Trade Show Data Collection

[Anonymous]

Has anyone used an product that integrates with Marketo for trade shows for data collection? Ive used the Marketo event app but its super buggy (unless they've fixed it in the past year).

[Anonymous]

Hi, this is Paula from atEvent. I want to clear up some of the questions I’ve seen in this forum.

Faryal Ali​ Christina Zuniga​ are correct. The atEvent mobile app does not have root access to Marketo.

There is no direct API connection between our mobile app and Marketo. Rather, the atEvent mobile app uses a REST API (not SOAP) to connect to the atEvent Services platform. The platform then passes vetted requests to Marketo, either via the soon-to-be-defunct SOAP API, or the newer REST API.

Because the mobile app is never directly accessing Marketo records, there is no way to accidentally or maliciously delete your Marketo database from the mobile app.

When signed into the mobile app, you may work with data you’ve entered into the app itself; you cannot retrieve or delete pre-existing Marketo records.

I hope this clears up any confusion.

Paula G.

Customer Success, atEvent

[Steve_Carlton]

We started using iCapture last year and I have setup programs to automate everything in near realtime. As soon as a lead is scanned/entered the lead is put into a Marketo Program/Salesforce Campaign, follow up items marked in iCapture create related tasks to the lead owner and even automatic registration for our next webinar through the Citrix integration.

In Marketo you setup a Smart Campaign that can be requested and setup the flows the way you want. iCapture requests the campaign through the API in near realtime when the device is connected to the internet or they can by synced later. After the initial setup you are simply cloning shows in iCapture and cloning programs in Marketo for each new show.

The barcode scanning is going to be hit or miss with any third party lead retrieval app since the barcode itself data might not include email or contact info. For the larger shows where we know the barcode won't work we still purchase the lead retrieval and load spreadsheets the manual way. For smaller shows we have the rep manually enter leads into iCapture unless we know barcodes will work.

PRO TIP: I often creep on trade show Facebook/Twitter photos from previous years to look for badges and their barcode to see if it might work with iCapture. Ha.

The iCapture app itself needs a design refresh but overall it works and small quirks aside we still like it.

[Anonymous]

Hi Steven,

Thanks for the response. What would be your definition of a "larger show"?

Andy

[Steve_Carlton]

You're welcome.

We tend to have polar opposites, some smaller shows might only bring us 5 leads with one rep attending, other shows may bring us 200 leads with 8 reps attending.

I don't want iCapture to hold them back in the booth so I'd say if I expect more than 8-10 leads per rep attending then iCapture might slow them down without being able to use the barcode.

Hope that helps!

[Dory_Viscoglio]

We've used AtEvent successfully. You can find more info here ​

[Anonymous]

Hi Dory and C Z,

Thanks for the response! I checked out the atEvent website and had a few questions:

- Did you use all the products? (scanner, check-in, etc)

- What was the delay from the time scanning or checking in to the time is showed up in Marketo?

- Have you tried and not liked any other applications other than atEvent?

Thanks!

Andy

[ChristinaZuniga]

I use the app scanner only and it populates data within 2-5 minutes into my system, sometimes faster. I haven't tried other applications though.

One thing I noticed about their instructions to roll out is that they aren't complete. They didn't tell my CRM team to put the atEvent fields on the contact record, only the lead record. I want recording for both types in Salesforce, so I had to have my CRM team do that later. That was a draw back.

Wow, I registered for a marketo webinar using "C Z" instead of my name and it updated my community profile! Guess I should change it back...

[ChristinaZuniga]

I also use atEvent and they work really well except one thing - they use comma as a delimiter (when it should be semi-colon). That's only an issue with multi-select fields and there's a workaround in Marketo to work it out, but it's a pain for me.

[Josh_Hill13]

Generally what Greg said is good. The question is what are you trying to do? Do you want a badge scanner or phone scanner?

[Anonymous]

Hi Josh,

Ideally what I am looking to do is scan their badge and have their information be entered into Marketo. We like to do giveaways at tradeshows and by scanning their badge we would be able to trigger off an email letting them know they have been entered and then we can put them into a nurture campaign, list, etc.

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

The badge reader needs to be able to stream data directly to an HTTP (form) endpoint or directly to a connected laptop that could do the same -- i.e. not requiring export to CSV .

iCapture can do the output side and claims compatibility with all badges, but ultimately the tradeshow can throw a wrench into this and require their hardware (since after all that's part of the revenue stream).

c z it should be noted that atEvent is a walking time bomb. That app should not be used professionally, unless they have changed the the requiment of root access to your entire Marketo instance. Leaving aside the Marketo API call limitations (which are also questionable) this means that if the device running atEvent is lost or mishandled, your entire database can be deleted. No app in this area should require this level of permission.

[Anonymous]

1- First, I don't think, Marketo allows root access to their system. If so, it is a big flaw at Marketo side.

2- atEvent MOBILE applications (card scanner and checkin) do not call marketo APIs directly. Mobile apps communicate with atEvent backend server, via atEvent's own REST services. Means, mobile applications has no direct access to Marketo. 

3- atEvent system allows only Company Admins to configure Marketo integration. Company Admins use their API credentials (provided by Marketo) to integrate with Marketo system.

4- User CANNOT perform any DELETION operation  via atEvent in Marketo. If a lead is deleted in atEvent app, it has no impact on lead's state in marketo. It remains available in Marketo.

[Anonymous]

Sanford,

Thank you for your response. Very helpful and insightful.

Andy

[SanfordWhiteman]

Yeah, one of my hangups is how little the principle of "least privilege" is honored by these older (or older-style) integrations. 

[ChristinaZuniga]

Sanford Whiteman​ I don't think I gave them this level of access since I'm only using the scanning app. This just pushes data to my system, it doesn't access data already within the system. I hadn't heard of this issue with them before, is that with all products or just some???

[SanfordWhiteman]

AFAIK they ask you to provide SOAP credentials for your instance. That's a root account that shouldn't be shared, well really ever, but especially not with something operated via a mobile device.

I agree that they shouldn't need this access to get what Andy wants (you don't need to use the API at all for that, which is why iCapture works without it) and stuff beyond that should be done via limited-permission REST credentials at most.

I suspect they wanted to offer the fullest integration possible when first building out and were not paying attention to the basics of security. My first rule is if an external app asks for SOAP credentials, unless this is for a very limited time under your direct supervision (SOAP can be better than REST for onboarding customers onto outside BI tools, for example) avoid that app like Ebola.

[ChristinaZuniga]

I checked, they are asking for SOAP credentials.

[ChristinaZuniga]

Sanford Whiteman​ and Dory Viscogliosi​ atEvent just put out an email about an upgrade that we can opt into going from SOAP to REST API. To me this doesn't seem like an "upgrade", just a different integration. #Marketing. Here's the email they sent. Any thoughts Sanford?

We’re changing the way we connect to Marketo! This change will give you better performance and scalability, and more flexibility when working with your Marketo data. You will need to opt in to the new technology to take advantage of new features and future functionality.

What’s happening
atEvent is upgrading from the SOAP API to the REST API.

Why we’re upgrading
The REST API is the new industry standard. Upgrading to REST will give you better performance, scalability, and flexibility, and allow you to take advantage of upcoming atEvent features.

What you need to do
Opt in to the new technology within atEvent. You will only need to do this once.

1. In atEvent, visit My account > Configure MA/CRM integration.
2. Print your or take a screenshot of your current mapping. You will need to update your mapping after the switch. You will only need to do this once.
3. Click Switch to Rest and enter your login credentials to authenticate with Marketo.
4. Once you have upgraded, reset your mapping (refer to your printout!).
5. Enjoy better performance and upcoming features!

[Dory_Viscoglio]

Interesting, thanks for the insight!

[Dory_Viscoglio]

I'm curious about this as well. AtEvent has API permission, but that's all. Is this what you're talking about with being a ticking timebomb Sanford Whiteman​?