*GUEST BLOG* Data insights and how to use them

Many organisations don’t know precisely how much they spend on meetings. As they start the journey towards implementing a Strategic Meetings Management programme a good starting point is getting an idea of where meeting spend is going. If you don’t have a consolidated data view through your current supplier, consider these different sources and how they can help you fill some of the gaps.

1. General Ledger

Engagement with your Finance Team to understand what is being processed through the General Ledger is a good starting point – they should be able to provide some level of data based on supplier coding that incorporates things like hotel, leisure suppliers, restaurants and venues. It will give you a top-level view of the potential spend as well as which suppliers are being used and also identify the internal cost centres or departments spending the money.

2. Expenses data

Expenses data is another good source. As long as you consider that the average cost of a meeting is likely £200+ by focusing on expense claims above that level you can quickly get an overview of the potential spend levels, which suppliers are being used and which cost centres or departments are generating the spend.

3. Third party suppliers

Engaging with suppliers is a further option – you are likely going to have an element of your meeting spend being booked at the same hotels that staff stay in when they are travelling. Therefore, speaking to these suppliers either direct or via your TMC can help you identify the size of the pot.

4. Booker community

Last but possibly most informative is your booker community – you will already have a good idea of where these key stakeholders are in your business either through prior engagement or identified through your review of general ledger and expenses data. Engagement with this community can help you to understand if the identified spend is related to meetings and if so how, where and why you spend on external Meetings. Engaging these stakeholders early in the journey will also support you in developing a SMM that is more likely to be adopted quickly and widely across your business.

SMM is very data-driven by nature and this is the key to realising its value. However, having data is only the first step – generating data insights and how you then use them to enhance your SMM is the next step.

The first point to recognise is that meeting costs are only a small part of the picture – in fact the direct costs like venue hire, audio visual and so on, equate to only 15% of the total cost of people getting together for meetings. Therefore, when you have a meeting location, consider if it is the best value place for that meeting to take place or if you could change venue to reduce travel costs and improve productivity and wellbeing for the attendees by reducing travel time.

In the below tables we have outlined the Average Day Delegate Rate for popular meeting locations across the UK. With a great rail network creating easily accessible ‘hubs’ across the country why not consider one of the alternative destinations for your next meeting? This is just one insight that can start your SMM journey.

This blog was written by Lone Konradsen, Head of Customer Programme Optimisation at Capita Travel & Events. Want some advice on how to use your data to evolve your SMM? Why not speak to us on stand B140, register for your FREE visitor pass at www.businesstravelshow.com