Strategic Meetings Management

Transcription

1 Strategic Meetings Management Best-in-Class Measures to Reduce Cost August 2013 Louis Berard, Matthew York ~ Underwritten, in Part, by ~

2 Strategic Meetings Management 2013: Best-in-Class Measures to Reduce Cost and Increase Savings In mid-2013, Aberdeen Group conducted its annual survey of global supply management and procurement business leaders regarding their organizations strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs). From this survey, a consistent message over the past three years has been the need to reduce costs and improve cost savings. Meanwhile, capturing savings in spend has doubled, and mobile application usage has dramatically increased for both strategic meetings management (SMM) attendees and planners by over 70%. Finally, this survey uncovered that organizations will make considerable efforts in 2013 to align their SMM capabilities with federal or regulatory policies, but a large percentage of organizations still don t plan to do so. This Analyst Insight aims to assist organizations across the globe in building effective strategies and business cases against various obstacles in the strategic meetings management space. Strategic Meetings Management in the New Economy Most organizations whether they are big or small, local, regional, national, or global grapple with needing to have the right people in the right places at the right time for corporate meetings and events. Some have the budgets, infrastructure, and need to place their people around the world to represent their brand, and accommodate them with the finest creature comforts. Others can t afford to cover their employees meals at company meetings and opt for brown-bag lunches, instead. Whatever a company s means are, comments by end users indicate that times have changed. In the wake of the global recession, many companies simply can t afford to spend on meetings and events the way they used to. Others can, but do so more strategically, and embrace automated technologies, analytics and reporting, mobile applications, and even regulatory compliance. Welcome to the New Economy. August 2013 Analyst Insight Aberdeen s Insights provide the analyst s perspective on the research as drawn from an aggregated view of research surveys, interviews, and data analysis. Defining Strategic Meetings Management Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) refers to the management of processes, policies, suppliers, and spend related to an enterprise s meetings and events in an effort to derive savings and quality. Strategic Meetings Management includes spending on customer / client meetings, management / executive meetings, general business meetings, training programs / events, recruiting, incentive events, conventions / conferences, and exhibitions. Pressures Figure 1 (next page) illustrates the top business pressures organizations face in 2013 that drive their need to improve SMM. The top pressure and, indeed, the only consistent one over the past three years, is the need to reduce cost and improve savings on meetings and events spending. Sixtythree percent (63%) of All Respondents cited this as their top pressure in 2013 up from 58% in 2012 and down from 66% in With this constant theme of increased cost savings and doing more with less, one can only wonder how long the challenge can continue. This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies provide for objective fact-based research and represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc. and may not be reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by Aberdeen Group, Inc.

3 Page 2 Figure 1: Pressures Driving the Need to Improve SMM Need to reduce costs / improve cost savings on meetings spending Must improve visibility into all aspects of meetings management Return-on-investment (ROI) of meetings Must integrate all elements of meetings management under a single program by instituting an SMMP All Respondents It s been four years since the Great Recession ended, but organizations are still recouping losses, adapting to evolving business practices and pressures, or preparing for an uncertain future. Understandably, the need to reduce costs and save wherever possible remains paramount. To this end, organizations feel pressured to improve visibility into all aspects of their business, including meetings management (51%). With or without greater visibility, organizations feel pressured to see a return-on-investment (ROI) for their strategic meetings (44%). If strategic meetings are not helping the organization grow, they re missing an opportunity and need to be re-tuned. Finally, organizations need to integrate all aspects of meetings management into the process (42%), as an organization is only as strong as its weakest link. Strategic Actions Figure 2 (next page) illustrates the importance organizations place on proper business alignments. The ability of an organization to analyze its strategic position in the SMM space is critical. Identifying cost-saving opportunities shows organizations with visibility have a stronger hold on costs and strategic abilities. Best-in-Class organizations showed a 14% difference in scale to All Others. This is not to say that the Best-in-Class save less money than All Others quite the contrary. Best-in-Class organizations are able to identify greater returns and costs attributed to SMM events while All Others have less visibility and claim greater returns on not having meetings or lack of visibility in reporting as spend versus as a cost savings. Best-in-Class organizations can also shift strategic meetings items to a tactical level, where focused teams address high-level items that need to be 44% 42% 51% 63% 0% 15% 30% 45% 60% 75% Percentage of Respondents, n = 104 Aberdeen Methodology The Aberdeen maturity class is comprised of three groups of survey respondents. Classified by their self-reported performance across several key metrics, each respondent falls into one of three categories: Best-in-Class: Top 20% of respondents based on performance Industry Average: Middle 50% of respondents based on performance Laggard: Bottom 30% of respondents based on performance There is also sometimes a fourth category: All Others: Industry Average and Laggard combined Respondents to the Strategic Meetings Management 2013 survey were ranked on the following criteria: Realized and Implemented Cost Savings Achieved on Strategic Meetings and Events: Best-in-Class 50%, Industry Average 22%, Laggard 7% Corporate Meeting and Event Policy Compliance Rate: Best-in-Class 89%, Industry Average 65%, Laggard 9% Percentage of Strategic Meetings Planned and Executed on or Below Budget: Best-in-Class 87%, Industry Average 61%, Laggard 15%

4 Page 3 managed at the ground level. These focus teams require minimal cost and are generally rolled up under department overhead or process improvement overhead. A continuing theme through these results is Bestin-Class organizations do it less, simply because they have created a learning environment that fosters continuous improvement and growth from within, which requires less regularly scheduled strategic meetings. Figure 2: Strategic Actions Increase level of cost savings achieved on meetings and events Cultivate an integrated engagement environment within meetings management (pre- and post-event) Integrate virtual and in-person meetings / events into the same program Best-in-Class 15% In viewing the second section of this chart, the same thought process applies where Best-in-Class organizations have perennially done this and established well-defined processes that cultivate an integrated environment within the SMM space. The 4% split is enough to recognize, but also illustrate that all organizations recognize the importance of cultivating these engagements. It highlights process improvement across the SMM space tied to customer relationships and the development of knowing what your customer needs are and when they need it. The final section of this chart highlights the integration of virtual meetings and in-person meetings into the same program. This is obviously not a new concept, but one that is gathering more steam with the need to control spend, reduce costs, and be everywhere for everyone at the same time in a global market. According to Aberdeen s research, Your 2013 Guide to Travel and Expense Management (March 2013), organizations will create more web portals in 2013 than ever before. This now allows people to be just about anywhere when needed. The ease of web conferencing has grown dramatically in the past several years as it provides enormous savings to organizations. It also gives smaller organizations the ability to compete on a level playing field with larger global companies, truly creating a competitive advantage for all that are in the SMM space. 25% 30% All Others 35% 39% 44% 0% 15% 30% 45% 60% Percentage of Respondents, n = 106 Survey Demographics Of the 168 respondents to our survey, 61 indicated that they did not have an SMMP in place nor did they plan to deploy one. To maintain data integrity, we discarded these responses and focused on companies with either SMMPs in place or plans to deploy them. The demographics of the 107 firms that reported having an SMMP or planning to deploy one were: Headquarters: North America 55%; Europe 22%; Asia / Pacific 17%; Africa 3%; South / Central America and Caribbean 2% Headcount: Large (more than 1,000 employees) 42%; Midsize (between 101 and 1,000 employees) 19%; Small (100 employees or fewer) 29% Annual Revenue: Large (greater than $1bn ) 29%; Midsize (between $50m and $1bn) 21%; Small (Under $50m) 42% Industry: IT consulting / services 14%; Financial services 12%; Oil / Gas 9%; Telecommunications 8%; Manufacturing 6%; Retail 6%; Software 6%; Travel / Hospitality 5%; Education 5%; Food and Beverage 5%; Other 24%

5 Page 4 Clearly, organizations with visibility, integrated engagements, and blended events have greater savings opportunities and the capability to accurately predict their budget and spend, which allows for greater savings and efficiencies. This also grants these organizations strategic advantages over the competition by simply knowing who, what, where, and how to respond to market needs. Capabilities Figure 3 illustrates the importance organizations today place on proper realized cost savings and the ability to leverage these savings across business verticals and partnerships. While Best-in-Class organizations are twice as likely to capture spend (84% vs. 42%) compared to All Others, some of this can be attributed to the Best-in-Class moving dramatically towards mobility with complete end-to-end solutions. Advancements occur daily in today s mobile technological world. These transformations allow for greater capture of actual spend, even to the smallest of details, and allow event planners to forecast with greater accuracy than ever before. Why is this realized spend so important? Simply, it can be leveraged not only for projected spend, but expected cost for attendees, historical trends, profiles of attendees and business needs, marketing information, and ROI. Also, Best-in-Class organizations have tried-and-true, clearly defined outcomes to their strategic meetings management, while All Others are still defining the requirements with the greatest ROI. Figure 3: Basic and Intermediate Capabilities to Realize Cost Savings Percentage of Respondents, n = % 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 84% 42% Best-in-Class All Others 70% 46% 0% Budget / spend capture Formalized processes for payment of meeting-related expenses Best-in-Class organizations also have strong processes in place for the payment of meetings related expenses. Figure 3 clearly shows that Best-in-

6 Page 5 Class organizations outpace All Others by 34% in this regard. Having these formalized processes is important because at the end of day it ll keep you and your event from incurring additional costs, placing it out of budget. It has been said that the devil is in the details, and this holds true for meetings and event management. The talented event planners that leverage all of their abilities to deliver a top level event on budget and on time can lose all of it to uncontrolled processes. It s terrifying when you succeed at a delivery and all your numbers look good, but you receive a final invoice that is 25% out of budget. These little devils come up usually at the end when everyone has gone home and is raving about the event. The problem then is who pays for these out-of-scope budget expenses? Generally it requires a lot of additional work on the event planner s part and negotiations with multiple business owners to successfully resolve these issues if they can be tracked. Formalized processes will mitigate risk, strengthen your bottomline, and provide a clear understanding for all stakeholders of what can and cannot be done in the event without your awareness. Figure 4: Advanced Capabilities for Strategic Meetings Lifecycle Management We have more visibility into what other geographies are doing by enforcing registration of events. This will help us to further standardize processes and develop a long term strategy. ~ Vice President of Operations, Large North American Financial Services Company Best-in-Class All Others Meeting / event registration (and registration visibility / tracking) 52% 79% Standardized pre- and post-event communication with attendees (social, mobile, etc.) 29% 61% Integration with other departments / technologies 23% 39% Mobile Application for attendees 9% 39% 0% 15% 30% 45% 60% 75% 90% Percentage of Respondents, n = 99 Figure 4 (above) illustrates how Best-in-Class organizations leverage advanced capabilities to outpace All Others when it comes to managing strategic meetings lifecycles. They are 52% more likely than All Others (79% vs. 52%) to deploy meeting / event registration and registration visibility / tracking solutions, giving them greater insight into planned attendees for their events, which undoubtedly helps them accurately forecast and budget for their events. Plus, knowing who is attending can be leveraged to gain greater attendance from other interested business or parties. Best-in-Class organizations are also more than twice as likely as All Others (61% vs. 29%) to standardize pre- and post-event communication with their attendees via

7 Page 6 social and or mobile solutions. The Best-in-Class understand that consistent, effective communication with meetings and event attendees, pre- and postevent, keeps them in the loop and creates an increase future win-back through follow-ups. It s how their meetings and events succeed year after year, help build brands, and make or save the company money. Best-in-Class organizations are also 70% more likely than All Others (39% vs. 23%) to be integrated with other departments, as well as disparate technologies. This makes sense, given that a slightly lower percentage of Best-in-Class organizations indicated that this was a top strategic action, compared to All Others (34% vs. 39%). More Best-in-Class organizations already have this capability, and leverage it to present a unified, holistic meetings and events experience. Strategic meetings management needs to integrate with other departments, such as sales, marketing, research, and the development of human capital management, because these are business silos that must be championed by strategic meetings and events. Without SMM pulling them in and showcasing their value, these business segments risk losing their funding and greater worth to the organization. Finally, Best-in-Class organizations are more than four times as likely as All Others (39% vs. 9%) to provide mobile applications for their event attendees, increasing the amount of two-way communication before, during, and after the event. Mobile applications give participants real-time data, live feeds, instant notification of changes, and even personal invites to certain events. Plus, it allows companies to trace attendants that are engaged and provides for live feedback, which is one of the hardest deliverables that SMM events have but one of the most important data points they need for continuous improvement. Not only do the Best-in-Class know that establishing and maintaining solid communication lines is good for business, they also know how to approach it in today s hyper-mobile, hyperconnected world where there s an app for that. Strategic Meetings Management Enablers and Solutions Best-in-Class organizations value fully automated technology platforms that streamline a variety of essential SMM processes from an end-to-end delivery solution. For example, many solution providers are adding mobile apps to their end-to-end solutions to provide additional flexibility with good cause. In our March 2013 report, Your 2013 Guide to Travel and Expense Management, we noted that users are far more likely than All Others (53% vs. 21%) to leverage mobile solutions compared to standard back-office financial suites that not only manage travel bookings and itinerary management but also capture expenses, all the way through the approval processes. We will discuss the rising deployment of mobile applications for SMM in greater detail later. Figure 5 (next page) illustrates that Best-in-Class organizations are three times more likely than All Others (85% vs. 28%) to utilize technology

8 Page 7 solutions to manage travel and booking for strategic meetings and events. Organizations will now have greater visibility into spend that they can track and approve expenses faster than before. The trick is to not lessen the buying power of organizations, while maintaining compliance and efficiencies with policy. With these advancements in technology, tracking finance and accounting aspects for SMM has become more robust and to a large degree driven by live data streams. The days of running a batch report either at midnight or over the weekend are long gone for these Best-in-Class organizations, which leverage end-to-end technology solutions to manage finance and accounting 72% more often than All Others (74% vs. 43%). We can t attribute all of this to technology; but clearly defined policies, procedures, and technologies have helped the Best-in-Class achieve significant performance. Figure 5: Technology Enablers 90% 85% Percentage of Respondents, n = 98 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 28% 74% 43% Best-in-Class All Others 65% 65% 33% 26% [Event management technology has resulted in] fewer keying errors, less human intervention in many processes, [and the ability] to support a larger number of meetings annually with a small team. 0% Travel - booking Finance / Accounting T&E Expense management Corporate / purchasing cards ~ Director of Meetings Management, Small North American House of Worship The T&E (travel and entertainment) space similar to the SMM space is seeing the most dramatic change with technology takeover. Growing mobile application usage is increasing operational efficiency and accelerating timeto-decision, while deepening customer engagement and streamlining workflow processes. Some of these systems are being tied to travel sourcing strategies and leveraging partnerships, visibility through the authorization / approval process, and linkage between the travel-booking process and expense management. This is a clear indicator why Best-in- Class organizations reported 97% higher usage of technology solutions to manage this category than All Others (65% vs. 33%). Corporate purchasing cards (P-cards) continue to be the essential tool in the arsenal for Best-in-Class organizations, which leverage them two and a half times more frequently than All Others (65% vs. 26%). The beauty of P- cards is that they are easy to use and everything is tracked for you, adding

9 Page 8 an extra layer of both automation and control to spend management around your business policies. With mobile apps, you now have the ability to complete your expense report while on travel linking your P-card information to your formal expense management system and saving time. To remain competitive, an organization requires quantifiable data to track its investments and time to remain policy compliant, all while meeting its customers goals and being strategic and competitively priced in real-time. Figure 6: Strategic Meetings Management Solutions Virtual meeting / conferencing solution End-to-end SMM solution using internal resources Mobile application for managing strategic meetings and events (for attendees) Mobile application for managing strategic meetings and events (for planners) Best-in-Class All Others Costs of use continue to be driven down and virtual 63% meetings are on the increase. 12% 11% 36% 40% 46% 42% 58% ~ Vice President, Small North American Wholesale / Distribution Company End-to-end SMM solutions using third party 30% 20% 0% 15% 30% 45% 60% 75% Percentage of Respondents, n = 96 Organizations today have many different variables to consider when planning and managing strategic meetings and events: on-site or off? Inperson or virtual? In-source it or outsource it? Go mobile or not? As Figure 6 illustrates, Best-in-Class organizations turn to technology solutions for their strategic meetings and events needs. The Best-in-Class are 37% more likely than All Others (63% vs. 46%) to leverage a virtual meeting / conferencing solution. It costs companies a lot of time and money to send personnel places for meetings and events, which take up just a tiny fraction of the total time and money spent to place them at the meeting or event. Virtual meeting / conferencing solutions are force multipliers in that anyone can be anywhere at any time, and for a fraction of the overhead a traditional, in-person meeting or conference will entail. Best-in-Class organizations are 61% more likely than All Others (58% vs. 36%) to leverage internal, end-to-end SMM solutions, but are also 50% more likely than All Others (30% vs. 20%) to leverage external, end-to-end SMM solutions. Basically, the Best-in-Class know their strengths and weaknesses. They know when they can manage a meeting or event internally, but they also know when the event is beyond their capability and, rather than risk mismanaging the affair, they outsource it to a trusted network or provider. Over the last year, we have provided a stronger focus on virtual meetings as another tool available to employees. For us, it s no longer just about videoconferencing as a cost saving alternative to in-person meetings. Videoconference is adding an entirely new dimension to daily business communications, a dimension that provides a deeper level of interaction, better collaboration, and accelerated decision making. ~ Lisa Poulton, CMP, Director of Meetings Management, ING North America

10 Page 9 Finally, Best-in-Class organizations are more than three and a half times as likely as All Others (40% vs. 11%) to feature mobile applications for meetings and events for planners. As a corollary, the Best-in-Class are three and a half times as likely as All Others (42% vs. 12%) to feature mobile applications for meetings and events for attendees. Clearly, Best-in-Class organizations embrace mobile applications for SMM a trend that continues from last year (Table 1). While All Other organizations were slow out of the gate and are inching forward year-overyear, Best-in-Class organizations hit their stride early and are widening their lead. Moreover, they embody the expression, there s an app for that, by allowing event planners and attendees to manage many different SMM aspects in real time, anywhere there s reception. Indeed, from 2012 to 2013, Best-in-Class organizations significantly increased mobile application management for all five SMM items shown. The creation of portals for both planners and attendees has seen the most significant growth over the past year by well over a 12 18% spread in Best-in-Class organizations. Table 1: Year-Over-Year Mobile Application Deployment for SMM Mobile application / portal for managing strategic meetings and events Best-in-Class All Others Planners 28% 40% 7% 11% Attendees 24% 42% 5% 12% SMM Attributes Managed by Mobile Applications, Year-Over-Year Onsite meeting / event management 32% 61% 12% 15% Attendee application portal 40% 61% 9% 15% Registration & tracking 44% 56% 15% 21% Meeting / event check-in 38% 47% 13% 14% One-on-one appointment setting 24% 39% 11% 12% While we have seen double digit growth for onsite meetings and event management that is managed by mobile applications, this significant growth showcases the high acceptance rate and now the expected norm for SMM events moving into the future. Attendees expect more from SMM events not only in content and what their ROI will be from such an event, but they also expect the ease and flexibility that they have become accustomed to in their professional and personal lives with having information at your fingertips when needed. When looking at All Other organizations, the chart clearly shows marginal improvements year-over-year in managing strategic meetings via mobile

11 Page 10 applications. If these organizations want to continue in the game, significant strides will need to be made for competing in this new global mobile market. Organizational Spend on Strategic Meetings Management Figure 7 illustrates the importance organizations place on Organizational Spend. Best-in-Class organizations spent approximately 40% more, or on average $2,381,000, in 2012 compared to All Others. Is this to say that Best-in-Class organizations have greater budgets? There is some truth to that as shown in the graph below. But what is more important about this data is how, why, and when. How did they get there? Throughout this paper, we have and will continue to illustrate several steps that Best-in- Class organizations leverage to become Best-in-Class. Figure 7: 2012 Organizational Spend on SMM The whys and whens are really the meat and potatoes for considering Bestin-Class spend on SMM. Let s look at this a few different ways. For one: Best-in-Class organizations probably have fewer meetings than All Others, and those they have are larger and more complex with more strategically positioned attendees. Two: in hosting a large or grand corporate event, it s actually easier planning as a corporation as a keep the date event. Third: for large / grand corporate events, it s the best time to showcase the organization, teams, people, and wares. By creating this one-stop show, it ultimately becomes more cost competitive than multiple similar shows touring the globe. And that leads us to when: timing is everything and it s no different in the SMM arena. Organizations consider product launches when deploying new events, but they also need to consider internal or external compliance, and

12 Page 11 when new regulations or polices will hit the street. (e.g., What is the training window required to have all affected personnel trained and qualified? ). While management wants to know how you will deliver on all of this without increasing costs and delivering on savings, the real question is how can you not deliver on this and allow yourselves to be open to legal action, closure, customer impact, or missing customer opportunity? The SMM business of yester-year is no longer. Today SMM is lean, employs cutting edge technology, and is able to show businesses not only the ROI but also the minimized risk associated with delivering SMM events. Table 2: SMM Attributes Tracked Via Analytics and Reporting: A Multi-Year Comparison Value Statement Best-in-Class All Others Total SMM spending 56% 60% 70% 29% 35% 33% Cost per attendee per day 63% 56% 60% 30% 28% 22% ROI of strategic meetings / events 43% 40% 47% 13% 14% 14% Best-in-Class organizations also track several key SMM attributes via analytics and reporting a trend they ve increased from 2011 to 2013, while All Others have decreased or stagnated. Notably, Best-in-Class organizations increased their analytics and reporting of total SMM spend by 25% (56% in 2011 vs. 70% in 2013), while All Others made just marginal gains. With real-time visibility, Best-in-Class executives understand how the current SMM budgets sit against the corporate budget. This intelligence helps executives make decisions based on cost, risk, regulatory requirements, and how planned budgets and requirements sit against the overall corporate budget. In the years when companies faced restrictive budgets, this capability emerged as a critical factor in keeping SMM a major strategy without wrecking finances. Key Performance Indicators We ranked survey respondents based on their answers to three key performance indicators (KPIs) (Figure 8). On average, Best-in-Class organizations reported a 112% higher corporate meeting / event policy compliance rate than All Others (89% vs. 42%). Coincidentally, the Best-in- Class also reported 112% more meetings and events planned and executed on or below budget than All Others (87% vs. 41%). Lastly, the Best-in-Class realized and implemented nearly four times more cost savings on strategic meetings and events spend than All Others (50% vs. 13%). By using a meeting registration system we are tracking the sourcing, contracting, and basic cost savings. We have gained significant adoption in this first year and are realizing approximately 17% cost savings. We are also mitigating risk via use of standard contract amendments and contract reviews. ~ Betti Budde, Consultant, Helms-Briscoe While we can t say definitively why the Best-in-Class outperformed All Others in these categories, a brief review of how the Best-in-Class separate

13 Page 12 themselves from All Others will put their performance into perspective. On average, Best-in-Class organizations more frequently: Have budget and spend capture capability, as well as a formalized process for processing payments for meetings and events spend; Deploy meeting and event registration and visibility tracking technologies; Leverage technology solutions to track and manage travel and booking, finance and accounting, T&E, and corporate purchase cards; Embrace mobility and mobile applications both to increase SMM management and provide a better experience for their attendees; Leverage internal and external end-to-end SMM solutions; Capitalize on virtual meetings and conferencing solutions. These are all cost-saving, revenue-generating, compliance-friendly capabilities and enablers that the Best-in-Class consistently demonstrate and leverage, respectively. Figure 8: Key Performance Indicators Corporate meeting / event policy compliance rate Best-in-Class 42% All Others 89% Percentage of strategic meetings that are planned and executed on or below budget 41% 87% Realized and implemented cost savings achieved on strategic meetings and events spending 13% 50% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Percentage of Respondents, n = 99 Compliance: Keeping You Honest and Saving You Money Another Best-in-Class capability to consider is data and reporting alignment with federal or regulatory policies. We note in our upcoming August 2013 Analyst Insight, Strategic Meetings Management 2013: Compliant Companies Lead the Way, that federally or regulatory aligned organizations reported having more meetings and events come in at or below budget, and higher realized and implemented cost savings from their meetings and events. Indeed, as Figure 9 illustrates, a majority of Best-in-Class organizations have

14 Page 13 data reporting and alignment capability, and outpace the Industry Average by more than three times (53% vs. 17%), and Laggards by more than four times (53% vs. 13%). Given how well the Best-in-Class have performed vis-à-vis All Others, being internally or externally compliant can t be hurting their bottom line. And although federal regulations may add layers of bureaucracy and paperwork to operations, organizations that adhere to such regulations are much more likely to reap handsome benefits than those that do not. If it s good enough for government work, it s good enough for your organization. [Event management technology has] streamlined the process and provided tracking, reporting and compliance reporting. ~ Vice President, Large European Travel / Hospitality Company Figure 9: Federal or Regulatory Compliance a Best-in-Class Capability Key Takeaways The information provided in this Analyst Insight is designed to aid organizations on navigating a course into the future. Aberdeen has trended some of its historical data to assist organizations in this decision process of how Best-in-Class organizations perform and areas to stay away from in order to avoid losing market competitiveness. A consistent message over the past three years has been the need to reduce costs and improve cost savings, while capturing savings in spend has doubled. Dramatic increases in technology applications are being utilized for both the attendees and planners of SMMs by over 70%. The gain of visibility into the strategic meetings space will reduce cost and improve savings by over 50%.

15 Page 14 Moving towards mobility with complete end-to-end solutions will allow your organization to capture and predict spend for a greater return on your ROI. Mobile applications for attendees are expected to grow four-fold in the coming year: either you re on the train or it s leaving without you. Compliance leads to compliant companies that have more meetings and events in the industry that come in below budget and higher realized and implemented cost savings. Best-in-Class organizations know and embrace all of these trends when managing strategic meetings and events, earning themselves their Best-in- Class status and handsome savings and performance in the SMM space. All Other organizations would do well by taking a page from the Best-in-Class book on managing strategic meetings and events. For more information on this or other research topics, please visit Travel and Entertainment Expense Visibility To Be OR Not To Be; May 2013 Your 2013 Guide to Travel and Expense Management; March 2013 End-to-End Visibility into T&E Expense Management; Mobile Comes to the Table; April 2013 Building a Business Case for Strategic Meetings Management Technology; August 2012 Related Research Strategic Meetings Management: A Handbook of Emerging Strategies for the Next Generation of Meetings and Events Management; July 2012 Strategic Meetings Management: A View Into the Best-in-Class Strategic Meetings Management Program; May 2011 Strategic Meetings Management: The Evolution of the Modern Strategic Meetings Management Program; April 2010 Author: Louis Berard, Senior Research Analyst, Global Supply Management (Louis.Berard@aberdeen.com); Matthew York, Research Associate, Global Supply Management and Supply Chain Management (Matthew.York@aberdeen.com) For more than two decades, Aberdeen's research has been helping corporations worldwide become Best-in-Class. Having benchmarked the performance of more than 644,000 companies, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to provide organizations with the facts that matter the facts that enable companies to get ahead and drive results. That's why our research is relied on by more than 2.5 million readers in over 40 countries, 90% of the Fortune 1,000, and 93% of the Technology 500. As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen s research provides insight and analysis to the Harte-Hanks community of local, regional, national and international marketing executives. Combined, we help our customers leverage the power of insight to deliver innovative multichannel marketing programs that drive business-changing results. For additional information, visit Aberdeen or call (617) , or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) or go to This document is the result of primary research performed by Aberdeen Group. Aberdeen Group's methodologies provide for objective fact-based research and represent the best analysis available at the time of publication. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by Aberdeen Group, Inc. and may not be reproduced, distributed, archived, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent by Aberdeen Group, Inc. (2013a)

16 Page 15 Featured Underwriters This research report was made possible, in part, with the financial support of our underwriters. These individuals and organizations share Aberdeen s vision of bringing fact based research to corporations worldwide at little or no cost. Underwriters have no editorial or research rights, and the facts and analysis of this report remain an exclusive production and product of Aberdeen Group. Solution providers recognized as underwriters were solicited after the fact and had no substantive influence on the direction of this report. Their sponsorship has made it possible for Aberdeen Group to make these findings available to readers at no charge. American Express Meetings & Events offers best-in-class capabilities and a wide-range of scalable, customizable solutions to address client needs. Whether you need help with a single meeting or managing your entire meetings portfolio, our solutions help you deliver powerful experiences. Our approach enables clients to consistently achieve business results, maximize saving opportunities, and leverage greater visibility. Our offerings are enhanced by unparalleled global access to consultative experts and industry-leading partners. Through best-of-breed tools, technologies and analytics designed to reach business goals in a more cost effective way, we ensure clients are confident, satisfied, and in control. For additional information on American Express Meetings and Events: American Express Meetings & Events 3 World Financial Center New York, NY

17 Page 16 Cvent is a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform. Cvent offers software solutions to event planners for online event registration, venue selection, event management, mobile apps for events, e- mail marketing and web surveys; and to hotels for targeted advertising to event planners looking for suitable venues, thus serving the entire event management value chain and enabling our clients around the world to manage hundreds of thousands of events and meetings. For more information, please visit or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. For additional information on Cvent: Cvent 8180 Greensboro Drive McLean, VA,