Where does the travel manager's job end and the meeting planner's job begin?

In companies where corporate travel and meeting and event planning are managed by the same department, close collaboration between the two areas is necessary to generate synergies, savings and efficiencies, although this is not easy.

It is necessary to study, for example, to what extent the remuneration models used by business travel in relation to agencies can be replicated. We are talking about the transaction, the fee, the management fee, etc. Large agencies specialized in corporate can become logistical providers (air transportation, accommodation, transfers, etc.) of the company's meetings and events, but other agencies or companies may have to be used for other additional services (catering, decoration, etc.), as well as for the other services required (catering, decoration, etc.).), in addition to marketing or communication.

 

In any case, both business travel and the activity of meetings & events are increasingly sharing technological solutions that allow end-to-end control and monitoring (end-to-end). Both corporate travel and events generate a large amount of extra expenses that must be accounted for and analyzed.

Among the great challenges of corporate events is the calculation of the return on investment. If in business travel the task is complicated, in the MICE sector the difficulties multiply, because on many occasions the objective of an event is not directly linked to increasing the company's turnover. In addition, each company has to decide what it is really interested in valuing.

On the other hand, although the processes in the planning of meetings and events are still very manual, the existence of tools related to customer management (CRM), which are sometimes connected to self-booking solutions, is greatly improving the management of this department.

 

(Post by Rafael Grande, Head of Global Events & Relationship Marketing at ALMIRALL and president of the Events Managers Association)

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