story through Customers

After reviewing several solutions providers, Bradford Networks selected ON24 to provide the webcasting solutions for a six-webcast customer case study series. ON24's technical expertise and comprehensive professional services offering persuaded Skurla that ON24 could execute the program successfully. ON24 provided the following solutions:

• ON24 Webcast Center: ON24's webcasting platform streamed the live interactive audio webcasts to attendees.
  
  
• ON24's Full Project and Event Management Services: With limited marketing team resources, Bradford Networks relied on ON24 for full project and event management support. Bradford's dedicated ON24 Webcast Manager scheduled and customized each event, facilitated speaker training, and provided assistance during the live webcast.
  
  
• Reporting and Analytics: ON24's backend reporting and analytics provided Bradford Networks with detailed information about attendees, including viewing time, questions asked, and responses to polls, which assisted the sales organization in their follow-up efforts.

According to Skurla, customers who were reluctant to travel for a speaking engagement were more receptive to participating in virtual event. "We had customers located in different locations presenting to an audience from all over the world."

Results: From New Customers to Channel Partner Training

The customer webcast series exceeded expectations. The number of registrants and viewers were two times more than the company anticipated for each of the webcasts. Skurla attributed the customer program for increasing Bradford Networks sales pipeline which resulted in new account wins and revenues for the company.

Due to the success of the customer case study series, Bradford Networks has organized additional webcasts to provide sales training for channel partners in healthcare and financial services industries. With ON24's backend tracking capabilities, Bradford Networks was able to determine which resellers attended the webcast and for how long, arming the field sales organization with valuable information during follow-up.

Customer Testimonial:

"As a VP of Marketing, I've found webcasting to be one of the most cost-effective marketing vehicles out there. It enables me to put excellent content in front of my target audience while my presenters can be anywhere in the world. Webcasting is a key part of my strategy and ON24 has provided rock solid execution."

- Jerry Skurla, Vice President of Marketing, Bradford Networks

Bradford Networks - Channel Partner Program