Meetings and event technology provider Aventri has redesigned the strategic meetings modules within its enterprise platform to absorb additional complexity under the hood and produce smoother processes, workflows and data management for users.
The company has pursued a platform play in somewhat the same vein as its biggest competitor, Cvent, opting for deeply integrated modules as opposed to linking pieces of tech through application programming interfaces.
According to chief technology officer Shane Edmonds, the strategic meetings management tech transformation has been in the works for several years, with the company building and acquiring the different elements that enable the end-to-end solution. Strategic investment from private equity owner HGGC and buy-in from
an undisclosed but very mature Fortune 100 meetings client fast-tracked additional development.
Ease of use has been a key advantage for Aventri technology, though sometimes at the cost of configurability for large, complex programs, said Edmonds. For its new rollout, the company focused on improving meeting request and workflow capabilities to enable and integrate sourcing and approval processes
for all types of events and to scale those processes to complex, multilevel organizations. Aventri also prioritized budget visibility, incorporating an estimated budget in the meeting request form and a comprehensive budgeting module that provides clarity to users throughout the meeting life cycle.
The platform taps Aventri's more than 200,000 hotels and venues globally for sourcing. The workflows steer meeting requests to centralized sourcing or back to the planner. Users log in to view sourcing requests, then click through to initiate search, compare bids and renegotiate. The tool tracks that
process, including the negotiated savings.
Workflow settings pass the meeting to additional approvals, if required, as well as to the contracting process. Events that are not approved at this stage are returned to the requestor for specific modifications. Email notifications link the user to the required task within
the process. When completed, the request re-enters the workflow for final approvals and contracting. An enterprise meeting calendar centralizes all requested and approved meetings.
"After a meeting is approved, this is where a lot of the magic happens in the platform," said Edmonds. "All the data captured up to that point in the process flows right through to the planner: the budget they need to work under, the venue with all the content from our
database. If the planner wants to take the event further with a mobile app, they are able to do so with one click in the app platform and the data is already there."
According to Edmonds, the planner experience is Aventri's strong suit and drives adoption through the organization. "That's always the feedback we get from our customers; they need an alternative that is easier to use. We've always provided that, but now we have the increased
configurability and scalability to go with that simplicity for the user."
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For an SMM technology, that user includes the meetings program manager. To that end, Aventri has upgraded its data aggregation and real-time reporting capabilities to deliver business intelligence on demand. New reporting includes cross-event data visibility and customizable reporting
that can be scheduled and distributed automatically or accessed for ad hoc data mining.
While Aventri modeled its new SMM technology around the needs of its most complex client, the platform was built to serve all its customers, whether they are starting out with a simple meetings management plan or already have a complex mature program, said Edmonds. "The message
from the marketplace was that they needed a real alternative that was easier to implement and easier to adopt. We have that now."