[December 12, 2017] |
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Survey: Consolidation of Event Programs Leads to Future Success for Travel Managers, Event Planners
Travel, meeting and event program consolidation - when organizations
connect internal structures that overlap in function, but have not
historically communicated with each other - has grown 62 percent since
2015. If this trend continues at this rate, two-thirds (68 percent) of
programs will be fully consolidated by 2019, according to new research
released today by the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of
the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), in partnership with Cvent,
Inc., the leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology
company.
"Organizations can increase efficiencies, reduce redundancies and
ultimately save time and money by bringing together travel, events and
even marketing programs," said Patrick Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at
Cvent (News - Alert). "These programs should work hand in hand with each other, instead
of operating in silos. We are seeing more travel and events programs
come together at a faster rate than ever before, pointing to growing
industry recognition that all of these functions support and reinforce
each other - and generate better business outcomes."
"Patience is key when it comes to consolidation," said Kate Vasiloff,
GBTA Research Director. "Consolidated programs have enjoyed incredible
successes, but the benefits may not come immediately. Travel managers
and event planners with consolidated programs report greater success now
than they did two years ago, making the value of consolidation well
worth the time and investment it takes to implement, troubleshoot, and
streamline a unified program."
This research is the second edition of a survey of travel managers and
event planners in North America, aiming to discover what portion of the
market includes consolidated programs, what factors drove the move to
consolidation, and what successes, if any, companies have experienced as
a result. Nearly all respondents with consolidated programs reported
great success, more so than two years ago - a sign that the full
benefits and value of consolidation may not be realized immediately
after implementation.
Key findings
Over the past two years, the trend to collapse meetings, events, and/or
travel program management has nearly doubled.
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Nearly all (97 percent) of those with fully consolidated programs
report great success in achieving their consolidation goals, marking a
14 percent increase in reported success from two years ago.
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Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of meetings, events and/or travel
programs are either fully consolidated or in the process of
consolidating.
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Since 2015, the proportion of travel managers saying they are
currently considering consolidation dropped by nearly one-half (46
percent), with many more adopting consolidation than not.
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When looking at specific consolidation goals, improving transparency
(83 percent), leveraging spend/maximizing spending (79 percent) and
increasing efficiencies (77 percent) remain the top drivers, with many
citing improvements in these areas as significant benefits to
consolidation.
Challenges to consolidation are changing
In 2015, securing leadership buy-in for consolidation and using
manaement technology were the greatest challenges for travel managers.
A lot has changed in two years, however, as reported challenges to
securing leadership support have dropped (47 percent in 2017 versus 56
percent in 2015). This is likely due in part to the growing use of
technology, with the number of travel managers using meetings, event,
and travel management technology nearly doubling over the same period
(60 percent in 2017 versus 34 percent in 2015). Even though more
programs are consolidating at a faster rate, nearly one-quarter (23
percent) of travel managers and event planners do not have a
consolidated meetings, events, or travel program, with no plans to
implement one, while just one in seven (14 percent) are considering
consolidation.
Motivations for consolidation
Over the past two years, consolidation has become increasingly
attractive to organizations as they begin to recognize its benefits.
Seventy-five percent of travel managers and event planners expressed
interest in improving visibility and transparency of overall travel,
meetings, and event costs via consolidation. Other factors for moving
towards consolidation included obtaining better negotiated rates and
dynamic pricing (69 percent) - which increased 35 percent since 2015 -
and better leveraging of spend and maximized spending (66 percent).
More Information
The report, Consolidation Two Years Later: Shifts, Trends, and Status
Quo, is available exclusively to GBTA members by clicking
here and non-members may purchase the report through the GBTA
Foundation by emailing [email protected].
The GBTA Foundation will host a
webinar in partnership with Cvent on December 14, 2017 at 11am ET to
discuss the findings of the study and understand how the landscape of
meetings, events, and/or travel program consolidation continues to
evolve. Register
today.
Methodology: The GBTA Foundation conducted an online survey of
124 travel managers and event planners in North America. To qualify,
participants must have been self-reportedly at least "somewhat involved"
in meetings, events and travel at their organization.
About Cvent, Inc.
Cvent, Inc. is a leading cloud-based enterprise event management
company, with tens of thousands of customers and more than 2,700
employees worldwide. Cvent offers software solutions to event planners
for online event registration, venue selection, event management, mobile
apps for events, email marketing, and web surveys. Cvent provides
hoteliers with an integrated platform, enabling properties to increase
group business demand through targeted advertising and improve
conversion through proprietary demand management and business
intelligence solutions. Cvent solutions optimize the entire event
management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to
manage hundreds of thousands of meetings and events. For more
information, please visit Cvent.com,
or connect with us on Facebook,
Twitter
or LinkedIn.
About GBTA Foundation
The GBTA Foundation is the education and research arm of the Global
Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world's premier business travel
and corporate meetings organization. Collectively, GBTA's 9,000-plus
members manage over $345 billion of global business travel and meetings
expenditures annually. GBTA provides its network of 21,000 business and
government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service
providers, with networking events, news, education & professional
development, research, and advocacy. The foundation was established in
1997 to support GBTA's members and the industry as a whole. As the
leading education and research foundation in the business travel
industry, the GBTA Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the
business travel profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization. For more information, see gbta.org
and gbta.org/foundation.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212005237/en/
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