options, options, options-Be smart
Michelle DeCosta, head of pharmaceutical company Takeda's Global Conference and Travel Center of Excellence, pays for conference travel herself, and soon even Takeda's elite staff will be able to cover it. The company plans to offer new technology options for small team meetings and corporate gatherings. Class programs with groups that we knew weren't covered by long-tenure travel and conference professionals.
“It was a gap,” she said.
“Before, the technology didn't exist to be able to do this, so knowing that there are options now is what inspired me to try to help.”
Takeda's more traditional strategic meeting management program focused on “large-scale events that require professional meeting managers to handle logistics, procurement, etc.” But if someone came to the team and said they were interested in a room block, that's not a service DeCosta's group can provide, and it's too small to procure.
“So they're a group that has no idea where we are in terms of spending, and we know they need support. They're not comfortable signing contracts, and we should not ask them to do so,” she said. “We are a support organization. Additionally, we want to make sure they are using our preferred suppliers because they will provide them with the best service and experience. ”
DeCosta is also taking steps to capture and drive more travel spend associated with larger, more prestigious events. She said air travel was booked through logistics companies, and her group didn't always have complete visibility into its booking and spending data.
To that end, Takeda is working with data company Celebrii to collect meeting data from all different sources and combine it with travel to understand how the company is actually doing from a spend perspective, supplier and market perspective. We are working to fully understand what we are working on. From a sharing perspective and a sustainability perspective. DeCosta's group set a goal of one year for him to accomplish that. And, sure, it's a big job.
It was so large that the first attempt failed without the right technology and the right resources. But today, the project has a new lease of life.
“We really believe in our team at Celebri and we hired someone to do all this. He's focused on travel and meeting technology. It's really great to have someone focused on this. It’s reassuring,” she said. But why is it so important?
Decosta has three reasons.
Stakeholder access and trust: DeCosta said he wants this to be a foundational tool that allows stakeholders to access self-service data for duty of care, budgeting and expense tracking. And you need to have confidence that your data is accurate and actionable. Without complete meeting data, Takeda is missing a key piece of the puzzle.
Supplier management: “Meetings are actually another data set,” DeCosta said. “And while we're not necessarily using our favorite temporary stay hotels for meetings, that should be part of the conversation at a higher level with the Marriotts and Hiltons around the world. Now I don't think they're looking for that.''So we want to have an irrefutable source of data that we can move forward with. ”
sustainability: Takeda has a strong track record of sustainability initiatives, but measuring sustainability outcomes in travel has been difficult. “To put more weight into sustainability, we need to be able to show analytics and show that the actions we are taking are actually impacting choices at the point of sale. No,” DeCosta said. “Also, when we pull levers, whether it’s for supplier management or sustainability, we want to see the impact across the whole program, not just one part of it. The meeting part is part of my program. It's a big part of it.
Not everyone has the same authority or resources as Takeda. But DeCosta was encouraging about getting conference data. “I think there are easy ways to get started,” she says. “I think there are even some free tools that you can try and level up to the tools you purchase once you find the right tool for your program.” The key is to succeed within your own resources. She said it's about doing the projects you can. Because one success can lead to another.
