Photo Credit: gettyimages/metamorworks
Pandemic times have required companies to quickly pivot and adapt to
changing market demands. Besides retraining employees to learn new
skillsets, business leaders face even greater pressure in digital
transformation to re-design operational procedures and business
processes. Both of which pose challenges for companies that aim to
practise financial prudence.
With Covid-19 variants continuing to impact health and safety
concerns, planners may also not be able to forecast their M&E
programmes with certainty. As such, planners benefit from a much-needed
boost with on-demand services that provide flexible solutions and
services.
Whether it’s sourcing, programme management, website creation or
comprehensive event organisation, planners with lean teams would be able
to scale their resource options with more flexibility for
cost-efficiency.
Event planning technology tools provide planners with more leverage
in meeting client and stakeholder demands. With stretched resources and
the demand for new skillsets required by the advent of hybrid events,
digital tools are a valuable resource.
In the latest BCD Meetings & Events Trends Report 2022, planners
are also advised to build up a more long-term relationship with
on-demand service vendors so as to "have some shared risk and a mutual
commitment for them to partner and grow with you". The report also
highlighted that "partnerships with a dual investment and common goals
will be more beneficial to both parties in the long run vs. a basic
supplier/vendor relationship".
Smart time management with quantifiable outcomes
Everchanging
event requirements require planners to have tools that enable
versatility at the switch of a button. An event planning platform with
solutions for events that are in-person, virtual or hybrid streamlines
the work for planners.
With in-person events, websites and on-site check-ins are taken care
of while online event planning functions take the intricacies out of it.
In particular, with built-in audience engagement tools, live-streaming,
measurable sponsorship opportunities and data analytics, determining
the tangible deliverables for post-event reporting is made easier.
Maximisation of lead generation
The virtual environment has
created an ideal opportunity for planners to leverage more on lead
generation capabilities with their digital outreach post-event.
On-demand webinars open the doors to a borderless audience that adds
tremendous value in increasing engagement metrics. Versatile platforms
are able to offer online meetings as small as 25 attendees or to scale
up to stream content for as many as 10,000 attendees.
Attendees who may not be able to attend physically will do so
virtually with ease. The digital content may also be shared with
potential leads to grow the CRM database. Access privileges may be paid
or free, depending on the type of attendee. This provides opportunities
to upsell and extend the engagement journey with attendees.
Cost-efficiency through Collaboration-as-a-Service
Managing
virtual meetings and events require IT support in the form of
multi-channel services such as video, messaging, web conferencing and
teleconferencing. This puts a strain on resources and operational time
spent in these efforts. With cloud-based solutions that provide these
technologies on a single platform, planners can benefit from the
flexibility and convenience of these Collaboration-as-a-Service options.
It also supports the on-demand needs of a mobile workforce located
anywhere in the world. Additionally, when such platforms are based on
open standards, the services available will integrate well with those of
existing equipment and third-party applications, which is a plus point
for planning convenience. Another point of consideration is to ensure
that these cloud-based platforms offer a certain level of data security,
with dedicated WAN links to control access rights.