Managing Meetings At P& G: Online Reg Produces

The creation of an intranet-based meeting registration application that includes direct links to its travel agency for fulfillment has allowed Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. to streamline its operations and better track and report meeting expenditures and savings. However, the company does not use the new tool as a cost-saving mechanism in and of itself, showing that corporations with centralized, sophisticated meetings programs can derive value from online applications beyond cash saved.

P&G installed the new system—based on B-there's attendee management structure and linking directly to American Express Meetings & Incentives for fulfillment—this past fall, replacing an intricate internal electronic system that allowed the company to perform many, but not all, functions of the new system. The current system enables online requests for meeting sourcing and attendee registration and housing, and allows P&G to request site sourcing and air analysis by American Express.

"We're very focused on measurement of savings and productivity, and this helps us to capture all of that," said global travel operations manager Debbie Gittinger.

Online meetings management is not new to P&G. Before the new system was installed, the company had created and used an Oracle database that allowed the corporate meetings department to list preferred properties, send requests for proposals, register meetings online, send meeting invitations and connect with Amex. That system was phased out this past spring. "It was strictly an IT issue," Gittinger said. P&G settled on B-there's system after a summertime search to replace what was lost.

The new system features strong reporting capabilities, Gittinger said, but does not reduce spending itself, even though it eliminates transaction fees charged to meeting attendees calling Amex to register or book housing. "We're sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul," Gittinger said. "We save on transaction fees, but we need to invest in this tool, so it's probably a wash in the long run." B-there charges P&G a late fee per hotel booking transaction, said P&G manager of corporate meetings Lynn Ingram. Buyer and supplier have changed that relationship from a flat monthly rate, she said.

The process under the new system begins when a company employee contacts the meetings department, headed by Ingram, with a proposal. The department can request air analysis from Amex M&I to determine the most cost-efficient location for the meeting and proceed with the site selection process, for which the agency uses online meetings management firm StarCite. Results return within three days and Amex then negotiates with the P&G-chosen properties with the company's preferred rates and standard contract addendum. Once a signed contract exists, P&G builds a B-there Web page dedicated to the specific meeting, a three-day process. Attendees then input their registration and hotel booking information. Air booking is not linked into P&G's system. The meetings department can e-mail attendee air travel information to Amex for fulfillment. P&G has contracted with GetThere to provide transient air booking service, Gittinger said, but it's not yet clear how all the pieces will fit for meeting travel. "We are going there," she said. "It's the only thing we're missing."

Internal P&G meeting sponsors are not under a specific mandate to use the system, but should they contact the meetings department—which occurs for about 80 percent of corporate meetings—and a Web site is established, then there is no other registration alternative. However, Ingram's department will not necessarily set up a site for each event.

"It's dependent on circumstances, availability and the internal customer's needs," Ingram said.