Time Capsule: ForeFront’s New Year Kick-Off (NYKO)
A beloved tradition for starting off each new year, ForeFront’s New Year Kick-Off (NYKO) event is always a highly anticipated time for our Team!
NYKO is hosted annually as a way for everyone at ForeFront to come together over a shared vision. Our Team works incredibly hard – we value the chance to celebrate our successes together and nurture our Team culture into the new year ahead.
Each year’s celebration is unique and full of memories. The festivities center around strategic meetings, with plenty of fun mixed in along the way. With all our global ForeFront Team under one roof, it’s a time of preparation for new challenges ahead, anticipating growth, and excitement to be DRIVEN.
Step into the action of previous years’ NYKO festivities below!
NYKO ’23: Together Again!
Back on the road for 2023, our annual New Year Kick-Off meeting offered a special opportunity to look back at the years past, to look ahead to the year to come, and to have fun. This year we were in New Orleans and, as you would expect, we had a great time.
“It’s always wonderful to bring everyone together from our New Jersey office, from around the country and from around the world,” said Shawn Monaghan, our Talent Engagement Specialist. “And NYKO offers a great opportunity to connect with colleagues, make new friends and, when the day is over, relax with the people we work with every day.”
NYKO’23 focused first on 2022 performance – and putting an exclamation point on a great year. In 2022 we set a new, higher bar for revenue, and we improved in virtually every performance measure. Then we heard from our managing partners, Anne Marie Berger and Michel Berger, about their plans for the company’s continued success in 2023.
Role-based breakout meetings provided a chance to discover new ideas and develop new efficiencies. Cross-functional meetings offered an opportunity to understand how other teams function and find new ways to collaborate. And our annual Secret Santa gift exchange delivered some “interesting” gifts.
We finished each day with unique-to-New-Orleans activities – including a walking tour of the French Quarter, a spooky Ghost Tour, an enlightening Voodoo Tour and a late-night Drunk History tour – and a delicious dinner together, followed by an evening in the French Quarter.
“NYKO is about being together as colleagues and friends, and as an organization,” Monaghan noted. “And, most important, it offers an opportunity to learn how to work better together, to reinforce our DRIVEN values, and to build on ForeFront’s exceptional culture.”
NYKO ’22: Ready for New Challenges!
For Team ForeFront, the beginning of the year means it’s time for our highly anticipated New Year Kick Off (NYKO) Event!
NYKO’s three goals are to: align on our long-term vision, reflect on the previous year, and share plans for the upcoming year. NYKO’22 also signifies ForeFront’s entry to our 25th year in business! The Team was already buzzing from a great year in 2021, so this was even more reason to celebrate what’s to come.
This year’s event was a one-day celebration hosted remote-first with an on-site option (we’ll have our usual week-long event in the spring), but we still achieved an amazing boost of momentum!
Setting the tone for the day, we started off with a trip back in time via a celebratory video reel. We have much to be proud of about ForeFront’s growth and success in the last 25 years, including:
• Being a leader among competitors
• Our solid foundation of DRIVEN values
• Client success across industries
• Innovative solutions to complex challenges
• Having fun & making memories together while we do it!
Our Team is our #1 asset in our success. To reflect on their accomplishments this year, the Team submitted shout-outs for one another! Shout-outs were presented in categories such as Determination, Technical Prowess, and Leading the Way. A shared sense of pride was accompanied by some laugh-out-loud moments too!
To follow, ForeFront’s vision for 2022 & beyond was presented by our founders. We are a uniquely established partner in the Salesforce ecosystem with both our expertise and products. We’re starting the year as Salesforce Advisory Board members for Manufacturing Cloud & B2B Commerce Cloud – a testament to our proven Salesforce know-how! Just as we’ve been for over 25 years, we remain at the ForeFront of digital business transformation and look forward to further strengthening our capabilities.
Our first “Monthly All-Company Dashboard” review of the year was held during NYKO, providing a transparent update on departmental goals. Our leadership then shared internal initiatives to resolve Team pain points. We’re off to a promising start and look forward to optimizing workloads, Team connections, internal mobility, and more.
Finally, it was time for fun! The Team grouped together for rounds of virtual trivia, hoping to score the most points in a timed challenge across a variety of categories, including: pop culture, sports, world history & geography, mixed challenges. We love a competition! In the end, our Esprit de Corps was beaming in the office and beyond.
We’re heading into our 25th year with exciting client projects and an incredible Team, beyond ready to face the latest challenges at the intersection of business & technology.
NYKO ’21: Solidify & Diversify
In 2021, NYKO shifted into a virtual format as we settled into our “new normal”. This successfully & safely allowed for our global Team to reunite, while also including the Esprit de Corps (Team Spirit) that is an essential part of ForeFront’s D.R.I.V.E.N values.
Beginning with a reflection on 2020, creating “Team Magazine Covers” became a fun and memorable way to share our “headlines”! It was easy to see how much there was to be proud of across departments.
In 2021, our growth focus was to Solidify & Diversify. Leadership laid out plans to continuously solidify and augment our best practices which have contributed to our 24+ years of success in a turbulent industry. Simultaneously, we are determined to remain at the forefront by identifying new and better ways to serve our clients. ForeFront’s latest product, The Cloud Clipper would allow our clients to ditch their manual and complex product quotes and pricing calculations while leveraging the robust functionality available in the Manufacturing Cloud. Additionally, we recognized the upcoming surge of Einstein AI and our unique positioning to continue to help our clients gain valuable insights through this new functionality.
Knowing that the best ideas often come from the Team, we hosted a “ForeFront Shark Tank” where cross-functional groups pitched their ideas to our Judges. There were plenty of laughs at our own Mr. Wonderful, and plenty to learn as the Team’s ideas went through the typical vetting any new business idea must pass to become a reality. Next up, our “Hone Your Hobby” event featured professionals teaching our Team about Flower Arrangements, Stock Market Investing, Cake Decorating, or Sports Betting Basics.
NYKO ’20: Discover Tomorrow
Marking our 2020 vision as “Discover Tomorrow,” meetings and collaboration commenced in our newly renovated 810 House with highlights and lessons learned in 2019. With wise words delivered from our leadership Team, the path to another year of profit and growth was set in motion. Experiencing true Esprit de Corps as we ended day one, we teed up at Top Golf to drive togetherness and aim for fun!
The following day brought workshops, interactive presentations and game planning. Dividing up in multiple sessions, each group was able to brainstorm and strategize on communication, efficiency and best practices. These sessions allow us to align department goals with the overall business goal of remaining at the ForeFront of digital transformation.
Day two also brought something new to ForeFront: a Hypnotist Comedy Show! To start, our host worked with our brave volunteers to set a deep relaxation. What followed were some truly silly antics. There was air guitar, horse racing and speaking other languages, just to name a few. To end the day, we convened for a rewarding dinner to celebrate our Team for their continued hard-work and achievements.
We wrapped up this year’s Kick Off with our own version of Netflix’s hit series “Nailed It!” where the Team was tasked to recreate various art pieces from around our campus using craft materials. Being that our ForeFront HQ is rich in art and culture, we had a blast revealing our own creative twist and wacky results to the rest of the Team and a distinguished panel of judges.
NYKO ’19: Road to Gold
To start the New Year in 2019, the ForeFront Team assembled for an evening of fun, where they bumped and battled each other on the field in Knockerball followed by intense games of Laser Tag, Human Wack-a-Mole, and more.
Dubbing this year’s efforts the “Road To Gold,” our meetings officially kicked off with 2018 Highlights, where the Team demonstrated the value of unity, culture and accountability – with some Esprit de Corps represented in their delivery.
The next day opened the tap for a full day’s fare at the new Triumph Brewery in Red Bank to look ahead to the new year’s business growth. With our Road to Gold mantra to propel the Team through 2019, ForeFront prepared to achieve excellence across Pillars (Asset Lifecycle Management, B2B Commerce, and Quote to Cash) as well as focus on our industry expertise (High Tech Software & Manufacturing and Healthcare & Life Science).
NYKO ’18: Hats Off to the New Year
Opening the event at the historical 1920’s cinema in Atlantic Highlands, ForeFront employees and board members joined together for lessons learned, where we looked back on 2017 success and set our goals moving into 2018. After a Team lunch, we grouped off for workshop sessions to align with our strategic roadmap and work through challenges. The Team then celebrated the start of the new year with a fun gift exchange, festive margaritas, Mexican fare and a surprise Mariachi band performance!
The next day included a deep dive into Software Development and Best Practices. Long meetings call for fun rewards, and NYKO activities concluded with the most fun (and stress relieving!) activity to date: hatchet throwing! Gathered together, the group competed to crown the hatchet throwing champion at ForeFront, and cheered each other on.
NYKO ’17: Celebrating 20 Years!
NYKO’17 was a fun-filled, two-day event at Atlantic Cinemas. To set forth the new year’s vision – “Anticipate, Alignment, and Accountability” (3A’s) were emphasized following a reflection on the past year! Several Team building activities came after our strategic meetings to kick off the fun. The Team also enjoyed a holiday party with a “Secret Santa” gift exchange.
In honor of ForeFront’s 20th year in business, this year’s main event was a 1920’s themed Murder Mystery dinner! Everyone had a blast role-playing as different characters and solving “who dunnit” together.
NYKO ’16: Brewing Success
Hosted at the Asbury Park Biergarten, Team ForeFront was ready for one big day of looking ahead at the exciting things to come in 2016. The main themes? Communication, Best Practices, and Metrics. With so much to celebrate in 2015, major growth was within view this year – from a focus on digital business transformation, to a campus expansion project!
Many delicious German beers and Bavarian pretzels were consumed on this day to keep the Team fueled up and excited to take on the year ahead. “Prost!”
