Exceleration Music Case Study - Technology Implementation

Case StudyNonprofit
Written By Gregory Perrine

The Exceleration Ask

Exceleration Music came to us with a challenge: We know we are going to grow 3x in the next few years. We also know that we don’t have the systems in place to navigate that growth. 

This independent record label, formed by a partnership of music industry veterans, had the connections and know-how to make a splash in the music industry, but they hadn’t yet established their processes to match. 

The biggest question on their mind - Google Workspace or Office 365? 

We couldn’t wait to get started. We scheduled the Assessment kick off meeting as quickly as possible.


The Assessment

The 8 week assessment process revealed, as they often do, that there was more to the picture than just the question of which cloud production platform to use. 

Exceleration’s primary role is to align a conglomerate of partner labels to a central release schedule and support all of them on bringing their releases to fruition. With each partner label being unique, and with a variety of different types of releases (digital streaming, physical LP, music videos etc.), they needed a single source of truth. 

We provided an in-depth analysis of their tech stack (the software and hardware tools they use every day) and recommended 9 actionable projects to upgrade their tech tools. There were two recommendations that drew the most attention during the recommendations presentation…

  1. It’s time to align on Google Workspace.

  2. Let’s upgrade your release schedule by using the Project Management tool called Airtable 

Our assessment focused on these 4 key initiatives:

The Implementation

The Migration

Exceleration’s team was divided in prior experience between google workspace and office 365, but they had been really struggling with the sharepoint/One Drive functionality.

We needed the EXC team to take a break from firing out emails so that we could migrate all of their data into the new environment. What better weekend than the 4th of July to get our migration on! This gave us 3 full days to get emails, documents, calendar events, contacts, and everything in between over to Google Workspace. 

It wouldn’t have been enough to simply move all of their data over and leave it at that. Using what we knew from the assessment, we were able to anticipate what the biggest challenges would be for staff in the new environment and create customized training to prepare them for the switch. We also worked directly with each department to create a new folder structure that would work for each team and create unity across the organization. The outcome was an easy to navigate and user friendly folder structure with room to scale.

Airtable Buildout

We provided Exceleration with a complete custom buildout of Airtable to suit their needs, along with in depth all team and 1:1 training to boot. One of the unique configuration challenges was that we needed to ensure that all the partner labels had access to their data without providing too much data access across partner labels - this was a tricky balance. 

In order to solve for this need, we created a system for sharing custom views of the release schedule data for each partner label, which would not interfere with the unilateral access that internal EXC staff members needed. We used Airtable Forms and automations within airtable to allow partner labels to update their release data without having to create a separate user account. 

After collaborating with Exceleration on all of the tools, materials, and processes needed to support the new project management system, we put together an all team training session that walked the staff through how Airtable works in general as well as how the Exceleration instance in particular is configured.

Here is what the branded form looks like. (This image shows the first of 16 fields that the form collects with detailed instructions for each.)

The Ongoing Partnership

Ongoing IT Support

By the time we had completed all these projects, it was clear that the partnership between eGuide and Exceleration music was worth pursuing further. We agreed to an ongoing IT support relationship that would include support and maintenance of the platforms we implemented for them, as well as any other technology concerns that arose over time. Crucially, we’ve been able to support the onboarding of new employees (of which there have been many) to ensure that all new employees are equipped with the right technology tools and platform training to succeed. 

Fully utilizing Airtable, we built out their onboarding flow, which integrated project management onboarding with the rest of their project management environment. This image shows the first 3 of a series of fields that make onboarding each new employee easy and efficient. 

Conclusion

In December, we were able to send an eGuide to join the Exceleration team in person for their yearly in person summit. This in person collaboration felt like a celebration of our ongoing partnership. We were able to meet and greet, support on IT needs for the summit itself, as well as provide ongoing training for the more advanced google workspace skills that we had not had a chance to cover in the initial training. Fantastic!

Since our partnership began, we have been able to move the Exceleration the entire team into a Google workspace environment, build out 2 airtable bases and consult on the creation of 2 more, implement 15 project management automations, build and execute an onboarding process for 5 new hires, as well as a host of other IT support projects that have made life more productive and efficient for this growing team. 

We are so grateful to have a partner in Exceleration Music. They are doing fantastic work and their team has been a joy to get to know. 

Tools

To create efficiency and transparency in the process, eGuide works with a core suite of tools to ensure we are refining information and posting in a timely and consistent manner: 

Gregory Perrine

Avid troubleshooter and eternal student, Greg was inspired by his grandmother's experience with technology and launched eGuide Tech Allies. With over a decade in sales experience, Greg honed his business skills in the world of high-end off premise catering, learning the ins and outs of operating a small business. Greg brings his passion for helping others and enriching the lives of those around him to the core of this business. 

http://www.eguidetechallies.com
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