When your technology no longer reflects the business you've become
There comes a point in the growth of every organisation where the technology that once served it well starts to get in the way. Not because anyone made a bad decision. Simply because the business has moved on.
That was the position CyberRisk Alliance found itself in. As the organisation grew, so did the number of teams, services and systems that people relied on every day. Sales, marketing, finance, fulfilment, customer success and events all needed information to flow between them, but too often it didn’t.
This wasn’t really about replacing a CRM. It was about giving the business a platform that could support where it wanted to go next.
Organisation
CyberRisk Alliance
Industry
Cybersecurity media, events and intelligence
Adoption
From ~20 users to almost the entire organisation
Key platforms
Sales Cloud, CRM Analytics, Marketo, Sage Intacct
Cybersecurity media, events and intelligence
About CyberRisk Alliance
CyberRisk Alliance is a leading organisation serving the global cybersecurity community through media brands, events, research and marketing services. Its purpose is to help cybersecurity professionals make better decisions by connecting people with trusted information, expert insight and meaningful industry relationships.
Like many successful organisations, growth had brought new opportunities, but it had also introduced new complexity behind the scenes.
The challenge
The situation
One of the first things Amy Hueppe told us has always stayed with us. “Our contracts were the Wild West.” Everyone laughed. But behind that comment was a very real problem.
01
Different teams were working in different ways, and sales activity wasn’t visible across the organisation.
02
Marketing didn’t have the customer data it needed.
03
Forecasting depended heavily on spreadsheets and manual processes, so different people could arrive at different answers to the same question.
04
Only around twenty people were actively using the existing platform, and even then it wasn’t supporting the way they wanted to work.
None of those issues existed in isolation. They were all symptoms of a business that had outgrown its technology.
What would have happened if nothing had changed?
This is a question we often ask at the beginning of a project. Not to create drama, but because it helps everyone understand what’s really at stake.
Continuing as they were would almost certainly have meant more manual work, more disconnected information and less confidence in reporting as the organisation continued to grow.
Every new acquisition, event and commercial initiative would have added another layer of complexity.
Teams would have become increasingly dependent on spreadsheets and workarounds.
Leadership would have spent more time validating information and less time acting on it.
Leadership would still be looking predominantly at what had already happened.
The business wasn’t standing still. Its technology was.
Our approach
We started by understanding the business
It’s tempting to begin a project by talking about platforms, integrations and technical architecture. We didn’t. Instead, we spent time with the people who would ultimately be using the system.
We spoke to colleagues across sales, marketing, finance, fulfilment, customer success and operations to understand how they worked, where information became disconnected and what success would actually look like from their perspective. Those conversations shaped everything that followed.
1
One connected platform, not just a CRM
Salesforce became the foundation, but this was never just a Salesforce implementation. Together we designed and delivered a connected platform that brought six core business systems into a single ecosystem — including Marketo, Sage Intacct, DocuSign and Monday.com — helping teams share information more easily and giving leadership greater confidence in the data they were using.
2
Processes designed around how people work
The programme covered revenue recognition and billing, revenue forecasting and CRM Analytics, marketing automation, event and speaker management and improved financial reporting. Each decision was guided by the same principle: make it easier for people to do their jobs and easier for the business to make informed decisions.
3
A roadmap for AI and innovation
Alongside the core transformation we set out a roadmap for Agentforce, Data Cloud and future AI initiatives, so the platform had somewhere to go rather than becoming a fixed point in time.
From disconnected to future-ready
CyberRisk Alliance had outgrown their technology. Together, we reimagined how the business worked and built a connected platform to support the next stage of growth.
Scope of work
What Sweet Potato Tec delivered
Disconnected systems, inconsistent reporting, limited Salesforce adoption and fragmented customer data were holding the business back. The work addressed each of them.
- Complete Salesforce transformation
- Revenue recognition and billing processes
- Marketing automation
- Finance and operational integrations
- Agentforce and AI roadmap
- Six connected business platforms
- Revenue Intelligence and CRM Analytics
- Event and speaker management
- Improved financial reporting
Key integrations
Marketo
Sage Intacct
DocuSign
Monday.com
Salesforce capabilities
Sales Cloud
Revenue Intelligence
CRM Analytics
Einstein Discovery
Data Cloud
Agentforce
The outcome
The difference it made
Technology projects are often judged by whether they went live on time. We prefer a different measure: did people actually want to use it? Before the project, Salesforce was used by around twenty people. Today it’s used by almost the entire organisation, because it supports the way people work rather than asking them to change how they work.
Perhaps most importantly, the organisation now has a platform capable of growing alongside the business instead of constantly needing to catch up.
- Salesforce adoption increased from around 20 users to almost the entire organisation
- Shared, trusted information across sales, marketing, finance and operations
- More consistent forecasting
- Reliable customer data for marketing
- Reporting leadership can trust
- Reduced reliance on manual processes
- A platform built to support future growth and AI innovation
“It became one of the most successful Salesforce implementations anyone here had been a part of. Sweet Potato Tec is outcome-focused, deeply embedded in our business, and truly invested in understanding how we operate. In 25 years of doing this, I've never worked with a better partner.”
Amy Hueppe — Vice President of Operational Excellence, CyberRisk Alliance
Hear Amy Hueppe talk about the partnership
What happened next
The relationship didn't end at go-live
Some projects end when the platform launches. This wasn’t one of them.
Since the initial implementation we’ve continued working with CyberRisk Alliance as its priorities have evolved, introducing Revenue Intelligence, CRM Analytics, Agentforce and AI capabilities as part of a longer-term roadmap. Early Agentforce initiatives have already demonstrated measurable commercial value while laying the foundations for broader AI adoption.
For us, that’s what a successful partnership looks like — helping organisations keep moving forward, not simply delivering a project and walking away.
Let us make your technology work harder for your organisation
Tell us what you are trying to improve, where your current systems are holding you back and what success would look like.
We will arrange an initial conversation to explore your requirements and determine whether Sweet Potato Tec is the right partner to help.