“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step” – Lao-Tzu
Today marks a momentous step forward in our world of global corporate meetings and events. If you haven’t heard or read about it yet, let me be the first to share with you the great news. Early this morning, before Wall Street opened for business, Active Network (NYSE: ACTV) announced the launch of its Business Solutions division.
The new division connects event suppliers, organizations and attendees—powered by a suite of technology solutions that meets the needs of any event or meeting—to drive unprecedented cost savings, efficiencies and deeper audience engagement.
As a part of the launch, Active Network also announced the acquisition of StarCite®—the leader in global corporate travel and strategic meetings management (SMM)—which will become part of the company’s Business Solutions division. In addition to our global corporate customer base, StarCite will also provide Active Network access to a vast worldwide online marketplace of the top hotels, destinations and venue suppliers.
The combination of two of the largest technology providers for the SMM marketplace and the events/conference/association and sporting events marketplace is exciting news and, in my humble opinion, a real game-changer for the meetings and events industry, as well as the general consumer marketplace.
Active Network serves four key markets: business events, community activities, outdoors and sports and has over 47,000 customers. Last year they generated 70 million online transactions! The combined customer base for both Active Network and StarCite will range from top global corporations and technology companies, to the National Parks Service and state campgrounds, to sports organizers like Little League and IronMan, to local agencies such as the City of Phoenix and neighborhood YMCAs.
The power of the combined technologies will provide the first-ever global ecosystem connecting event suppliers, organizations and attendees. Specifically for corporations trying to manage an SMMP, plus deliver value and data for their Marketing departments who have different requirements and needs, the combination of these technologies will expand and redefine a truly end-to-end solution that captures spend and logistics -- from the smallest meetings to the largest events and conferences.
Currently there’s a chasm that exists between SMMPs and Marketing/Sales for most corporations, and they end up having to purchase separate technology solutions, manage multiple suppliers and often times have separate internal managers to manage the spend. The end result is continued fragmentation of expense/spend data, disjointed functionality requirements and multiple internal owners. The combination of our two leading technologies will change all of that by providing a truly end-to-end global ecosystem for meeting and events management.
Needless to say I’m excited about the future of our industry and our customers based on today’s announcement. I predict that this will be a change catalyst for many global companies, event organizers, government departments and suppliers in 2012 and beyond. In my recent holiday blog, I promised that I'd go the extra mile to share unique thoughts and observances about current and developing meetings industry trends. Consider today’s post as the first of many to come -- where I hope to blog about “SMEMP” (Strategic Meetings & Events Management Programs) and the next generation of complete end-to-end technology solutions for a larger, more robust and further diversified marketplace!
Happy New Year everyone!
Today marks a momentous step forward in our world of global corporate meetings and events. If you haven’t heard or read about it yet, let me be the first to share with you the great news. Early this morning, before Wall Street opened for business, Active Network (NYSE: ACTV) announced the launch of its Business Solutions division.
The new division connects event suppliers, organizations and attendees—powered by a suite of technology solutions that meets the needs of any event or meeting—to drive unprecedented cost savings, efficiencies and deeper audience engagement.
As a part of the launch, Active Network also announced the acquisition of StarCite®—the leader in global corporate travel and strategic meetings management (SMM)—which will become part of the company’s Business Solutions division. In addition to our global corporate customer base, StarCite will also provide Active Network access to a vast worldwide online marketplace of the top hotels, destinations and venue suppliers.
The combination of two of the largest technology providers for the SMM marketplace and the events/conference/association and sporting events marketplace is exciting news and, in my humble opinion, a real game-changer for the meetings and events industry, as well as the general consumer marketplace.
Active Network serves four key markets: business events, community activities, outdoors and sports and has over 47,000 customers. Last year they generated 70 million online transactions! The combined customer base for both Active Network and StarCite will range from top global corporations and technology companies, to the National Parks Service and state campgrounds, to sports organizers like Little League and IronMan, to local agencies such as the City of Phoenix and neighborhood YMCAs.
The power of the combined technologies will provide the first-ever global ecosystem connecting event suppliers, organizations and attendees. Specifically for corporations trying to manage an SMMP, plus deliver value and data for their Marketing departments who have different requirements and needs, the combination of these technologies will expand and redefine a truly end-to-end solution that captures spend and logistics -- from the smallest meetings to the largest events and conferences.
Currently there’s a chasm that exists between SMMPs and Marketing/Sales for most corporations, and they end up having to purchase separate technology solutions, manage multiple suppliers and often times have separate internal managers to manage the spend. The end result is continued fragmentation of expense/spend data, disjointed functionality requirements and multiple internal owners. The combination of our two leading technologies will change all of that by providing a truly end-to-end global ecosystem for meeting and events management.
Needless to say I’m excited about the future of our industry and our customers based on today’s announcement. I predict that this will be a change catalyst for many global companies, event organizers, government departments and suppliers in 2012 and beyond. In my recent holiday blog, I promised that I'd go the extra mile to share unique thoughts and observances about current and developing meetings industry trends. Consider today’s post as the first of many to come -- where I hope to blog about “SMEMP” (Strategic Meetings & Events Management Programs) and the next generation of complete end-to-end technology solutions for a larger, more robust and further diversified marketplace!
Happy New Year everyone!
Powered by Compendium
Comments for A Game-Changing Event in the Meetings and Events World