Case Study

How DBS Digitally Transformed Financial Education with an Ongoing Virtual Event

 

Quick Facts - DBS BusinessClass SME & Startup Disrupt

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Event Nature

Virtual Educational Conference

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Date

27 Jan - 27 Apr, 2021

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Registration

1400+

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Destination

Hong Kong

About DBS

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 18 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is present in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The bank's "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings are among the highest in the world.

Recognized for its global leadership, DBS has been named “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney, “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker, and “Best Bank in the World” by Global Finance. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney. In addition, DBS has been accorded the “Safest Bank in Asia” award by Global Finance for 12 consecutive years from 2009 to 2020.

DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME, and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, and positively impacting communities through supporting social enterprises, as it banks the Asian way. It has also established an SG$50 million foundation to strengthen its corporate social responsibility efforts in Singapore and across Asia.

With its extensive network of operations in Asia and an emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. The bank acknowledges the passion, commitment, and can-do spirit in all of our 29,000 staff, representing over 40 nationalities.
 
  

DBS's Event Goals

Striving against all odds has been a common sentiment for SMEs and startups this year. The DBS BusinessClass SME & Startup Disrupt would be a free event aimed at showing businesses new directions to tackle key challenges that SMEs and startups are facing today. Topics to be covered ranged from operation efficiency, business development, resources management to market competitiveness.
 
SME & Startup Disrupt would allow industry practitioners and officials to share their insights with SMEs and startups on how to overcome challenges during the pandemic.
 
The target audience for DBS’s event would be SMEs and startups. The event would serve as an engagement platform to enlighten them on the latest market trends, relevant technological updates, and offer networking opportunities for businesses. In large part, it was a recreation of the physical events that DBS had previously held.
 
  

Event Elements

DBS needed a kickoff ceremony to open the overall event. This would consist of an opening speech by a DBS representative followed by talks and panels given by economic experts on the current and future financial situation.

But what would really form the ongoing backbone of this ongoing educational event would be its continuously updated series of learning materials. In the form of webinars, contributing specialists from the private and public sectors would provide instructional content around the subject of fostering post-pandemic business growth. These webinars could be viewed live at the time of broadcast but would also be made available on the platform for viewing anytime afterward. The content of these webinars would be tailored for specific industries and feature expert speakers handpicked for each field. Moving forward, new webinars focusing on additional industries would be launched. The first areas covered in this fashion after the event kickoff would be the eCommerce and FinTech industry (From March 4th, 2021), the education industry (From April 8th, 2021), and the wellbeing and beauty industry (From April 15th, 2021).

Furthermore, an online exhibition of digital vendors would be maintained. The vendors would offer a range of services related to the challenges that SMEs and startups are facing today. In addition to this, a large list of Jetso offers for business operations would be made available on the event’s special offer page.

Lastly, one requested provision was that attendees would have the ability to network and swap contact information name cards via the event’s chat system.
 

Challenges

DBS requested we provide suggestions on the best format and setup for the event and delivering educational content to its attendees. EventX proposed a mix of live video webinars and on-demand video. The EventX platform would broadcast the webinars as live streams that would draw attendees at the time but these videos would be simultaneously recorded. They would then be hosted on the EventX platform immediately afterward, so nothing would be missed by attendees.


Achievements

Turnout for the DBS Business Class SME & Startup Disrupt event was very high. Almost 1,000 people registered for the event prior to its launch day, an impressive milestone. The event is ongoing and will continue to be a valuable resource for SMEs in Asia to learn about navigating this economic period.

Feedback From DBS

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Greatest Strength

DBS was extremely pleased with the services of the EventX Customer Success Team. Specifically, DBS noted the team’s “fast response” to any questions and concerns as a major boon in getting the event off the ground.

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Something to Look At

The rush of attendees to sign up for the anticipated event meant that the total quota was filled rapidly. Therefore, when it hit a ceiling number the total quota needed to be raised. A contingency plan for an automatic quota top-up mechanism was suggested for when registration usage reached a certain level, to avoid any possible delays.

Learning Outcomes

DBS Business Class SME & Startup Disrupt was the largest ongoing educational event of its type EventX had handled. The event demonstrated the possibilities of what online learning can offer businesses today and the connection financial institutions can have with their customers.

What’s more, it taught the EventX team that relaying the versatility of live-streamed webinars to event organizers is important and can reap rewards. EventX was also pleased to see the positive response to the work of its Customer Success team and will continue to respond to clients in the same fashion of speedy care and support. The event was such a roaring success in how it fulfilled quotas so swiftly that the EventX team will make sure the bar for clients will always be ready to be raised.

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