Meetings Procurement

Kevin Iwamoto, VP, Enterprise Strategy, Active Network|StarCite, will lead an educational session at MPI's North Florida Chapter on May 8th, from 11 am to 1:15 pm, at the Prime F Osborn III Convention Center, in Jacksonville.

The topic: Strategic Meetings Management – The Intersection of Meetings, Travel and Procurement.

The presentation will cover all the critical issues surrounding meetings management within the industry today -- from selling an SMMP to executives to meetings risk and compliance to the recently launched SMM Maturity Model.

Iwamoto will talk about current industry trends and the increasing convergence of procurement with meetings. He'll also review the various components of a best-in-class SMMP as well as a level-by-level breakdown of the SMM Maturity Model to assess where companies are presently and how they can mature their programs.

Rounding off the presentation, Iwamoto will discuss how companies can take this information and present it to key stakeholders to gain executive buy in and support.

On Supplymanagement.com, a UK procurement magazine, I recently read about a global study of purchasing executives, and the results seem to scream out the need for payment cards to replace old-fashioned purchasing methods.

In the study, "The Cost of Control – Disrupted Networks," 550 chief financial officers (CFOs) and finance directors were polled. While 38% acknowledged that paying suppliers late was likely to negatively impact the performance of both parties, around 15% of their invoices are nonetheless settled later than the agreed date.

In the corporate meetings world, one of the biggest potential areas for improvement when it comes to
strategic meetings management (SMM) is simplifying payments and reconciliation -- in other words making purchasing and paying for services more efficient, less costly and more timely.  There are many savvy meeting managers who opt to channel all purchases of air, hotel meeting and sleeping
rooms, food and beverage and other meeting costs through a single meeting charge card. A meeting charge card eliminates the need to obtain purchase orders at the time of purchase for meeting supplies or services, and it allows meeting managers to conveniently pay a single card bill (and on time), rather than cut checks to pay multiple suppliers.

Esa Thila, CEO of Basware, which published the study, said, in the story: “Supply chains have become a complex web of commercial interactions and each organisation that is part of the network has a role to play in minimising commercial risk.  Finance executives are aware that late payments or erroneous payments will create problems for their suppliers, yet late payments still exist.”

Some meeting charge cards also help to improve control over spend -- using preset spend and time limits on individual cards. Further, advanced SMM technology allows meeting planners to go online to reconcile purchases against what was actually budgeted. The benefits? Greater visibility into actual spend, maximum process efficiency and higher control.

For a checklist of features -- including meeting card integration -- that will manage your meetings smoothly, click here.

Attention all procurement executives, the General Services Administration (GSA) has just learned a hard lesson about how sensitive the press, public and the government is to perceived lavish spending at conferences. The New York Times reported yesterday that Martha Johnson, the administrator of GSA fired her two top deputies and then resigned, herself, just before delivery of a report investigating a 2010 internal conference that was criticized as wasteful.

Apparently, the training conference -- which cost $822,000 for 300 people and took place at a resort/spa outside Las Vegas -- included a mind reader, clowns and comedians and a team-building exercise that alone cost taxpayers $75,000, all details that were first reported by The Washington Post.  On face value these costs may seem excessive, but one thing I’ve learned is there are always two sides to every story.  The tragedy is whatever cost justification there was for these expenses, no one was able to articulate and show documented sourcing enough to disprove any of the allegations of excessiveness.

The reality of meetings is that most events are filled with educational sessions as part of dawn-to-dusk agendas, followed by dinners and receptions where networking is done -- but which also may include entertainment or other team-building events that help break down barriers and build relationships.  Also, spending and locations that might appear lavish to some can actually be very smart bargains. But then again, the other side of this issue is that, as many meeting managers already know, we are living in very difficult times -- where every dime is being watched and where proof of return on investment in meetings is increasingly being demanded by senior executives.  Needless to say, one of the major benefits of establishing a SMMP is the ability to audit and monitor spending in real time versus post event -- when it’s too late.  Is there any wonder that CFOs everywhere are highly desirous of auditing meeting and event spend?

Now is a good time to ensure that your meeting policies are being established, communicated and adhered to and that spending limits and guidelines are being followed. And if you have not yet created a policy, it's time to implement one, get senior management backing and communicate it to all planners. Further, use business intelligence from your meetings management technology to measure ROI, and present those figures to senior executives -- the ones who are watching!  Oh and don’t be surprised if auditing is introduced by your CFO or Finance group – it’s just a matter of time.

Click here to view a free StarCite webinar on the value of business intelligence for your meeting.

 

Last week I traveled to Melbourne to attend the Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME), and I
had a wonderful time with my Active Network executive colleagues, Sam Renouf, Regional Director of Sales, Asia Pacific; Eric Olson, General Manager of Active Network|Business Solutions, SMB; Director of Sales APAC, Matt Kessler; as well as the energetic and talented Active Network sales team.
 
Our appointments at AIME were through the roof, and we had great conversations with many event, meetings and corporate travel professionals about strategic meetings management (SMM), Duty of Care and how they are fast becoming a must to review and implement for companies headquartered in this diverse region. We also did several media interviews, in which we talked about the bigger ecosystem that Active Network's RegOnline, Conferences and StarCite solutions bring to the marketplace. It's unprecedented, and gives us an opportunity to change the industry for the better. Being a part of Active Network also gives us a regional Asia-Pacific presence with offices in many places like Singapore and Sydney.
 
I really enjoyed being at AIME and attending the sessions, and one of the most memorable for me occurred on Day Two of the event: "Integrating the Multigenerational Voices of Business Travelers into Managed Travel & Meetings Programs." Facilitated by Ron DiLeo, Executive Director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), it featured several friends of mine who were panelists, including Georgie Farmer, Head of Asia Travel for Microsoft; my former Hewlett-Packard colleague and good friend, Wendy Reynolds, Manager of Global Travel Procurement at HP Global Travel and Meetings Services; Danielle Puceta, Director JAPA, American Express Meetings & Events; and Vanessa Young, Manager, Corporate & Government Sales AU & NZ, for Virgin Australia.
 
The session touched on the way travel and meetings are morphing into a convergence of new technology, social media interaction and the changing attitudes towards corporate policies (and enforcement of those policies). It was fascinating to hear how companies like HP and Microsoft are looking to influence traveler choice and behavior by using a “softer” approach -- versus the disciplinary stick. And it was interesting to hear how firms are changing the way they understand their traveler profiles and how they're reaching out to them with different “marketing” messages via text, Twitter, Facebook, and internal social media apps.  Wendy's presentation about how HP analyzed their traveler profiles in order to figure out better ways to communicate and influence them was nothing short of fascinating; instead of categorizing every traveler as the same, HP has figured out who and what their traveler base is in order to better understand them.
 
The session also discussed the way apps are changing how firms manage meetings and how apps are creating communities within companies.  Ron actually called me out from the audience to make some comments about this during the panel session. What was interesting is that I didn’t have to physically go up to the stage to a microphone; the audience had Blackberry-sized devices to do instant audience polling, and one of the features of that device was a microphone -- so you could ask questions and interact with the panel. Without skipping a beat, I was able to make some comments
from my seat in the audience.
 
Every time I visit Australia, I'm struck by the vibrancy of the place, and I'm reminded how travel and meetings management is thriving in Asia Pacific. SMM is rapidly changing -- with technology enhancements and new ways of communication. It’s exciting to witness this change and shift in our industry. But more importantly it’s exciting to be playing a big part in this change.  

G’Day mates!

On Feb. 28-29, join StarCite, a part of Active Network, at the ProcureCon Pharma 2012 conference in Zurich.

You can register for a roundtable on the 28th, at 14:50, where Kevin Iwamoto, VP of Enterprise Strategy
for StarCite, will facilitate a discussion on:

- Streamlining data collection to meet growing regulatory requirements
- Managing a meetings approval process and obtaining global visibility
- Leveraging spend with meetings and travel suppliers

ProcureCon Pharma is a brand new pharmaceutical procurement conference that's focusing on the strategic issues and challenges facing senior pharmaceutical sourcing professionals. And I know it will be a valuable networking, benchmarking and ideas-sharing event among Europe’s leading heads of procurement in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.
 
Joining StarCite at the roundtable will be:

- Ginny Harris, Sourcing Group Manager for Global Travel & Meetings Management at UK-based pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline. You may remember Ginny from taking part in a recent StarCite webinar on Global Duty of Care. Ginny has done some wonderful things for SMM at GlaxoSmithKline ... including taking command of an unpredictable and dangerous situation when volcanic ash began to erupt into the atmosphere over Europe in 2010. She activated her Global Duty of Care program to get meeting attendees home and out of danger.
 
Also joining us for the discussion will be:

- Ed Stapor, Partner, CEO Europe, Havas Worldwide Health
- Bruno Combe , Director Mid Size Markets - EMEA Commercial Procurement, Johnson & Johnson
- Claudia Ziegler, General Manager, Conzieglio Business Consulting
 
StarCite will also operate a stand, where we'll be exhibiting our Life Sciences solution.

See you all at ProcureCon Pharma!

In the U.S., the Physician Payments Sunshine Provisions, requiring pharmaceutical and other health care companies to track, record and report meeting spending on health care professionals (HCPs), is now federal law.  And around the world, governments are increasingly implementing rules to try and control HCP-related meeting spend.
 
Streamlining data collection to meet growing regulatory requirements will be one topic at the upcoming ProcureCon Pharma 2012 conference at the end of this month (Feb. 28th & 29th) in Zurich . And I'm excited to say that I'll be attending and introducing a roundtable discussion on this and other issues. ProcureCon Pharma is a brand new pharmaceutical procurement conference that's focusing on the strategic issues and challenges facing senior pharmaceutical sourcing professionals. And I know it will be a valuable networking, benchmarking and ideas-sharing event among Europe’s leading heads of procurement in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.
 
Our roundtable session is called "Risk Mitigation and Compliance Through a Strategic Meetings Management Program." In this session, on Tuesday, the 28th, at 14:50, we'll also discuss

- Managing a meetings approval process and obtaining global visibility
- Leveraging spend with meetings and travel suppliers
 
Joining me at the table will be Ginny Harris, Sourcing Group Manager for Global Travel & Meetings Management at UK-based pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline. You may remember Ginny from taking part in a recent StarCite webinar on Global Duty of Care. Ginny has done some wonderful things for SMM at GlaxoSmithKline ... including taking command of an unpredictable and dangerous situation when volcanic ash began to erupt into the atmosphere over Europe in 2010. She activated her Global Duty of Care program to get meeting attendees home and out of danger.
 
Also joining us for the discussion will be:
 
- Ed Stapor, Partner, CEO Europe, Havas Worldwide Health
- Bruno Combe , Director Mid Size Markets - EMEA Commercial Procument, Johnson & Johnson
- Claudia Ziegler, General Manager, Conzieglio Business Consulting
 
Oh, by the way, look for StarCite, a part of Active Network, at stand #1. We'll be exhibiting our Life Sciences Solution. It's a best-practice technology configuration that removes the guesswork for many life sciences companies and provides them with a quick and streamlined way to build a strong SMMP that supports specific goals and objectives. The solution also delivers data and reporting that aligns with the U.S.'s Sunshine Act.
 
See you all at ProcureCon Pharma!

Oops ... they did it again!   It seems that, when creating corporate travel policies, many travel managers have skipped a few key areas, according to new research by American Express Global Business Travel.
 
The survey, which analyzed nearly 100 travel policies of global, multinational, and mid-sized companies, found that only 12% addressed traveler security "despite it being a critical issue for companies to consider as more and more employees embark on worldwide business travel today," said a recent press release about the data.
 
As many of you know by reading this blog, one of my passions is talking about the need for companies to adopt Global Duty of Care plans in order to protect employees on the road at conferences and meetings. Indeed, this week, I was in London for the Business Travel Show, where on Tuesday, I led a Masterclass (Risk-managing Your Meetings Programme). And while the response from attendees and the questions about and interest in Duty of Care was amazing, the sobering fact remains that more than 50% of companies out there have no Duty of Care process/policies in place.
 
In its study, Amex logically suggests that companies fill the security gap. "Companies should provide guidance to their travelers for the range of areas associated with security, such as how to prepare for a trip, what to do during a trip, and after travel, particularly when traveling to high-risk destinations.  Guidance around what to do during a travel emergency or disruption should also not go overlooked in policies, as well as information on security around company assets."
 
It's reassuring to see that this topic, security of travelers and providing for Duty of Care is getting more attention. And speaking more generally, I'd also suggest that travel and meeting managers update and review their policies -- on a regular basis -- for gaps on meeting and event processes and requirements (for example, which preferred suppliers to use) to mirror what is happening in the marketplace and to mitigate any new risks.  And don't forget about meetings!  Your Meetings and Events policy needs to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis as well, especially if you've launched an SMMP.

On a personal note, the Business Travel Show was the first conference I’ve attended representing Active Network, and I have to say what a great and positive reception we experienced from buyers, suppliers and partners -- all of them excited about the acquisition and potential for the meetings industry ecosystem.
 
And I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate Paul Wakelin, Procurement Project Manager at IBM UK, for his fantastic case study presentation of how IBM’s SMMP has been deployed globally -- in a session that I introduced on Wednesday. His story of a truly global SMMP program in the maturation process was both educational and inspirational.  He's tackling China next, so stay tuned in this blog as we report on his progress and success.  Until next time - Cheers!

Business Travel News reporter Chris Davis wrote a story last week about how the Active Network -- which acquired StarCite® -- plans to integrate StarCite's strategic meetings management cloud-based technology with Active Network's attendee (DDD) software.

I was happy to see quotes from Active CEO Dave Alberga complimenting the StarCite technology and talking about how well both companies' technologies will ultimately fit together. He said the acquisition is a "key step we're taking to evolve the meetings industry from one that focuses on meeting logistics and spend management to one that includes continuous community engagement, enabling organizations to build lifetime value with their customers and employees."

That echoes my comments I made in this blog on Jan. 5, when I said that, at most corporations there's currently a "chasm" between SMMPs and Marketing/Sales organizations, and they end up having to purchase separate technology solutions, manage multiple suppliers and, often times, have separate internal managers to manage the spend.

No one has ever said that SMM is easy, and it can be challenging to implement SMM and gain adoption, especially in a large, complex global organization. But in the past decade, SMM has gained a huge foothold in the U.S. – with more than than 50 percent of the top travel buyers named by BTN using StarCite |Active Network technology. And, meetings management is now poised to take off in Europe – as evidenced by how much of the Business Travel Show programme taking place in London next month is focused on meetings management.

One of the major barriers to adoption has been the division between those who are focused on managing the spend/risks versus those who are focused on reaching new customers and thus driving new revenues. Now, through technology and the expertise within the new Business Solutions division we’ll be able to better link the management of meetings to the experience of meetings, ensuring they create value -- which is going to expand the scope and evolution of SMM. Here is an opportunity to bridge this chasm I spoke of, and I and others in the industry are excited about the possibilities. The end goal: to help companies generate revenue, boost market share through expertly planned meetings and events --– whether they’re in-person, mobile, remote or via some combination.

But don’t just take it from me. Christopher Dwyer, Senior Research Analyst at Aberdeen Group, who studies and analyzes this SMM space for a living said it the best: "...This comprehensive technology offering will help bridge the divide between marketing meeting spend and procurement/sourcing for both small and large meetings and conferences, and I am excited to see where the evolved event lifecycle will go in the coming months."

My buddy, travel industry consultant Scott Gillespie recently laid out some drastic changes that he foresees for our industry in a great piece in The Beat. He's also written much about this in his blog: Gillespie's Guide to Travel+Procurement .

Scott is watching "the battle for control and compliance" during the travel shopping/booking process unfold, and he mentions such "minor" winds of change as:

- Travel managers losing the ability to apply policy controls to corporate travelers' booking
choices, with some managers essentially side-stepping controls and letting travelers book as they wish
 
- The appeal to travelers of smartphones and travel apps

The "lightning bolts" that warrant our full attention, however:
 
- Rearden's technology that curates travelers' options into a few categories (e.g., for budget-minded, time-sensitive and high-touch travelers) thereby challenging the traditional corporate definition of a lowest logical fare, and giving travel managers a new concept to deal with: the most "valuable" fare.
 
- Short's Travel co-opting every OTA's shopping abilities (Short's Travel technology applies
corporate discounts to travelers' shopping choices -- even those of online travel agencies). This could give rise to lighter, cleaner self-booking tools (sort of like the netbook vs. the laptop) for corporate travelers "because they won't carry the baggage of the search/shop functionality." They'll be designed to do just self-booking.
 
- Voice-based user interfaces from Apple (for example, Siri), Google and Evature -- in other
words, a convenient, voice-activated way of booking -- will beat out compliance to corporate
booking tools.
 
- American Airlines' public questioning of the value of corporate contracts. Frank Morogiello, VP of Global Sales at American Airlines, recently said publicly that airline CFOs are questioning the value of corporate contracts -- chiefly because many companies aren't moving targeted and desired market share for the carriers to warrant sustained discounting.
 
What we're witnessing is a new move toward non-compliance, and technology is leading us there by the nose. Thank you, Scott, and thanks, too, to The Beat, for bringing these trends out to the forefront where we can look at them and analyze ways of meeting the challenges or adopting them.
 
You've heard me say many times that travel and meetings managers need to stop looking down at their desks everyday and occasionally look up to see what's coming down the turnpike!  You need to familiarize yourself with new technologies and investigate who within your organization are using them to circumvent policy and lowest pricing options. From there, I guess it's up to you which road you want to take in order to increase compliance: use new technologies to your advantage or beef up policies to mandate that travelers use designated agencies or OTAs in order to utilize corporate discounts.

Perhaps you need to do both!

Once again, my friends at AirPlus have shed some new light on a meetings industry trend through their surveys. This time, AirPlus polled 175 corporate travel managers in November on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and found that many companies are doing CSR activities, and they expect their suppliers to be good citizens, too. Yet, surprisingly, few have a process in place to inquire about suppliers' efforts.
 
For example, AirPlus found:
 
- 55% have implemented "green" initiatives, such as setting goals to reduce the carbon impact of business travel, and 42% expect their preferred suppliers to have their own green initiatives (for example, water conservation and waste recycling programs) in place
- About 59% donate money to charity, while just over 27% expect their travel suppliers to do so
- 53% donate services to charity, and almost 26% expect the same of preferred suppliers
 
While many companies are taking the high road in their communities and expect their suppliers to take the trip with them, a surprising few actually inquire into their suppliers' CSR activities and policies. For example, the AirPlus data revealed that more than 62% have no plans to include CSR criteria in RFPs to payment companies.
 
If you're a travel, procurement or meetings manager, make sure your suppliers' CSR policies are aligned with your own -- especially if your commitment to making the earth greener depends on suppliers' own practices. Instruct planners to query airlines, hotels, car rental firms and commercial payment companies on their CSR policies and practices via electronic RFP tools. If you're using a good platform, there should be a feature for asking ad hoc questions.
 
If you're trying to be a good citizen, take that extra step to make sure your suppliers are, too!

I've always felt that the holidays are a great time to reflect on the important people in our lives, what we've accomplished over the past year and where our goals will take us in the new year.
 
I know that I am very grateful to a whole bunch of people for enriching both my professional and personal lives -- all my hard-working and dedicated colleagues at StarCite, my peers throughout the industry who, like me, are committed to advancing the science and practice of strategic meetings management, and the many meeting, travel and procurement professionals that I get to meet around the world -- who inspire me with their determination to holistically transform their meetings program to benefit their companies.
 
This year, I traversed the globe, visiting Asia, Europe and Australia (among dozens of destinations), evangelizing about the merits of SMM and meetings technology and, increasingly, promoting the notion that companies should implement formal Duty of Care plans for meetings -- given the unsafe world we all live in. During my travels, I'm so lucky that I got to meet the architects of change within companies the world over.

This year, I experienced one of the highlights of my professional life: editing and publishing the first true industry guidebook for developing strategic meetings management programs: Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice, and I want to once again thank the 10 other writers (all meetings industry thought leaders) for contributing their chapters.
 
I'm also extremely pleased that I got to help StarCite grow--we experienced year-over-year marketplace growth to the tune of a 20% increase in RFPs in North America, a 127% spike in Europe and a nearly 47% rise in APAC.
 
I could take up a lot of space here with more about what a fantastic year I had in 2011. But I'll end with a forward-looking statement for 2012: Watch out for all kinds of innovation from StarCite -- developments that will benefit both corporate buyers and suppliers.
 
And, in this blog space, I promise that I'll go the extra mile to share unique thoughts and observances about current and developing meetings industry trends. In 2011, this 'little blog that could' won a Silver Magellan Award from Travel Weekly magazine in the On-line Travel Services, Blog category. I promise to keep up that standard of excellence ... so keep reading!
 
Happy Holidays to all!

What a difference a couple of years make!
 
That was when I first started really evangelizing about the need for companies to include meetings in their corporate Global Duty of Care plans -- to cooperate with and learn from internal stakeholders such as those who run Duty of Care plans in Human Resources and Risk departments and then create and implement a program designed for meetings attendees.
 
Why was I so eager to talk about this topic and push change? For one, I was alarmed at the number of procurement, travel and meeting managers I was talking with who had no concept of what Duty of Care meant in all its different facets (In one StarCite webinar about Duty of Care, 63% of attendees had no program in place.)

Why should companies care? There is the obligation to help meetings attendees who encounter emergencies or who are in trouble on the road, and then there's the need to ensure that you're complying with legislation that requires you to take care of traveling employees, just as you would those at home base. In fact, when I talk about this subject in the EMEA region, they seem to jump on the bandwagon quicker than they do in the U.S. Perhaps that's because of strong central legislation, like the U.K. Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act of 2007, which makes clear that the workplace (and therefore liability for corporate welfare) is not restricted to the brick and mortar of headquarters. 
 
Over the past several years, the concept and practices around Duty of Care have gone mainstream, with webinars and whitepapers and studies being produced and sessions at conferences devoted to the topic. No wonder! Just consider what the world has witnessed over the past several years -- a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, blankets of traveling ash from a volcano in Iceland and political uprisings across the Middle East (and now, Russia).
 
Last week, Annapolis, Md.-based iJET, the global provider of intelligence and business resiliency services, released a report saying that the new year would bring "unprecedented challenges and risks" for companies and meeting managers who must ensure the safety of employees. According to a story in Meetings & Conventions magazine, my friend, iJet President Bruce McIndoe, predicted that global unrest would continue next year and "over time, increase in frequency and severity."
 
I'm fully with iJet when they advise that "organizations must continually monitor the environment for indicators and signals of change" so that they can better manage that change. This should be done proactively, in advance of events -- and on a regular basis.
 
Check out iJet's forecast for possible emergency situations around the world, and for helpful advice on what you need to know about Global Duty of Care and how you can protect your employees in this unsafe world, read this StarCite whitepaper.
 
In the meantime, my mission for Global Duty of Care continues! Do you have plans to institute a Duty of Care plan in 2012?

Here's a distressing statistic: fewer than 5% of all meetings are measured for their business value, according to research by Meeting Professionals International, and featured in a recent article in Meetingsnet. Of course, having said that, it's because calculating ROI has been the Holy Grail for many SMM executives and their companies and would, of course, vary from company to company.
 
Even though determining ROI to date has been challenging, in this day and age of cost-consciousness, more and more senior executives are demanding proof that meetings are necessary (and a worthwhile outlay of funds).

It doesn't help that over the last several years, there has been relatively few tools to measure ROI (I have to mention that my good friend and fellow SMMP evangelist Debi Scholar, introduced a free tool earlier this year to measure how meetings technology can improve your ROI.).
 
But now, thanks to MPI, we have another option. MPI has just announced a Business Value of Meetings Toolbox, including the following features under development:
 
- instructional videos and podcasts
- articles about solutions and examples of successes
- best practice case studies and related webinars
- how-to guides, tutorials, and workbooks
 
The new tools are free to MPI members, and nonmembers can buy them.
 
Thank you, MPI, for these valuable additional ROI tools that those seeking cost- and value-justification of meetings can use. What I'm also happy about is that the tools are designed to help travel, meeting and procurement managers overcome stubborn barriers to measuring meeting value, such as difficulty getting stakeholder buy-in, defining meeting objectives and expectations, devising meaningful ways to measure value, and analyzing and reporting data on the business value of meetings.
 
Gathering and presenting ROI on meetings is no easy task ... but it's a worthwhile one. That's why StarCite has put together a free webinar: "Demonstrate the Value of Your Strategic Meetings Management Program." Check it out here!

StarCite won one of the innovation awards at the Cisco Supplier Forum held this week. There were only seven awards given out to a total of 200 suppliers across every procurement discipline -- so this is quite a big deal to get one of these!

For my part, I'm extremely honored to be an executive sponsor for the Cisco Meeting & Event team. I love their creative energy and being surrounded by solid, knowledgeable professionals. I'm really impressed with their depth of talent, and Cisco should be commended for the amount of headcount and resources they've committed to their SMMP.

I always look forward to our review meetings and strategy planning sessions. The reason why they have such a world-class program is because they believe in SMMP and have invested in it fully to reap the rewards.

As I've said many times publicly, Cisco has one of the finest best-in-class multinationally deployed SMMPs that I know of, and being a partner to help them achieve best-in-class processes and best practices is an honor. The key here is the word partner or partnership, which, according to Webster's Ninth, involves "close cooperation between parties ...." And that couldn't describe any more perfectly the way StarCite and Cisco work; we've been through a lot together, and Cisco has always challenged us to be our best.

Let me congratulate the StarCite-Cisco account team, primarily Cheryl MacNeal and James Steen who report into Betty McNulty, StarCite's Senior Vice President of Global Account Management & Customer Operations. Working with them to manage the Cisco account has been a real pleasure for me.  Also a special thanks to Geoffrey Maugham who has supported the StarCite account team on Cisco's program enhancement roadmap.
 
To be one of only a few suppliers selected for this award is indeed a tremendous accomplishment, especially from a world renown technology company like Cisco.  Our sincere thanks to a great partner and customer!

I’m resigned to the fact that as long as I write this blog, I will have to keep repeating the message that establishing, communicating and enforcing a travel and meetings policy is super important, especially these days when all eyes are on corporate budgets and there's not a whole lot of leeway to speak of.
 
What makes me bring this up again? The fascinating findings of the 2011 Corporate Travel Policy Benchmarking and Insight study by the GBTA Foundation and Egencia. In the recently released press release about the study, which looked at the travel management trends and policies of more than 650 buyers (primarily in North America but also in Europe), Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO, noted that "the importance of a carefully managed travel program has never been more important."
 
One topic that's been in the news lately that the study looks at is ancillary fees. GBTA's study has found that only one in five companies track ancillary fees, but 41% of those who don't plan to do so within the next year. Tracking and tabulating fees should be an important part of your budgetary activities ... and it could pay off at the bargaining table with airlines and hotels, too (for certain benefits, e.g. access to airport clubs).
 
What really caught my eye are some shocking figures about companies' practices around policy enforcement. About six in ten said that travel policy is more a guideline than it is a mandate. What's more, nearly three quarters (72%) levy no consequences for policy violations. Last year, GBTA's study found that stricter policy enforcement could save companies $30 billion annually.
 
Maybe companies aren't aware of the $30 billion in potential savings figure, but they sure are aware of the benefits that come with stricter enforcement -- better budget management and, down the line, better buying relations with suppliers. I know this because procurement and travel professionals tell me every day. Some have their hands tied, though, in the ability to make changes because of corporate culture, resistance to change and lackadaisical attitudes by upper management.
 
If you're in charge of meetings travel at your organization, make 2012 the year you review and make your meetings policy current, or, if you don't already have one, create a separate meeting & events policy and then internally communicate those policies so that everyone with influence over budgets for meetings and events is aware of them.  Best practice:  you need to keep communicating the policy throughout the year and via the various internal communication vehicles that your company deploys for employees.

Remember that people don’t read e-mails; they skim or delete immediately from their inbox so your subject line and note HAS to be attention grabbing and easy to read/grasp.  Furthermore, the new generation workforce doesn’t rely on e-mails to communicate, so you should expand your communications to the various approved social media tools your company uses for maximum information disbursement.
 
If you have any best practices you’d like to share with regards to effective policy communication please drop me a line or share it here!

On Thursday, September 15th, I moderated and presented in a webinar about creating and implementing a Global Duty of Care plan. It was our second webinar in a series about Global Duty of Care, and, once again, like during the first webinar, I have some very revealing statistics on the poll questions that we asked.

First, though, just in case you missed both webinars, and you're unfamiliar with the concept of Duty of Care, here's a definition: Duty of Care is a company's obligation to protect employees, travelers and meetings attendees from risk -- including injury, sickness and natural or man-made disasters.

We created our webinars because meetings travel is often left out of corporate Duty of Care plans. So our goal was to help meeting managers become more aware of the risks out there to their traveling attendees and, ultimately, prepare you to face unexpected emergencies such as earthquakes and tsunamis as well as man-made events like political uprisings.

I'm happy to report that I'm sure we met our goals during the webinars -- judging from high and sustained attendance numbers during both sessions and the positive comments about the events that I have personally received.

Now, here's a report on some of statistics we uncovered: We confirmed what we discovered during our last webinar, when we found that a majority of the audience (of over 100) did not have a Duty of Care plan in place. This time around, with an audience of more than 60 attendees, we found that 63% did not have a formalized plan in place.

Second, we asked the attendees who indicated that they had a Duty of Care plan in place, what stage of development those plans were in. More than half (56%) said they have "few if any" related policies in place, while 36% said they have policies implemented but focus primarily on responding to incidents -- versus taking proactive measures (like risk assessment of destinations) to increase the safety of meetings travelers. Meanwhile, only 8% said they have a program that's integrated across their entire organization.

It's clear from the webinar poll findings that huge opportunities remain for companies to implement Duty of Care plans to safeguard traveling employees and meetings attendees. And unless universal good will and peace are declared tomorrow and mother nature is permanently tamed, this opportunity is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

And I know that the interest level in creating Duty of Care plans as part of a strategic meetings management program (SMMP) is out there, because I speak about it every day with travel, meeting and procurement managers. So, why not take the lead and establish a program within your own organization? Here are some best practices to creating and working a plan that I suggest you follow:

- Collaborate with key stakeholders in your organization to communicate your plans and learn from their processes and procedures
- Get senior management support for your efforts
- Use your meeting planning technology as a tool to find and store information on attendees
- Talk with suppliers to gauge their readiness--it may affect who you choose to work with
- Communicate your new program to all meeting attendees, planners and supplier partners
- Use business intelligence from your meetings technology to pinpoint the whereabouts of your attendees so that you can provide immediate assistance to those in need.

In case you missed our two Duty of Care webinars, click on these links below to view them:

"Meetings & Global Duty of Care: What You Need to Know Now"
"Meetings & Global Duty of Care: Protecting Your Employees...and Your Attendees"

A recent article in USA Today says rewarding employees with trips is back in fashion -- but in a more moderate style.

"If we had to put a score on it, it's probably 85% to 90% back," said David Peckinpaugh, president of St. Louis-based Maritz Travel, in the article. The USA Today piece also indicated that some resorts are reporting higher sales. For instance, the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas is reporting a 20% growth in group sales -- versus a year earlier. Incentive meetings make up nearly two-thirds of all group sales at the resort. Sales there are expected to increase again in 2012.

But while there are indicators that incentive travel is back, it's being done in a more toned-down way, according to the article. For example, today's incentive trips are more likely to be domestic than international.

Also, most trips include some type of meeting or business, and only a minority of trips cover all the airfare -- owing to the growth in fees. And many trips now include an activity promoting social responsibility.

When planning your next incentive trip, check out these critical procurement guidelines in this StarCite whitepaper!

During the Global Business Travel Association's annual convention in Denver this month, The GBTA Foundation and StarCite took the wraps off the Strategic Meetings Management Maturity Index, a model that measures and analyzes meetings program development and implementation.

The Index, part of the SMM Maturity Model that was announced last year at the 2010 GBTA conference, enables you to complete an online questionnaire about your SMM programs. The index gauges your progress in 13 SMM categories, including strategy, sourcing and procurement, data analysis and reporting, policy and technology.

In "Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice," StarCite's new book written by 11 industry thought leaders, Linda J. McNairy, StarCite VP of Business Development, discusses the index in a chapter entitled: Maturing Your SMMP: Getting to Where You Want to Be. McNairy helped build the Index as a member of the GBTA's SMM Task Force.

The model and the index "enable companies to apply established measurements to evaluate their own SMM journey," says McNairy in her chapter.  "That helps them determine where there is room to grow and gain further savings and efficiencies."

If you're a GBTA member, you can get started assessing your SMMP by checking out the Maturity Model Index here! 

Whew, I’m exhausted. The GBTA Convention in Denver just concluded and to say I was busy is a major understatement.  There were so many great announcements and activities that were unveiled at this years conference, so before going any further, let me acknowledge and thank all the GBTA management and staff and Board of Directors for an outstanding convention! 

From our perspective, we got to showcase and announce so many great developments -- like our new SMMP book,  "Strategic Meetings Management Handbook: From Theory to Practice;" our new mobile app for hotels' national and global sales teams; and we sponsored education sessions, as well as the last class of SMMC graduates. Also at the convention, we moderated or presented in 10 education sessions, all focusing on strategic meetings management topics including -- globalization, risk management, working with hotels, a special session on SMMP hot topics, motivating planners and attendees to support your SMMP, and knowing where and how to get SMMP data...and more.

But for me the most satisfying event was the GBTA Foundation, in partnership with the Strategic Meetings Management Taskforce and StarCite, unveiling the SMM Maturity Index -- which will enable companies to go online and accurately identify how their SMM programs are developing. They can also learn recommendations for further improvement.

The GBTA Foundation press release details what the Maturity Index is all about, how it was developed and what companies can expect from participating in the database.  The Index is built to help organizations determine where they are in the Maturity Model in 13 categories, including: Strategy, Data Analysis and Reporting, Policy, Approval, Technology, Sourcing/Procurement, and more.

I am very grateful to all the members of the SMM Taskforce for all their hard work and dedication, including our own VP of Business Development, Linda J. McNairy. Linda, along with Taskforce member Kari (Kessler) Wendell, conducted a live demo of the tool on Monday the 22nd. The Index was also available for attendees to score their SMMPs at both the GBTA and StarCite booths. Judging by the activity at both locations, there was a pretty steady stream of people wanting to try it out.

This is a dream come true, and will benefit countless organizations trying -- at their own pace -- to achieve the goals of an effective SMMP: savings, control and mitigating risk as their program matures and moves to the next levels.  For me as an original advocate and supporter for this Maturity Model and Index, this is a great accomplishment for the industry and a natural progression as SMM matures.  We have much to celebrate and many to congratulate, and I’m grateful to StarCite for providing the financial means towards making this happen. 

Congratulations to all!

Last week, I hosted the first part of a new StarCite webinar series on Duty of Care: "Meetings and Global Duty of Care: What You Need to Know Now!" Seemed the perfect time to have that webinar -- with all the tragedies and emergencies happening in the world recently, like Japan's cataclysm, the political uprisings in the Middle East, Europe's 2010 ash cloud crisis and now -- the horrible terrorist bombing and killings in Norway.

Our goal was to demonstrate how a Duty of Care program (a company’s steps and processes to protect its employees from risks) and accompanying meetings management technology can help meeting managers instantly identify traveling attendees and get them assistance. And I think we met that goal very nicely -- judging from the positive feedback I've been hearing.

I want to thank two very savvy industry executives who co-presented and gave us firsthand stories about how they responded to some of these crises. On board was Stacey MacAlister, Managing Director, Sales & Client Management for JTB Americas, who gave a riveting account of JTB's assistance efforts to clients and employees during and after the unprecedented incidents in Japan. With me, too, was  Ginny Harris, Sourcing Group Manager for Global Travel & Meetings Management at UK-based GlaxoSmithKline plc. She related how she assisted over 750 displaced GSK travelers during the disruptive ash cloud episode.

Judging from the poll we took during the webinar, there is still great opportunity out there for meeting managers to create Duty of Care plans and put them in place at their organizations. Of nearly 110 attending, 50% said they had no Duty of Care plan or were working on creating one. And, in another question, 52% do not regularly communicate their Duty of Care procedures (for example, how to contact the meeting planning department and how to make travel changes if necessary) with other internal departments and with travelers and attendees.  The results of that straw poll were very troublesome for me, perhaps because I was a procurement professional for so many years.  If you don’t have a Duty of Care policy and/or plan in place today, your time may be running out.  This should be a priority as it’s a “must have” versus a “nice to have.”

It is so important to have procedures and processes in place and for employees to know about them should an emergency occur. There are all kinds of costs to not being prepared for disasters, for example, legal (some countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. have laws requiring companies to do all they can to ensure the safety of traveling employees), as well as the cost to disruption of business. It is also wise to have a process and plan identified when there is actual loss of life.  Any loss of life situation needs to be handled with respect and sensitivity.

In September, StarCite will be presenting the second part of this Duty of Care webinar series, and I'll be posting information on how to join that session. Look out, too, for an upcoming post that answers a question from an audience member that we didn't get to address during the webinar.

In the meantime, please enjoy the replay of our first Duty of Care webinar by clicking here.