Overview
Zoom faced a critical challenge as their Go-to-Market (GTM) teams operated in silos, relying on manual processes that slowed lead routing, delayed channel revenue initiatives, and burdened sales support with time-consuming tasks. To address these inefficiencies, the Marketing Operations team turned to LeanData’s Intelligent Go-to-Market Orchestration platform. By leveraging no-code solutions, they optimized lead routing, automated account assignments, and eliminated manual reassignments, all while bypassing lengthy IT development cycles. This agile approach not only streamlined operations but also fostered cross-functional collaboration, enabling Zoom to align their teams around shared revenue goals and deliver measurable business impact.
- Industry
- IT Services & Consulting
- Location
- San Jose, California
- Interview With
- Kelly Sheetz, Head of Global MarTech Operations
Solutions
LeanData Orchestration
Results
39%
54%
92%
Introduction
For a company like Zoom, whose brand is built on connection, internal disconnects simply aren’t an option. Yet, as Zoom has evolved from a meeting solution to an AI-first work platform, its operational infrastructure faced a common enterprise hurdle: fragmentation.
Kelly Sheetz, Head of Global Marketing Operations at Zoom, recognized that for operations to move from a back-office function to a strategic driver of growth, the silos had to be broken down. The challenge wasn’t just about managing data; it was about orchestrating a unified revenue motion across Marketing, Sales, and Channel teams.
The Challenge: Silos and Speed Bumps
Before optimizing their orchestration strategy, Zoom’s GTM teams faced significant friction. Processes were manual, teams were siloed, and valuable revenue opportunities were impacted by operational lag.
- Sluggish Speed-to-Lead: Marketing affiliate leads – considered high-velocity opportunities – were taking over three minutes to route. In a competitive market, every minute of delay allowed competitors to inch closer to the deal.
- IT Dependency: The Channel team needed a solution to assign accounts to dedicated Channel Account Managers (CAMs) to drive revenue. However, the IT team was backlogged, facing a six-month wait time for development.
- Manual Overhead: When sellers left the company or changed roles, the Sales Support team had to manually reassign leads and opportunities. This process was time-consuming, prone to error, and a poor use of strategic resources.
“Our go-to-market teams were operating in silos… They were relying on manual, inefficient processes to solve problems. We needed to bring those teams together to operate on similar data sets and processes to really drive revenue.”
Kelly Sheetz
The Solution: Agile Orchestration Without the Wait
Zoom turned to LeanData to act as the “connective tissue” of their GTM stack. By utilizing a no-code, drag-and-drop interface, Sheetz’s team could bypass lengthy IT development cycles and implement agile solutions immediately.
Accelerating Channel Revenue
Faced with a six-month IT wait, the Marketing Operations team took control. They designed an account assignment solution within LeanData that leveraged related objects to route accounts to the correct CAMs.
“We delivered the solution in two weeks instead of a six-month wait,” notes Sheetz. This agility allowed the Channel team to capitalize on partner deal registrations immediately rather than waiting half a year for a fix.
Prioritizing Profit in the Graph
To solve the speed-to-lead issue, the team audited their routing graph. They realized that by strategically moving critical assignment criteria to the top of the routing flow and pushing non-critical steps down, they could drastically accelerate delivery.
This wasn’t just a technical fix; it was a strategic decision to prioritize revenue-generating actions over administrative tasks.
Automating Sales Continuity
To free up the Sales Support team, Operations automated the reassignment process. Updates were incorporated directly into the routing logic, ensuring that when a seller moved on, their leads and opportunities were instantly and accurately transferred to the new owner, maintaining an auditable history of changes.
Results: Faster Routing, Higher Conversion
The impact of Intelligent Go-to-Market Orchestration was immediate and measurable across the entire funnel.
- Revenue Impact: By optimizing the routing graph, Zoom reduced routing time by 39%, dropping from over 3 minutes to under 1.5 minutes. This speed directly correlated to revenue, boosting the lead-to-opportunity conversion rate from 11% to 17%.
- Operational Agility: The ability to bypass IT bottlenecks allowed Zoom to deploy critical channel solutions in days, not months. “We can develop, test, iterate, and optimize in days,” says Sheetz.
- Efficiency Gains: Automating manual reassignments gave the Sales Support team back approximately 20 hours per quarter, time now spent on strategic initiatives rather than data entry.
The Future: From Leads to Buying Groups
With the foundational routing architecture solidified, Zoom is looking ahead. The team is now exploring how to move beyond the traditional MQL model toward a “Buying Groups” strategy.
“The concept of an MQL is no longer serving Zoom,” Sheetz admits. “I’m particularly excited about how we can bring buying groups to surface the right decision-makers and influencers to our sales and marketing teams.”
By using LeanData to automate the association of buying group members to opportunities, Zoom aims to provide sellers with a complete picture of the account without requiring manual research.
“LeanData has helped us break down silos with our GTM teams,” concludes Sheetz. “It allowed us to align around shared revenue goals and make a real impact.”
ABOUT ZOOM
Zoom provides the AI-first, open work platform built for human connection and purposefully designed to move conversations to completion. From entrepreneurs to global enterprises, customers choose Zoom to seamlessly collaborate, communicate, and drive outcomes across meetings, chat, phone, contact center, events, and more — all with the built-in assistance of Zoom AI Companion.
