One Guiding Principle

By E. J. Siwek, CMP

 In the expanding world of technology solutions, b-there.com continues to be powered by service.

How does one sort through the growing number of Internet-based solutions? It seems as though the list of possibilities continues to grow almost daily. Certainly there must be a way to help sort through this growing maze.

One way I’ve found is to review the backgrounds of the management team leading the efforts of the application provider. Do they have industry experience? Or are they hiring from outside the industry? Do they understand our industry and its unique requirements? How do their apparent strengths and backgrounds add value to the company?

“The strength of our organization is built around the extensive industry experience that our staff brings to our customers,” said Jim Folberg, vice president of strategic marketing for b-there.com. “Our employees come from all aspects of the meetings industry — trade shows, corporate and association planning, hotels, and of course, technology. Our domain knowledge has enabled us to build the most flexible and scaleable system available today.”

This Westport, Conn.-based organization is a great example of how an industry veteran saw a need to enhance customer service and pursued her goal.

During my 15 years in the software side of the meetings industry, I frequently ran into Peggy Lee, the CEO and founder of b-there.com, as a panelist promoting better use of meeting technologies as a means to provide a higher level of customer service. One of the guiding strategic drivers of b-there.com, as noted on its Web site, is its role as a service company and not as a meeting technology company. This one guiding principle at the foundation of b-there’s organization may seem unimportant; however, in terms of driving an organization to become one of the top players in the industry, it is huge. From my perspective as a meeting professional, a business developer, and an active participant in strategic business planning, this one guiding principle provides a management filter for all strategic considerations at b-there.com. Yes, technology is important, however, if that technology does not provide a flexible service to the end-user that helps them increase their efficiency or effectiveness then the technology, however rich, may not be appropriate.

b-there.com is a fully integrated real-time solution providing registration, housing, air, transportation, and other bookings for event planners and their attendees. The core product is powered through b-there’s Event Reservation/Reservation System (ERS). Most planners have already noted that the ability to register online must be central to all other online meeting options. The difference between application providers is the direction they follow once a registration is received, as well as how many of the process steps involved in meeting management are integrated to the core application. b-there’s feature set includes on-line meeting registration, the ability to reserve hotel rooms in real-time mode, make air and car reservations with pre-negotiated rates, book tours and other destination-related services, as well as online payment processing, all from one Web site. In addition, this application provides for electronic marketing and communication via broadcast e-mail and e-fax.

The overall benefit to adopting an integrated approach is … the bottom line. Let’s face it — we’re all searching for ways to reduce costs in our operations. Most of us tend to focus on the known such as printing costs and postage costs through negotiated rates. By capitalizing on the power that b-there.com provides, you can begin to re-capture hidden costs such as the time spent to make address corrections or correct errors on a housing list, or the cost spent to express mail critical documents to last-minute registrants. In any organization, these costs can be enormous and often remain hidden or unknown. According to the management team at b-there.com and their client base, the use of b-there’s online planning tools has resulted in operational savings of 25 percent over traditional methods. These estimates are based on more than 500,000 transactions processed through the ERS thus far.

Potential cost savings through better use of technology is not the only way to enhance your ROI using b-there.com — b-there.com also offers ways to produce revenue streams. Revenue generation is possible from commission structures on several types of transactions such as tour sales, restaurant reservations, and the sale of event-related merchandise. Revenue generation is optimized and potential gain is higher when b-there’s services are deeply integrated into your event’s Web site and your organization’s e-commerce model is complete.

An on-line demo from the company’s Web site, www.b-there.com, will guide you through the many robust features this application can provide to both you and your attendee. On the site, you will also find numerous testimonies from real users for your reference.

 Contact Information: b-there.com, One Turkey Hill Road South, Westport,CT 06880,Toll-free phone: (877) u-bthere, E-mail: sales@b-there.com

E.J. Siwek is director of marketing of Excel Partnership, an international training organization, and president and founder of Flashpoint Technologies, LLC. Forward your questions about technology to him at techeditor@pcma.org.

CONVENE - December 2000 - Meeting Technology

©2000 Professional Convention Management Association