Maritz Software Merges Point-Of-Sale, Mtg. Planning On The Web
<B> Maritz Software Merges Point-Of-Sale, Mtg. Planning On The Web</B>
By Chris Davis
Maritz is beta testing a new functionality for its ProView for Meetings module that will enable meeting attendees to directly enroll themselves in meetings through the Internet.
A Maritz travel consultant would then book all travel arrangements, removing meeting planners from the often-arduous attendee-booking process.
"From what we've seen in the industry, we believe this product is unique in that it combines the meeting-planning function with the point-of-sale travel transaction," said Richard Spradling, vice president of information technology.
"It eliminates the multiple steps travelers typically have to go through today to book a business meeting. And by empowering the point-of-sale travel consultant to complete the entire itinerary, and taking the meeting planners out of the transaction processing piece, this will allow meeting planners to focus on the event side of the meeting--setting up and managing the event--and not have to worry about enrolling participants."
Spradling said Maritz hopes to deploy the new functionality later this month or in October.
Industry watchers welcomed word of the new functionality, particularly as it pertains to alleviating the registration workload of the meeting planners of Maritz client corporations, but said the most significant technological gains in this field are yet to come.
"Online registration is the really hot trend in the industry," said Corbin Ball, principal of Corbin Ball & Associates, a Bellingham, Wash.-based consultancy.
Ball said that while Maritz' program should be supported, a more wide-reaching development in online registration technology would be software that allows registrants their choice of travel agency and the ability to secure air travel.
"I applaud Maritz for doing this, but I personally like a more open standard," Ball said. "I would like to have a little more control. I would like to have the option of going to my travel agency or multiple agencies to do different things.
"But that's not taking anything away from Maritz. They're smart to do this."
Coleman, a Mineral Point, Wis., independent planner and former MPI president, said it was likely the corporate meeting planner would still have some role in the registration process, if only to ensure that all registrations are valid and that everybody who registered should be going to the meeting.
"There's going to be some quality control issues to verify the registrations," he said. "I'm certain that Maritz is enabling the planner to ensure that the registration is valid."
Some corporations, he said, have developed similar programs in-house. "Maritz is not the only one with the technology, it's widely available now," Coleman said. "Some corporations are using it in-house. Maritz is certainly right to be doing this, though, and I'm sure their clients are demanding it."
Coleman echoed Spradling's contention that the new functionality will allow meeting planners more time to arrange event details. "It lets meeting planners plan meetings instead of being data entry people, which makes the process a lot more efficient," he said. "I don't think it takes any control away from the planner, it just takes away that hideous data-entry function from the planner, which I think is wonderful."
Coleman noted there was no question the industry is headed toward extensive use of online registration, and compared its convenience to ordering airline tickets through the Internet.
This fall, ProView for Meetings users can access the new functionality over the Internet, either through Maritz' Website (www.maritz.com) or through the home company's intranet site.
"It depends on the network and structure we have installed with that client," Spradling said.
Maritz is beta testing the new functionality solely through its own national reservation center in St. Louis. Spradling said Maritz is unlikely to undertake beta testing with any of its outside clients, so that no client's meetings travel systems are fouled up by any unforeseen bug.
"There's really nothing else like it in the industry," Spradling said. "It significantly improves the productivity on the meeting planners side and significantly decreases the cycle time of making the reservation by bringing it all together."
Maritz also is beta testing another feature that would browser-enable the meeting planner front end tool, where planners set up the meetings to be utilized in ProView.
"Currently, that's a client-server application," Spradling said. "But as more and more of our clients deploy browsers on the desktop, this will decrease operating costs and get as much of that software off the desktop as we can and get it on the application server. It will let our clients use their browser-enabled desktops to access that functionality."
That functionality also is being tested at the agency's national reservation center and should be available to corporate customers this month or next.