Among companies with an ARC spend of at least $1 million, 87 percent believe meetings and incentives management is important, Expedia's meetings management company, Egencia Meetings & Incentives, announced this week at the National Business Travel Association Convention in San Diego.
Egencia, which conducted a survey of more than 100 travel managers in order to assess their current needs and future plans, found that nearly 60 percent of travel managers believe that consolidating meetings and general corporate travel spend is a priority for their travel program, and that nearly half—48 percent—say they lack the tools needed to make planning and managing meetings efficient.
"It's clear that corporations realize that meetings and incentives management is critical to overall program success," Egencia Senior Vice President Pam Keenan Fritz said in a statement. "Travel buyers are focused on finding efficiencies and cost savings through consolidation and program control."
In response to its survey findings—and the evident need for more meetings resources—Egencia has introduced enhancements to its suite of online meetings management tools, which debuted in June, according to the company, as "the first fully-integrated, single-source global solution for meetings policy and reporting."
Egencia said its latest enhancements will give businesses more flexibility and control thanks to new features that allow travel managers to set up guest accounts, create "open" meetings without pre-determined guest lists, and generate custom reports and ad hoc queries into both corporate travel and meetings spend.
"Given that a majority of travel managers are expected to maintain or grow their programs from 2009 and through 2010, we believe that effective meetings and incentives management will remain a key priority," Egencia Director Debbie Grossi said in a statement. "Today's announcement underscores our commitment to supporting the full spectrum of corporate meetings and incentives needs, from a small group event to a large scale corporate meeting or incentive trip."
For more information, visit
www.egenciameetings.com.