Best Meeting Practitioners 2007: KPMG’s Muldoon Consolidates Internal Meetings Management Process
 "Last year, audit, tax and advisory services firm KPMG merged six event marketing departments, a sponsorship and multimedia division and the firm's meeting services department into a single meetings department with one meetings policy and one meetings technology tool… The department worked with meetings technology firm StarCite to configure a tool that would align with the company's new processes. ‘As we were bringing all of KPMG's events and meetings under one umbrella, if we were going to achieve the efficiencies and a consistent process, we had to have one technology tool that would satisfy all those needs,’ KPMG's Carol Muldoon said."
Business Travel News, July 23, 2007

Best Meeting Practitioners 2007: Xerox's Ferranti Leverages Hotel Data For Registration, Attendee Tech
 "When Pamela Ferranti joined Xerox in 2004, a meetings policy and a largely outsourced program was already in place, but she was charged with implementing attendee registration software. By working with both Xerox's technology provider and its meeting management companies to streamline the process, Ferranti's meetings department was able to gather data to leverage even better deals with suppliers. Ferranti, manager of meetings management solutions for Xerox, in 2004 started to collect data after choosing meetings technology from OnVantage, now part of meetings technology firm StarCite."
Business Travel News, July 23, 2007

Pharma Co. Finds Policy Cure
 "I wanted a system that was going to grow, and grow with my business," Owens said. "I'm not looking to make my department large—I think lean and mean is good—but I wanted a tool that is user-friendly for them and would have greater capabilities. Now that we're a year into it, I want to report more on our purchasing success and how we budget."
Business Travel News, July 17, 2006

Control the Meetings Spend
“Tricks and tips” to more cost-effective meetings
“One of the best examples is Cisco Systems, which uses the StarCite online tool to plan its meetings and has already realized 16% savings on its meetings spend by using the StarCite centralized sourcing tool and database.”
Purchasing, January 12, 2006

Chubb’s Sheri Bonsall Deploys End-To-End Mtg. Process
“Employee training, supplier partnerships and clear planning have eased the implementation of an end-to-end registration, booking and fulfillment online tool for corporate meetings at Warren, N.J.-based Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Since the tool was implemented in December 2004, the company has slashed its group transaction fees and more than 95 percent of bookings pass through the tool untouched, according to the company’s head of corporate travel.”

“Even though we’re doing more transactions, our transaction expense has remained low because we continue to move things online,” said Sheri Bonsall, assistant vice president of corporate travel, meetings and fleet services for Chubb.

“Chubb partnered with StarCite Inc. of Philadelphia to implement the tool late last year, Bonsall said (Meetings Today, June 6). StarCite provides the online registration tool, which integrates with a group air booking function with Outtask’s Cliqbook…”

“… Bonsall said Chubb paid 160 percent more, year over year, in six months’ worth of group transaction fees before implementing the online tool.”
Business Travel News, August 15, 2005

Managing Meetings At: Hewlett-Packard–HP Plans $23M Savings Through Tech Roll out
Decentralized Hewlett-Packard Co. saved nearly $2 million in the first half of 2005 through an ongoing pilot program of a comprehensive meetings technology system that includes a new payment process, sourcing procedures and online booking and attendee registration tools.

The company’s meetings and hotel program manager said program standardization has been the key to generating cost savings in HP’s silo environment.

“Deborah Matarazzo, manager of global strategy for HP’s meetings and hotel program, said the “SmartMeetings” tool provides a central repository for the company’s meeting spend and is comprised of four pieces of technology: OneForm, RegWeb and RFP Marketplace, each provided by StarCite Inc., and Outtask’s Cliqbook online booking tool. Although Matarazzo said HP still is in the process of identifying its total meetings spend, it is estimated in the
“hundreds of millions of dollars.” A previous estimate was $170 million, she said.”
Business Travel News, July 18, 2005