Feature: Meetings Management
FIRST came cuts to travel budgets, then came the clampdown on internal meeting procedures. Now, not long since companies began to invest in new technology for meetings management and videoconferencing equipment, they are looking to ensure they get their return on that investment and don’t lose control of meetings costs again. One business that The Business Travel Magazine recently spoke to invested £300,000 in state of the art videoconferencing facilities and managed to fill them every day but its travel budget remained the same, raising questions as to whether the facilities were being used to optimum efficiency. In theory it sounds simple, but the reality
is very different. Within most departments, from HR and finance to marketing and sales, there is some requirement for meetings and invariably somebody different booking those meetings in a number of different venues. Experts agree the starting point is in companies
understanding what exactly they are spending and then they can begin by gathering data on the meetings they know about. “At least if you have a rough
idea of what you are dealing with it helps you to engage with the right people and you also need to think about what your objectives are. It should be based on what is easiest to sell in – whether the financial side, health and safety or environmental,” says Jane Dibble, Inntel director of business development. However, authorities in this arena also admit
“There are enormous cost savings to be made, in some cases as much as 40 per cent in the first few years of putting a new meetings programme into operation“
that this can be the most difficult area to grasp, which is why many companies have chosen not to tackle it until recently. StarCite vice president of enterprise strategy, Kevin Iwamoto, believes the focus
on meeting and event management is being driven by two key factors – economic downturn putting the spotlight on fiscal responsibility and tighter
control and recent global ‘calamities’ such as tsunamis, ash cloud crises and acts of terrorism around the world. “A lot of companies preferred to close the door and pretend it did not exist and thought they would deal with it later, but companies are now realising they have to have better information as to where employees are and a system in place if they encounter a situation.” Alison Smith, CWT’s
senior director of business
development for Europe, Middle East and Africa says that the organisations that are the most mature in meeting management have been tackling it for five years and track everything to get to the total cost of their meetings and events, leveraging suppliers accordingly. “People that are further down the track with
this have found it has taken them two years to put it all together because it falls into so many different categories and nine times out of ten they are really surprised how much is being spent. There are so many different stake- holders involved,” she says. Paul Hussey, BSI meetings and events director
of business development, estimates that about 60 per cent of the top 100 UK companies are operating some sort of meetings policy and a further 20 per cent are aware they need to but have not started. He also believes there are enormous cost savings to be made, in some cases as much as 40 per cent in the first few years of putting a programme in place. Cost avoidance and savings are not the only reasons for implementing a policy and getting meetings and events under control. There are also environmental arguments, risk mitigation and brand reputation issues to be considered. How does it look to the outside world if a company, known for its tight financial controls, is seen hosting an extravagant meeting at a luxurious five-star venue? Hussey argues in favour of using technology
IMAGE COURTESY OF STARWOOD HOTELS
to provide visibility on spend and says systems have increased in sophistication in the past two
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