Meetings sourcing
aid Groupize wants to help strategic meetings management programs centralize
their meetings sourcing, particularly bringing in the many simple meetings that
can add up to a lot of spend. The rub for an SMMP manager who uses Groupize is
how to communicate to meetings planners which meetings are right for Groupize
and which ones are too complex.
Groupize has
debuted a Meetings Complexity Index that lets SMMPs set parameters around
meeting type, attendee type, estimated budget and other factors. As a planner
inputs meeting details as part of the Groupize sourcing process, the system compares
those details to the SMMP's parameters. If the meeting is too complex, the
system will cut in and advise the meeting planner to source the meeting via traditional
sourcing methods.
The benefit,
according to CEO Charles De Gaspe Beaubien, is that it simplifies communication
between SMMPs and meeting planners. Rather than giving complex guidance to
planners about which meetings should go through Groupize and which should be
sourced traditionally, SMMPs can send all meeting planners to Groupize to
start. The theory is that this central starting point will steer more meetings
per company into Groupize and still bring the more complex meetings to the
attention of the SMMP.