In Business Travel News' 2014 Strategic Meetings Management Survey, which reflected the views of travel and meeting buyers about the current state of SMM, many respondents predicted that globalized programs would be a key trend. While some companies are in the beginning stages of taking their meetings initiatives global, medical technology company Kinetic Concepts Inc., headquartered in San Antonio, already has consolidated its international meetings program.
Kinetic Concepts annually hosts more than 1,000 events worldwide, operating in more than 26 countries. Many events are held in South America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region. During the past few years, "a lot of business units are finding out how important it is to use SMM software," explained Virginia Black, Kinetic Concepts' manager of global meetings and events.
A few years ago, Kinetic Concepts brought its global meetings management program in-house after seeing "the value of tracking the analysis and finding unnecessary spend," Black said. "Prior to our program, no one even knew where to begin."
Before Kinetic deployed SMM technology provided by Cvent two years ago, all its processes were manual. "[Technology] definitely streamlined the process," Black said. "When our process was manual, it was a lot more work. We had registration software, just no SMM software that housed everything in one place. Our capabilities are greater than they were before."
When a decision is made to hold a meeting, each of the company's business units is required to fill out global request forms that pass through Black's department. The form template is being revised to help the company more efficiently adhere to provisions of the U.S. Physician Payments Sunshine Act, passed last year, which requires manufacturers of drugs and medical devices to collect data on certain payments and trades of value, including expenses related to meetings. Since Kinetic Concepts is a medical company, the Sunshine Act requires that it collect all per-attendee spend for each event it holds. "We're currently transitioning how we function because of the Sunshine Act," Black said. "There are a lot of doctors who have national provider identifier numbers that live abroad, and those attendees have to be reported." However, many doctors abroad do not comply. Kinetic Concepts is adjusting its policy in order to accommodate the changes.
Once a global meeting request form is submitted, the event is given an identification number and a planner is assigned to the meeting. Depending on meeting size and cost, some are managed by the business units themselves, while Black's department manages larger events, including international sales meetings and any customer-facing events.
Many times, U.S. doctors based in the host countries will act as a liaison between Kinetic Concepts and the destination. In order to get more "hands on the ground," especially for larger events, Black said the five-person meetings department partners with outside staffing agencies and brings in temporary employees to input data and manage reports on the budget side.
Black's team works closely with the company's legal office, handling all contracting and price negotiations. "It's required that we're taking care of our company in terms of legality and clauses that we use," Black said. The manager, director and vice president of the business unit hosting the event must approve all funds for meetings beforehand. "We also stipulate cancellation fees, should they decide to cancel," she added. "Oftentimes these are waived, but not always."
SMM software allows Kinetic Concepts to better collect data and use it to improve the program as well as individual events. "I have noticed that with some of our reporting, we're able to see what shows and conferences to do and not to do," Black explained. "Data has helped us make those decisions." Event surveys also have helped the company alter specific educational sessions and change the format of some meetings in order to better suit attendees' needs.
Since acquiring medical product manufacturers Systagenix and LifeCell last year, Kinetic Concepts has started to consolidate the three companies' meetings programs. "We're looking at the different groups and how they function, what their needs are and how we can all work together," Black said. "We're taking a look at the broader perspective for their meetings and events." She said the two companies will add a significant amount of meetings to Kinetic Concepts' agenda, and she's looking for a system that works, is customizable and "grows with the company."
This report originally appeared in the August 2014 edition of Travel Procurement.