Company: Splunk, San Francisco, CA
Company Description: Splunk is a technology company that provides the leading unified security and observability platform. It helps organizations use data at any scale to become more secure and resilient so they can innovate with speed and agility.
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Virtual and Pre-Sales Professional of the Year
 Nomination Title: Ben Lovley, Sales Engineer - EMEA
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2020 of the nominated individual, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 197 words used.
In a world with data is often the best defense, Ben Lovley has quickly become a trusted advisor to the UK Public Sector’s most prestigious accounts including the UK Ministry of Defence and the UK Intelligence community. Ben served in the Royal Air Force for over 12 years and was a Forensic and Threat Hunt Analyst for the UK Ministry of Defence. Experience that serves him well, allowing him to uncover challenges faced by these organizations and using a language familiar to them, position Splunk in a manner that makes it relevant and understandable.
Despite Ben’s relatively short tenure, he has quickly established himself as a stand-out Sales Engineer by innovating new engaging workshops. He further differentiated himself by leading Splunk’s Edge Hub technology and working globally alongside the motorbike team for the Royal Air Force. Ben was able to consume bike sensor data into a Splunk instance, providing the team with insights about the bike’s performance and the track. Ben has positioned the company as a thought leader whilst blogging about this and presenting it at Splunk's largest customer event, .Conf. Ben continues to bring value through various internal and customer-facing programs he designs and leads.
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 217 words used.
Ben’s most notable achievements center around Splunk's core values of being passionate, fun, and innovative. His passion for helping customers was next-level when it came to the NATO-run Cyber Warfare exercise. Like a seasoned coach, Ben went to great lengths to help prepare military personnel for the event. Guiding several junior SEs, he built a Splunk Cloud instance, populated it with test data, and hosted a hands-on training session for 100+ military personnel from 5 different countries. As a result, they performed exceptionally well, placing higher than in previous years.
In the spirit of having fun, Ben designed the Splunk4Splunk SE Hackathon to recruit early-in-career talent. This was a huge undertaking. Ben masterfully gained cross-functional buy-in, thoughtfully crafted training to span a week-long event, and convinced busy peers to host sessions. It was a huge success with participation from 40 aspiring SEs from the UK, resulting in reusable content for ongoing recruiting. Building on the success, he ran a similar hackathon for a customer that helped showcase new uses for Splunk.
Splunk defines innovation as people who can't stop thinking about improving the future. Getting Netclean to work with the Splunk technology and building a connector became a passion project for Ben after he learned about the folks at Netclean and their work to combat child exploitation.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 100 words used.
Here's a link to information about the NATO-run Cyber Warfare exerise that Ben helped with.
Here's the link to information about the Netclean work Ben contributed to.
Here are links with information on the Splunk4Splunk Hackathon that Ben contributed to.
Ben's blog
Video testimonial supporting the blog
Customer Hackathon
Video testimonial
Ben's blog author profile page
Ben's Splunk4Good blog:
The Long Way Down - Splunkers Ride for YoungMinds
Ben participated in the pan-European hackathon #EUvsVirus structured around coronavirus problems that need short-term solutions.
- Link to blog talking about the work the team Ben was apart of did for this hackathon
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 215 words used.
Ben uses his previous background and experience working in the military to uncover the true challenges the customers he works with face and position technology in a manner that makes it relevant, understandable, and in a language familiar to them. Constantly innovating and challenging both himself and his customers to think differently has been key to his success and key to the success of Splunk customers. Outside of the typical account-based work that is part of daily life for any SE, Ben sets himself apart from others by constantly looking for opportunities to innovate and add value and capability to Splunk and our customers.
Ben’s achievements include collaboration with SURGe, Splunk's security advisory division, and Splunk4Schools, which provides vital technical skills to children, hosts user groups for Aerospace and Defense customers, and contributes enablement material for SEs.
Always running numerous extracurricular projects, he is still heavily engaged in his accounts and is vital in furthering their journey with Splunk. Quite often, one of his projects will be directly related to a challenge he sees a customer or an industry facing or to help solve a challenge that will make the world safer for all, such as his involvement with Netclean. This makes him so much more impactful and shows the true power of Splunk technology.
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