[ Meetings & Events ]
Meetings & Events, while integral to a corporation’s work culture, are often sidelined when a travel management program is developed.
This is despite the fact that its inclusion can garner up savings of as much as 20 percent for a corporation, ensure safety of delegates and limit liability for the senior management in case of untoward events.
Any meeting or event with delegations travelling from afar, even if it is just another state or region, needs air travel, ground transport and accommodations as basic requirements. You also need a venue for the meeting/event, technological equipment to conduct the event and refreshments.
When these are booked outside of preferred booking channels or as stand-alone bookings outside of contracts with preferred suppliers, the costs can quickly add up. Furthermore, with the responsibilities of arrangement lying with different departments, procurement is fractioned and travel-spend decentralized, and leads to lack of travel data and difficulty in tracking of expenses and travellers.
At the same time, negotiating a travel management contract with meetings and events included can give you access to all these at the negotiated rate, often a fraction of the original cost. Further, it can add volume to your bookings, which in turn can qualify you for a higher discount on all products and services at the next contract renewal. The management can further ensure expense tracking with single point billing and the safety and security of employee travellers and guests with traveller tracking services.
At Sugo india, Meeting & Events programs are conceptualized with focus on the following points:
Discovery of Client Requirements: At Sugo india, the first step towards Meeting & Event planning is the Discovery of Client Requirements, wherein we prepare a brief, listing:
The purpose behind the event
The client’s vision for the event
The client’s requirements for the event
A short introduction to the client’s corporate culture in order to conceptualize the ideal event
Client’s budget
Deliverance of Services with Exceeds Expectations: Once the brief is ready and approved by the client, Sugo india moves forward in making all necessary arrangements: contacting the required suppliers, service providers and venue owners; making air, ground, sea arrangements as required; and negotiating with all concerned for the best deals. All this is done with respect to the brief prepared in the first stage. Where compliance is not feasible, we contact the client with alternatives.
At Sugo india, we plan each event based on the client’s requirements and our own long and diversified experience while utilizing our unique ideas and special settings and venues, thereby increasing the memory value of the event multiple times. At the end of this stage, the event is organized with no hitch.
Detailing and Data Analysis: This stage is the post-event stage and involves a report of the event requirements, expenses and savings, and a detailed analysis of the event’s success.
Furthermore, travel as an industry is constantly evolving to offer better services to its clients. The constant changing, however, brings with it its own set of challenges, especially for corporate travel managers. What might be the best strategy for one year, might not work in the next.
The need of the hour, thus, is constant vigilance and monitoring of travel industry trends to keep a tab on the changes and continuous evaluation of existing strategies to chart the future growth. The diversity of travel modes, suppliers and providers further compounds the exercise.
Sugo india simplifies this complexity by dedicating an entire team of core corporate travel managers to observe, analyze, strategize, manage and micromanage the different aspects of corporate travel. Our years of expertise in the area has further enabled us to identify Eight Key Areas, where corporations need to prioritize in order to maximize their travel savings and experience, while responding to the changing needs, specifications, challenges and objectives of your corporation.
