Managing Meetings At: Pfizer Inc.--Tech To Aid Mtg. Consolidation

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. is nearing a decision on the selection of a meetings technology product, which it will implement as a major step toward the development of a meetings consolidation program.

The technology will be used to gather meetings expenditure data from many domestic Pfizer divisions, while retaining a decentralized meetings management structure, said senior manager of corporate travel Phil Dunphy. "This is a huge opportunity," he said. "We're hoping consolidation can help us, and there's a high level of interest in the senior levels of our organization—spurred by 9/11 and the fact that we did not have full data reporting for meetings. We are pushing this initiative, and we are on the pathway to consolidation."

Currently, New York-based Pfizer operates its meetings through a decentralized structure, in which meeting managers housed in various corporate divisions handle logistics and sourcing. Dunphy said he has no wish to change this, as centralizing operations would limit those managers' ability to service the specific needs of their clients. "All the divisions have particular twists for the meetings they need, so it's important to have professionals in each division," he said.

Instead, Pfizer will turn to meetings technology to collect spending data and perform a variety of other functions. "In an organization this big, having the electronic registration process tied into the online booking system is key," Dunphy said. "We'd like our policies to be involved so that we could quickly source a venue, a massive calendar so we know what we have, a link to travel services to make sure we have the best contracts with suppliers and venues, and then a budgeting tool so we get a complete feel for what meetings are costing the company and make sure we get the appropriate return on investment."

The selection of a domestic meetings technology tool would be the latest technology decision made by Pfizer. Earlier this month, the company began pilot-testing GetThere's transient online self-booking tool, and Pfizer's European travel council recently selected GetThere's meetings applications for use throughout Europe. The latter was a Europe-spearheaded initiative that was nearly two years in development. "There was an opportunity for an arrangement with GetThere for meeting software in Europe, and the Europeans were ready to go."

The moves reflect Dunphy's belief in technology as the foundation of travel management program development. "We're looking for a travel technology company that can support all of our technology needs—meeting and transient," he said. "At one time, if you were starting a new program, your first strategy would be to hire a travel management company. Now, making sure you hire the right travel technology company may well be the first move."

Pfizer's consolidated domestic agency, WorldTravel BTI, fulfills all of its meeting and transient air travel. Through that relationship, Pfizer learned it spent about $31 million in 2002 on meeting and group air travel alone, an important factor in the decision to embark upon a consolidation project. "That's how we were able to see how big this thing was," Dunphy said. "We want to speak in a collective voice and manage this cost effectively."

Dunphy has named corporate travel manager Connie Bocchieri as the leader of the consolidation effort. "She will work with meeting managers to get Pfizer focused on best practices from a corporate, not divisional, perspective," he said.