Consolidation Cuts Costs And Staff, Not Number Of Mtgs.

After consolidating four separate event marketing and meeting planning departments into one, Sprint has slashed related spending by at least 10 percent—without cutting the number of meetings it holds or issuing mandates.

The new events marketing department, headed by director of corporate events marketing Amanda Moses, also has streamlined its online registration, pared its list of third-party suppliers and is developing a standard meetings contract with several major hotel chains.

The moves have shaved at least 10 percent off Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint's corporate event expenditure, roughly estimated at $25 million, and Moses expects total savings from all initiatives eventually to approach 25 percent. The new department is staffed by about 40 percent fewer employees, but still handles the same amount of overall volume—about 225 meetings annually.

The transition began at the end of October 2001, when Sprint senior management decided that consolidating the four departments—Sprint's global markets group, PCS and wireless division, local telecommunications group and corporate events—would lead to cost efficiencies. Though the four groups met quarterly to nominally share best practices, the meetings were less than fully effective, Moses said, and the groups operated largely independently of one another.

Moses, who led the global markets group, was named the head of the consolidated department, which began operations in January after a significant amount of layoffs. Under the old organizational structure, specific planners handled specific types of events for their departments, now any planner can handle any request. "We had to share resources," Moses said. "We thought there was no possible way to continue with 40 percent fewer people, but we were able to."

Moses acknowledged there was some resistance to the move, both among planners and the internal meeting sponsors accustomed to using the same planners for their events. Though senior management initiated the move in conjunction with the vice presidents of the business units, no mandate was issued and sponsors are under no formal obligation to use the new department's services. This likely limited some pushback, but Moses' team nevertheless courted the affected sponsors.

"We were very proactive with our internal customer base," Moses said. "We told them they will not see a decrease in service levels. Many feared we'd fail and we did not. We sell ourselves every day, and we show them what we can do for them. Sure, it would be easier if there was a mandate, but would we receive the same buy-in? I don't think we would. This way, we end up with the same result, even if it takes a bit longer."

But with the significant reduction in staff, the department knew operations would have to change to achieve prior service levels. Key to the new approach was the embrace of economies of scale. The departments had different methods of processing attendee registration—some online, some through fax or e-mail—but the new group has selected Westport, Conn.-based B-there.com as an overall solution, at least until a formal search can be conducted. Similarly, Moses' group decided to outsource certain aspects of site selection for less complex meetings, and retained Los Angeles-based meetings management firm ConferenceDirect to fulfill that service.

"We didn't want to have to send requests for proposals to every hotel across the country when the meeting could be held anywhere," Moses said.

The events marketing department also has no problem with permitting administrative personnel to plan simple, small, non-client-facing meetings. Moses said. "If it's not complex, we're not going to say that an administrative person can't do it," she said. "But we do recommend different options for them during the process."

Perhaps the change with the most potential for savings generation is the in-progress development of a standard contract with more than one large hotel chain or company. "Contractually, that would make the process much less painful and more consistent," Moses said. "It would reduce the amount of time for our legal departments and the time it takes to get my signature on the contract."

The new department currently does not charge sponsors for its services, and all meeting expenditures are the responsibility of the individual departments. However, the department actively promotes cost-saving solutions. "We lay out expenditures very clearly in a line-item budget," Moses said. "They see how they spend their money and we will recommend cost-effective moves. But if they want to do something else regardless of our recommendations, we will accommodate that."

The next step for the events department, Moses said, will be the construction of an extensive event-history application that will let planners and sponsors alike know what prior meetings cost. "That's very important," she said. "We want to try to get our arms around what it costs to hold a particular event. When we have that history, we'll be able to tell you whatever you want to know."