Many third-party suppliers have developed internal technology to manage a wide variety of corporate meeting functions and information, from attendee management and registration to data consolidation and contract construction. Some—though not all—of the technology is proprietary and available only to the clients of the third party that developed it. Some of the tools are not meant to directly interact with a specific corporate client or meeting, but are strictly internal programs to streamline the planning, sourcing and negotiating processes. However, all are designed to speed the process by which the corporation, hotel and third-party interact and negotiate.
"Customers want us to figure out ways to get rates, availability and concessions in a dramatically reduced, short-term cycle," said Greg Malark, executive vice president of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based site selection giant HelmsBriscoe. "Technology is helping us do that."
HelmsBriscoe has developed several electronic tools for its internal use to streamline the typical time required to find appropriate destinations and sites for corporate meetings and to quickly construct and negotiate contracts that include specific clauses and language for each client. "One tool, HB Express, is an electronic request for proposal tool that also has a database of contractual clauses that help corporate customers," Malark said. "Another tool is HB Insight, an anecdotal database with thousands of pieces of information about the site selection process: 'This hotel has a great view out of this meeting room,' or 'Here's five attrition clauses that might be useful,' and so on."
HelmsBriscoe also has incorporated external technology to accommodate what Malark said is increasing demand for electronic housing and registration services. HelmsBriscoe primarily uses StarCite's RegWeb attendee management tool, he said, but also uses SeeUthere Technologies services and BlueSkyz, a Stevensville, Md.-based event registration system.
Many destination management companies have internally developed proprietary attendee registration and group housing tools to meet what has become a rapidly growing request of corporate planners, said Lex Lyon, vice president of San Diego-based PRA Destination Management and president of the Association of Destination Management Executives, a Denver-based association of DMCs. "It's an integral part of our business. We're all looking for new products to sell," Lyon said. "We have to look for what our clients need, and one of those things is online registration. We don't do a whole lot of it, but it's more than we ever have before. Three or four years ago, it was something we would not have involved ourselves with, but you have to fill needs as they appear."
Lyon said the DMCs that have developed their own registration tools have done so because it often costs less than licensing outside technology. "Some of the tools that operate on a nationwide basis are so expensive," he said. "Those DMCs that have someone with an IT background can put something together with housing, registration and seminar choices. It's within our bailiwick."
Travel management companies also have embraced attendee management solutions. Though some smaller and midsize agencies have licensed technology belonging to established meetings technology vendors, some of the largest agencies have chosen to develop those functions in-house.
WorldTravel Meetings & Incentives, the meetings management division of WorldTravel BTI, earlier this year introduced a new attendee management and data consolidation tool, called Plan2Attend
(Meetings Today, March 24), which it uses to manage client meetings and registrations and sells to other agencies and corporations. The tool, said senior vice president and general manager Dave Sonricker, has attracted attendees of corporate meetings, including those of less than 150 attendees. "In some of those small meetings, we're seeing 30 percent of attendees register on the first day it's offered, which is pretty good," Sonricker said. "Industrywide, online registration has seen tremendous pickup from last year. Clients are interested in integrating technology because, in the long run, there's a big upswing in cost effectiveness."
In addition to attendee management functions, mega agencies have invested resources into developing tools to consolidate clients' historical meeting spending data. "We use a tool that pulls data from the various places it exists—registration, sourcing and budgeting information—and track savings at each level," said Jay Roseman, vice president of American Express Meetings & Incentives. "When there's a new program, all the data is then already in there."
Many smaller third parties, though, do not have the financial resources or desire to spend the time and money needed to create a meetings registration tool or other technology application, with no ironclad guarantee that the investment will lead to higher revenue. The level of integration of technology by independent meeting planners and small planning companies varies widely, mostly because of personal preference.
Joan Eisenstodt, president of Washington, D.C.-based independent meetings management firm Eisenstodt Associates, said her company outsources all online meeting registration and group housing functions. "We don't do it in-house because it's labor-intensive and it's not cost-effective," she said. "It makes more sense for us to give that to a company that specializes in it."
Eisenstodt—who is a member of the Alliance of Meeting Management Companies, an Indianapolis-based group of meeting professionals who own their own companies—said her stance on technology is somewhat typical of similar-size independent planning companies, but it can vary. "There're really no standards for independents, because of their sizes and the complexity of their work," she said. "Yet, there are those that try to do everything, and if you buy some technology with all the bells and whistles, you can overspend. Plus, keeping up with all the changes in technology doesn't make sense for us."
The third-party companies that do take on the technology development initiative, however, know that all the advances they embrace can be undermined if hotels aren't able to conduct business electronically.
Still, HelmsBriscoe's Malark said hotels have improved those capabilities. "Hotels have figured out that when dealing with third parties, they must be more nimble and fast in response to leads," he said. "They've realized it makes sense to put forth their best offer first, instead of drawing it out."