Business Travel News: TravSource -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 4/28/2003
Last Visited: 2/19/2004
NCR also now is weighing the potential benefits of meeting consolidation, though no final decision has been made as to a supplier for the process, or whether consolidation even will occur, said events manager Julie Steible.
The company turned to SeeUthere late last year to ease attendee management.The online company's products enable NCR to import repetitive data between meeting documents and, more importantly, allow quick and painless communication with attendees."A typical incentive program is constantly changing-what needs to be on the agenda, arrival and departure data, onsite functions," Steible said.
...
Steible said NCR is determining what benefit consolidating all meetings data would have on the company.Currently, Steible heads a tightly managed process, with use of NCR's centralized meeting planners to find meeting sites and sign contracts mandated for several years.The company has a lower-tech method of compiling air travel and hotel sleeping room expenditure data, but does not compile food and beverage, audiovisual and production data, as once the site and contract for a given meeting is secured, the meetings department returns management of the details of the event to the department hosting it.
"We're in the infancy phase and determining what consolidation could accomplish," Steible said."What value would it bring?We're determining what objectives we would have and where we would go with it.We haven't gotten there yet."
NCR's centralized setup has put Steible in something of a quandary: Some of the main benefits of corporate meeting consolidation typically include the removal of contract-signing authority from administrative assistants and other nonprofessional planners, the management of group and meeting air spending and site selection.NCR took these steps long ago.
"All of the consolidation suppliers are talking about how we can save 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent," Steible said, "but then we sit down for a meeting and tell them what we've done and they realize we've already taken care of the low-hanging fruit.Then they back off."
The current meetings management process at NCR- which holds more than 350 meetings annually-on the whole is more advanced than many, probably most, companies similar in size.
NCR's meetings and events department, like its travel department, is housed within its procurement and corporate infrastructure division.The company's upper management pays close attention to meeting activities and are involved in both pushing compliance and approving noncompliant requests.
Any booking that includes more than 10 attendees must be forwarded to Steible's department, so the department can have NCR's consolidated travel agency, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, conduct an air analysis of its negotiated transient fares, negotiated meeting fares if applicable and airline zone fares to a handful of potential destinations.Hotels are sourced at the most cost-effective of those destinations, and recommendations are issued to the internal meeting sponsor.
"They can override the recommendations, but beforehand they tell us what regions to look into and why," Steible said."Once the air analysis and site selection process is through and a total cost package is estimated, they have every right to say no to that, or they may want a Ritz-Carlton instead of a Holiday Inn."
Such requests are elevated to the highest levels of senior management-to senior vice president or, in some cases, the CEO.The meeting sponsor must present to the senior manager a business case for choosing a destination or hotel outside Steible's department's recommendations.That can be a daunting prospect, as, like many companies, NCR is focusing on every dollar spent in all areas of the company."They don't choose to do that very often," Steible said.
Similarly, meeting bookings by employees other than meeting planners, when discovered, are forwarded to upper management to stress the importance of the company's meetings policy, which has fostered a high rate of compliance-estimated at more than 90 percent-with NCR's centralized program.
As a result, NCR largely has avoided the financially damaging meeting contracts sometimes signed by nonprofessional planners and often has convinced frequent meeting sponsors that the meetings department can find cost-effective options.
Corporate meeting budgets are the responsibility of the individual department hosting the event.Steible's department does not charge back for its services per se, but those costs are covered by an umbrella charge for procurement and corporate infrastructure services.
"We have great relationships with internal sponsors now because they know we can do things like leverage cancellation fees," said Steible, who is one of only a few dozen U.S. corporate meeting planners to receive the Certified Meeting Manager designation (Meetings Today, July 10, 2000)."When they see that, they're tickled as pie."
A growing concentration on avoiding the financial consequences of short-term meetings is another cost-saving initiative underway at NCR."We're making sure there are no last-minute changes or bookings," Steible said.
24 online sources [ view sources ]
Profile is not claimed [ this is me ]
