A Fragmented Start

As Elastic transitioned from product-led growth to a more mature, sales-led model, the company needed a scalable, intelligent foundation to support its global salesforce. But that foundation didn’t exist—yet.

Content was scattered across tools like Google Drive and legacy LMS platforms. Onboarding was inconsistent. Managers had limited visibility into seller readiness. And the enablement team—small, nimble, and ambitious—was being asked to support rapid global growth, without the infrastructure to do it.

“We didn’t have a single source of truth,” said Addy Thomas, Director of Field Programs. “Our sellers were lost in a sea of disconnected content and training. And we couldn’t measure any of it.”

The challenge wasn’t just operational—it was strategic. Mark Dodds, Elastic’s Chief Revenue Officer, saw a critical need to evolve the role of enablement itself. “Enablement had to become a driver of transformation,” Dodds said. “We needed it to help us scale with confidence—and give us the visibility to know whether our teams were ready.” 

A Centralized Platform That Delivered Immediate Impact

Elastic deployed the Seismic Enablement Cloud to unify content, training, onboarding, and coaching. For the first time, sellers could access everything they needed in one place—and results followed fast.

Within just two weeks, Seismic was delivering measurable value. The enablement team launched structured, role-based onboarding paths, layered in interactive lessons and certifications, and gave managers new tools to track progress and coach effectively.

The impact was immediate. Ramp times dropped. Content became discoverable. Confidence across the field grew. And within the first year, Seismic had reached 95% adoption across 4,000 global users—an enterprise-wide shift in behavior and trust.

“Seismic became our one place for enablement,” said Thomas. “Now we can deliver consistent onboarding globally and track progress in real time.”

AI That Accelerated Every Rep

At the same time, Elastic embraced AI to scale with speed. Seismic Aura, the platform’s embedded AI engine, helped sellers prepare faster, respond to complex questions, and personalize outreach in seconds.

Reps began using Aura to tackle everything from technical demos to partner pricing scenarios—reducing prep time and elevating confidence in every deal cycle.

“Our sellers are using Aura to get fast, accurate answers—even for complex partner scenarios,” said Thomas. “It’s like having a smart assistant on-call.”

Aura also powered Elastic’s internal AI sales assistant, where Seismic served as the retrieval engine for enablement content across Elastic’s tech stack. That integration gave sellers instant access to trusted, compliant content—no matter where they worked.

These advancements weren’t just about efficiency—they delivered results. Elastic saw improvements across every major revenue productivity lever: deal velocity, win rates, cycle times, and seller readiness.

Enablement as a Strategic Lever

With Seismic in place, Elastic redefined enablement’s role from support function to strategic growth driver.

Initiatives were now designed around business outcomes. Sales plays were directly tied to bookings. Coaching and certifications aligned to strategic goals. And enablement was no longer siloed—it was integrated into how the business operated.

“Enablement isn’t just an enablement thing—it’s a company thing,” said Jesse Sladek, VP of Sales Strategy and Enablement. “And with Seismic, we can show the business impact behind every initiative.”

This cultural shift created a new rhythm inside the business—one where enablement had a seat at the table, and a measurable role in hitting revenue targets.