WP Meetings Expense Management Us

8/3/2019 WP Meetings Expense Management Us

1/12

I. Introduction

For most companies today, travel

and entertainment (T&E) remains the

second-largest controllable expense. Total

corporate meetings spend is expected to

reach $75.8 billion by 20081 and meetings

spend has exceeded overall corporate travel

spend. Yet, despite this huge proportion of

corporate expenditures, many organizations

havent yet moved to manage meeting and

events costs separately from overall T&E.

But thats all changing.

As corporations increasingly seek ways to

reduce T&E expenses, many are recognizing

a need for a formal expense management

strategy to cut and control all types ofmeetings costs. These include direct

expenditures, such as for airline tickets,

hotel rooms, dining and ground transportation,

as well as for the administrative costs of

managing corporate meetings. Much as

transient travel management has emerged

over the past decade, a formal approach to

strategic meetings management is emerging

now, in response to corporate demand to

reduce expenditures in the travel arena.

The objective of an effective meetings

management program is to drive savings,

establish controls and deliver consistent

processes, procedures and service delivery.

Key to the success of a meetings expense

management program is to channel demand,

as if through a series of funnels, with each

funnel shaping behavior and directing the

demand to achieve the desired outcome(see Exhibit 1). Unstructured demand should

be routed through a series of policies and

Establishing a Best-In-ClassMeeting Expense Management Strategy

1 PhoCus Wright Inc, January, 2007: "Groups and Meetings: Market Opportunity Redefined"

1

DEMAND

Procedures &Policies

Point of SaleTools

PreferredSuppliers

ManagementInformation

SAVINGS CONTROL

CONSISTENCY

Exhibit 1: Overview of a Meetings Expense

Management Program


2/12

procedures that enforce the purchasing rules deemed

appropriate to a corporations culture. The policies and

procedures should then channel demand to a series of

point-of-sale tools that deliver meeting arrangers and

attendees to the doorstep of the preferred suppliers, for

instance, to designated airlines and hotels. Preferred

supplier programs are configured to enforce policy and

deliver savings. Companies then measure the effectiveness

of, and compliance to, these programs via management

information that tracks conformance to policy, preferred

supplier usage, as well as savings and benchmarking data.

Once meetings demand is channeled, and managementinformation provides aggregate data on spend, a corporation

is in a much stronger position to track purchasing, enforce

compliance, leverage its volume and negotiate with suppliers

in both its meetings and transient programs.

II. Benefits of a Well-Managed Program

In addition to the benefits of aggregating spend and

improving leverage in negotiations, a well-managed

meetings expense program can help reduce risk and

liability through enhanced contract management. Aneffective program also supports destinations consistent

with the corporate travel policy, promotes preferred airline

and hotel suppliers, provides compliance reporting,

establishes best practices, streamlines event registration

and attendee management, and delivers savings and

benchmarking data.

During the initial phase of creating a meetings expense

management program, companies often learn that

rank-and-file employees are signing contracts that are

worth, in many cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In addition, these employees, who are not approved

signatories of the company, are committing their

organizations to costly contract-related cancellation and

attrition penalties. By centralizing the contract review

process, hundreds of thousands or even millions of

dollars in potential spend can be avoided.

Similarly, many corporations can take advantage of

opportunities to support their corporate travel programs

by encouraging meeting owners to select destinations,

airlines and meeting sites that leverage the companys

existing preferred supplier relationships, and perhaps

more importantly, do not undermine them.

HOW MEETINGS PROCUREMENT CAN SUPPORT

THE TRANSIENT PROGRAM . . .

A Sales Trip to Dallas An Example

A vice president of marketing for Rexport, Inc. (head

office near Newark), planned a national sales event for

staff. Not being aware of Rexports preferred programs

and destinations, he chose Dallas as the destination.

As a result, the attendees flew on a non-preferred carrier

at full fare, and Rexports corporate travel manager missed

a volume threshold for airline deals he had negotiated for

travel to Houston. The cost to the company: several hundred

thousand dollars. Conclusion: centralizing procurement

and linking the purchasing of meeting travel to corporatetravel policy not only delivers savings, but increases

purchasing power and supports post-program tracking.

Data is one of the key factors in building a successful

program, and the main goal of a well-managed program

is to centralize sourcing, booking, registration and

payment in order to consolidate volume and track spend

information. The capture of meetings expense data

provides ammunition needed for improved supplier

negotiations, as well as opportunities to manage

compliance, track savings and benchmark programperformance.

2


3/12

III. Components of a Well-ManagedMeetings Program

Corporate meetings expense management requires

the same disciplined approached as transient travel

management. To achieve the most effective results

in managing a meetings program, companies should

implement the full measure of best practices, technology

and innovation that many have adopted to manage

transient travel. This includes spending policies and

booking/registration procedures, preferred supplier

programs, payment and reconciliation platforms,

spend and compliance reporting, as well as a variety

of automated tools. Exhibit 2 (below) shows the key

components of a well-managed travel program and

their meetings management corollaries.

These components are inter-related and work together to

achieve the desired end result. If implemented separately,

as sometimes happens while developing a new meetings

management program, the result will be less than complete,

as missing components will allow for program leakage.

We will explore each component below.

COMPONENT 1Policy and Change Management

Meetings policy, and the change management approach

developed to implement it, are two critical success factors

when creating a meetings expense management program.

Not all corporations have reached the point where they

are willing or able to enact a meetings policy. But even

in a non-mandated environment, purchasing guidance

can be offered. However, the most successful programs,

in which success is defined as achieving savings, control

and consistency, as well as reaching satisfaction goals,

are those that have enlisted executive leadership to

support implementation of an enterprise-wide policy.

From a content perspective, policy or guidelines should

contain, at a minimum, the following elements:

Definitions of both industry and policy terms

Policy requirements, including:

Procurement authorization guidelines

Information on using preferred suppliers (both indirect

and direct)

Information on payment mechanisms, such as a

preferred corporate card for meetings

Consequences for non-compliance

Rules by meeting type, including guidance on frequency

of events, length, size and spend per person

Explanation of roles and responsibilities for end-to-end

management of meeting expenditures

Such elements should then be communicated to all involved

in some way with meetings expense management, including

those within the corporation (e.g. event owners, cost center

owners, formal and informal meeting planners), and, if

appropriate, to the corporations third-party meeting planning

supplier. Each segment should be treated differently, with

messages customized to address the needs and interests

of each constituent.

Policy

Compliance Management

Change Management

Preferred Supplier Programs

Payment Platform

Data Consolidation

Benchmarking

Technology

Policy


Change Management


Payment Platform

Data Consolidation

Benchmarking

Technology

Policy


Change Management


Payment Platform

Data Consolidation

Benchmarking

Technology

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT MEETINGS MANAGEMENT

Exhibit 2: Discipline of Travel & Meetings Management

3


4/12

COMPONENT 2


Actively managing compliance is the key to modifying

employees purchasing behavior. For both mandated and

non-mandated environments, it is important to regularly

review adherence to the following policy/guidance areas:

Conforming to meeting planning principles, policies and

procedures

Compliance to preferred supplier programs

Use of acceptable payment platforms

Contract signed by authorized signatories

Following guidance concerning frequency, length, and

spend per person

After review, additional steps should be taken, such as

following-up with those violating or ignoring policy, with

the escalation of consequences (if appropriate to the

corporate culture).

COMPONENT 3Preferred Supplier Programs

Corporate expense managers can support their companys

existing preferred airline, hotel and purchasing card supplier

programs, along with third-party planning companies,

when consolidating volume under a meetings expense

management program. Additional opportunities exist to

negotiate volume discounts with national or regional

audio/visual suppliers, event production firms, destination

management companies and ground transport vendors.

Air Implementing a meetings management programenables corporations to support and possibly expand

existing negotiated city-pair volume commitments. By

ensuring that meetings are held in destination cities

that support the air program, T&E or procurement

managers are able to leverage the incremental spend

and more easily hit their volume thresholds. Additionally,

a strategic meetings program can direct meeting-related

air travel to a companys online booking platform, thereby

supporting initiatives to increase use of the tool and

enhancing the ability to capture data on group air

volume.

Hotel American Express estimates that approximately

90% of all meeting spend is for hotel-related expenses.

See Exhibit 3 for a break-down of non-air meetings

spend. Numerous opportunities exist to consolidate and

leverage this spend in conjunction with the corporations

transient hotel program. While linking the transient and

group programs is just emerging as an industry option,

the opportunities are very exciting. They include:

Honoring negotiated transient rates as the highest

rate that the corporation will pay for meetings

Applying group volume to overall room commitments

with a chain

Applying non-room spend (food and beverage, meeting

space, A/V, etc.) to the corporations annual hotel

volume commitments

HOW THE COMPONENTS WORK TOGETHER . . .

Policy and Change Management

Developing a meetings policy is a crucial first step in

consolidating a meetings program. However, if your

policy is not communicated as part of an effective

change-management initiative, and your end-users

never read it and/or the policy is not endorsed by

senior management, its likely your company will not

reach its expense management goals.

Change Management and Compliance Management

While effective communication of your meetings policy

is a critical tactic, its also important to ensure that

end-users are complying with it.

4


5/12

Card Leveraging incremental spend with card suppliers

affords access to high quality, properly itemized spend

data distinct from other T&E spend that can be

leveraged in negotiations with meetings suppliers.

Third-Party Meeting Planning Companies Aside

from creating high-performance meetings and events,

third-party planning companies can work within a

corporations purchasing guidelines, consolidating

spend and helping to drive significant hard-dollar

and cost-avoidance savings. In addition, third-parties

can often leverage their industry position and buying

power for the benefit of their customers. If a company

must cancel an event, third-party meeting planning

firms can network to find other clients to take over

cancelled space, thereby reducing cancellation penalties.

Additionally, by utilizing a single outsourcer for

planning, companies can realize even greater savings

through reduced management fees.

COMPONENT 4Payment Platform

The standardization of a payment platform is a key way to

identify and consolidate meetings spend, with the ultimate

goal being the insertion of new controls, leveraging spend

in vendor negotiations, and managing compliance with

policy and preferred supplier programs.

Meetings spend can be tracked in a number of ways,

including data capture via a corporations financial system

(by establishing meetings-specific fields), reports from

suppliers, or from corporate card vendors. Cards, however,offer additional benefits beyond tracking capabilities,

including efficiencies and savings in the procurement-to-

payment cycle, as well as sourcing savings with suppliers.

By using a designated payment card for meetings, companies

can separate meeting expenses from other transient travel

expenses. This is a task otherwise difficult to accomplish.

Furthermore, a card offers detailed meeting expense reports

that can be broken down at the industry level, property

level, and card member level. With this improved expense

monitoring capability, companies can more easily identify

vendor consolidation opportunities, as well as identify

opportunities to negotiate better rates.

Another opportunity for savings is centered on the processes

involved in settling meeting expenses with vendors. The

most common method used today is for vendors to direct-

bill corporations, and for corporations to then cut a check

to each vendor. This can result in a billing process of up to

four to six months. On the other hand, a card platform can

help reduce billing cycle time to one month, and reduce

costs by eliminating the need to cut multiple checks.

Food and Beverage

Meeting Space

Audio/Visual

Ground Transportation

Entertainment /Recreation

SPEND CATEGORY INDUSTRY AVERAGE

47%

33%

2%

7%

1%

2%

Cancellation/Attrition

Hotel Accommodations

Total 100%

1%

7%Other

Exhibit 3: Non-Air Meetings Spend Allocation

Source: Clients who have centralized meetings procurement with

American Express Business Travel's Advisory Services Meeting

Solutions.

5


6/12

COMPONENT 5Data Consolidation

Data truly is key to a well-managed program. There are

several ways data can be collected, including through

corporate financial systems, cards and online meetings

software. The primary types of data to be collected and

studied include:

Final spend data at the event, division and corporate level

Savings data to measure the value of the enterprise

meetings program

Budgeting data to compare budgets versus actual spend

Preferred supplier usage

Compliance to both policy and preferred supplier programs

Benchmarking data to determine program success

COMPONENT 6

Benchmarking

Benchmarking plays a central role in any meetings

management program, as it allows the meetings programmanager to evaluate and communicate program successes.

It also enables the corporation to remain competitive.

There are five primary types of benchmarking that can be

undertaken. Each answers a different set of questions:

Industry Benchmarks - What are the trends in the industry?

Includes general benchmarks such as average spend

per attendee, length of meeting by event type, average

spend by expense type, etc.

Profile Benchmarks - Are we undertaking the same

initiatives as others? Includes benchmarks for comparison with other firms

on items such as the existence of meetings policy and

preferred supplier programs, use of technology solutions

and payment platforms, and internal charge-backs to

offset program costs

Savings Benchmarks - Are we saving as much as others?

Includes benchmarks on savings compared to like-sized

companies or competitors. Savings measurements can

be both overall and within specific expense categories,

such as room, food and beverage, audio/visual and

production expenditures

Snapshot Benchmarks - What did we do in the past?

Includes high level period-over-period benchmarks on

variables such as number of meetings operated and

cancelled, number of attendees, spend per attendee,

average length of meetings, etc.

Actionable Benchmarks - What can we do in the future

to improve our program?

These are less specific, but in many ways, more

impactful types of benchmarks, focusing on recognizing

opportunities that become apparent when reviewing

the data.

COMPONENT 7

Technology

There are numerous technology tools that support a meeting

management program and which can play a key role in

introducing process efficiencies, supporting preferred

supplier strategy, tracking spend data, reducing costs

and improving the servicing of your meeting programs.

Technology should be considered an enabler it will not

create strategy, but will support your program goals.

Technology modules can address the following areas of the

meetings management process at the enterprise level:

Standardize processes across an organization

Facilitate meetings procurement through online site

selection and RFPs

Support and enforce policy

Influence buying decisions by highlighting preferred

suppliers

6


7/12

Consolidate data across operations for negotiation

purposes

Technology also offers advantages for on-staff meeting

arrangers. Examples include:

Budgeting tools to establish, track and report on event-

level spend

Tools to facilitate collaboration on meeting planning

activities. For example, a centralized corporate

calendar of meetings allows meeting organizers to

view enterprise-wide events in one location

A central repository of cancelled space

Help in channeling attendees to preferred suppliers,

for example, via automated attendee registration

Access to accurate and timely attendee data to make

cost-effective, real-time decisions

IV. Case Study Implementation of aCentralized Meetings Program atAmerican Express

While adherence to travel policy was mandated years ago

at American Express, greater oversight of meetings has

only recently emerged as a new opportunity to control

costs, leverage spend and drive savings. Over a period of

three years, American Express implemented a comprehensive

end-to-end meetings expense management program,

comprising many of the best practices listed above. An

established meetings policy is the backbone of the program,

and a mandate that requires employees to follow guidelines

addressing venue selection, registration, payment and

other key meetings-related procedures provides the critical

leverage needed to achieve savings and efficiencies.

The success of the American Express program relies on

three primary components:

Policy the guidelines and procedures put in place to

modify purchasing behavior. Compliance with policy is

facilitated through the use of an online attendee

registration system, a data management tool and the

use of a designated meeting planning provider.

Payment Platform used to support the program by

providing spend data at both the event and card member

levels. The card is coupled with an expense reimbursement

system that allocates charges and taxes to the appropriate

corporate cost centers.

Data Aggregation - information management.

Consolidated data on meetings spend is used for

negotiation purposes and for tracking of compliance

to policy and preferred suppliers.

The phases of the three-year program are described

below, followed by a more in-depth review of the

primary components of the program:

THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

Pre-Initiative

American Express identified the need to place greater controls

around corporate meeting expenditures, and a dedicated

management position within the Purchasing Services Group

was assigned to build a meetings expense managementprogram. The first step consisted of designating American

Express Business Travel's Advisory Services Meeting

Solutions as the preferred meetings management supplier.

At the time, there was no mandate at American Express to

arrange meetings and events through Advisory Services

Meeting Solutions. Another initiative, the selection of

online hotel procurement and attendee management tools,

was planned.

Year One

In year one, the transition to a best-in-class meetings

management program was launched. Beta tests of hotel

procurement and attendee registration tools were

completed and implemented. A preliminary meetings

policy was released as part of the T&E policy, stating that all

meeting expenses must be charged to the American Express

7


8/12

Corporate Card. Guidelines were published on how to execute

American Express meetings.

In partnership with Accounts Payable alternative methods of

payment (e.g. check and wire transfer) were no longer allowed.

That directive immediately drove expenses, and therefore data,

to the Corporate Card.

It was mandated that large meetings be centrally procured

through American Express meeting management department

with updated addenda stipulating that vendors must accept

the Corporate Card as the form of payment for all meetings.

Purchasing Services held training forums and seminars,

enabling key users to give feedback on the new tools and

processes being implemented. Additionally, the compliance

education process allowed one-on-one educational discussions

to take place with policy offenders who were identified by card

data.

Year Two

An internal process audit was undertaken in year two, the

results of which were presented to the Global Leadership

Team during the second quarter of that year. A management

action plan was created to execute the audit recommendations.Areas of focus included meeting policy, reporting, bypass/

compliance, enlisting participation company wide, and the

definition of roles and responsibilities. As a result, American

Express purchased a data management tool after a six-month

review of the companys existing purchasing tool. A separate

general ledger line was created for meetings. Meanwhile,

Global Payments configured the companys expense reporting

tool to allow submission of meeting charges, as well as to

ensure that the taxes on meetings charges would be

categorized correctly. Discussions began around a consolidated

North American hotel procurement solution to leveragevolume and track spend. On the supplier front, transient and

group spend were both included in the American Express

Company Employee Travel RFP with successful results.

Additional strategies were created to drive spend to the

Corporate Card.

Meanwhile, Purchasing Services continued to focus on

communication and education as part of its change

management strategy. The group continued to offer key

users seminars on the new tools and processes, along

with continued one-on-one training.

Year Three

In the first quarter of year three, American Express

implemented a formal, written policy for meetings that

was separate from its overall T&E policy. Released by the

CFO, the policy defines roles and responsibilities, clarifies

approval processes and institutes central reporting. It classifiesthree tiers of meetings, substructured by meeting type (e.g.

off-site, on-site, sales, incentive, training, etc.). General

policy requirements were outlined for each tier. In addition,

the company has set maximums that govern frequency,

length, and spend per-person for the different meeting types.

In American Express meeting tier categorization, all

larger/high level or Tier III meetings and their budgets

must now be approved annually by the CFO.

MEETING TIERS . . .

Tier I Meetings

On-site meetings, including Department, Region, Direct

Report, Unit, Staff, Small Strategic, Project, Training, Town

Hall, Day meetings and other.

Tier II Meetings

Off-site meetings, including Region, Customer, Departmenta

Strategic, Board, off-site Training, Business Unit Day, off-

site Town Halls and other. Business Unit CFO strategically

approved.

Tier III Meetings

Off-site meetings, including CEO, National, Business Uni

Strategic, Sales and Incentives Meetings. Budgets approved

by CFO on annual basis.

8


9/12

In the second quarter of year three, American Express

consolidated all hotel procurement in North America.

Processes were developed to support the mandate for all

Tier III meetings spend to be placed on a separate commercial

card, the American Express Corporate Meeting Card, further

improving the companys ability to track meeting spend,

enforce policy and improve leverage with vendors.

In order to ensure senior executives had hands-on involvement

in the program, the new corporate meetings policy was rolled

out by the corporate CFO to Vice Presidents and above, who

then communicated the policy to their respective business

units. Purchasing Services had direct discussions with criticalusers of the policy during the first and second quarters.

Simultaneously, American Express implemented enforcement

strategies for those who bypassed the policy. The implementa-

tion of the data management tool in the fourth quarter

required targeted training seminars for meeting owners

to ensure a smooth roll out.

Year Four and Beyond

As American Express Company's strategic meetings man-

agement program continues to grow and change, results

remain strong. Critical milestones have been established

for all Tier III meetings. A strategic staffing plan has been

implemented. The data management tool has been fully

implemented, with meeting approval required at the CFO

level. The Company continues to focus on driving double-

digit savings and data collection, elevating service levels,

expanding the global focus and streamlining efficiencies.

Looking to the future, the Company plans to update the

meeting policy to include new scope into small meeting

spend, as well as a meetings matrix that addresses the

needs of individual global markets.

COMPONENTS OF THE AMERICAN EXPRESSPROGRAM

Policy

The stated purpose of the American Express meetings policy,

which is managed by Purchasing Services, is to achieve

measurable cost savings though leveraged buying, control

spend and provide reporting to Senior Leadership. The policy

outlines requirements for the procurement and planning of

company-sponsored off-site programs for employees and

external customers with 20 or more attendees. Direction is

given to organizers of groups of under 20 to arrange meetings

at a company preferred property and comply with the T&E

policy.

The meetings policy is structured into six main areas

including: (1) definitions, (2) policy requirements, (3)

roles and responsibilities, (4) contacts, (5) meetings

matrix, and (6) frequently asked questions (FAQs).

According to the policy:

Pre-authorization is mandatory for all meetings more

than 20 attendees with overnight stays.

Hotel procurement is consolidated for North America

and through key contacts globally.

Payment must be via a card product, with the American

Express Corporate Meeting Card mandated for large

meetings.

Preferred suppliers must be utilized for all services.

Meetings with more than 100 attendees will be planned

by the designated meeting planning provider.

Online attendee registration must be used for groups

of more than 100.

Critical to the success of the meeting policy are the

authorizations or approvals assigned to specified meeting

tiers (see Exhibit 4) . For all large/high visibility (Tier III)

meetings, it is necessary for the business unit CFO to

approve the meeting prior to the commencement of sourc-

ing or planning initiatives. For Tier II meetings, the business

unit CFO is responsible for approving all meetings over 20

attendees. For Tier I meetings of under 20 attendees, the use

of on-site facilities is strongly recommended.

9


10/12

The policy clarifies roles and responsibilities for everyone

associated with a meeting, and assigns responsibility for

policy compliance with the key meeting owner. Detailed

definitions are included for each role, from CFO to meeting

attendee.

Payment Platform

Maximizing use of the card payment platform is one of

the key success factors in the American Express program.

Initially, several parallel actions were taken to promote card

usage. In partnership with Accounts Payable, requests for

payment via invoice were returned to the requestor with adecline message. Requestors were then directed to Purchasing

Services for information on the proper payment type.

Additionally, supplier contract addenda were updated to

require that vendors process payments via a card.

Purchasing Services identified users with over $60,000 per

year in meeting spend as candidates to receive Corporate

Meeting Cards. Some of these users, with spend outside of

the defined meeting tiers, also utilize the Corporate Meeting

Card to cover meeting related expenses.

Data Aggregation

With virtually all meeting spend now on some type of

American Express Card, Purchasing Services is able to

analyze clean, complete spend data. On a monthly basis,

meeting data is generated and reviewed. While hotel spend

is often the main focus for reviewing risk and controls,

industry-specific reports can also be produced, for example,

categorized by Restaurant and Transportation.

Compliance control is one of the central benefits of information

management. Data on spend that bypasses policy requirements

is reviewed, and maverick spenders are contacted to explaincharges. Quarterly bypass reporting, identifying those in

breech of policy, is also provided to the CFO.

All Tier II Meetingser II Meetings

Business Unit - off-site

Business Unit/Staff Group CFO

or Global Market Controller

strategically approves

BU CFO submits to Global

Procurement

American Express designated

meeting planning department

to procure

Overnight meetings with more

than 100 attendees must be

planned by the designated

meeting planning department

American Express Corporate Card to

be utilized for payment of expenses

Meeting host to be held accountable

to budget

Meeting Authorization Form required

Frequency: BU CFO submits

to Purchasing Services

Maximum Length: x days/x nights

Maximum Cost: USD $x per day,

per attendee

POLICY REQUIREMENTS

TYPE OF TIER II MEETINGS

Exhibit 4: Sample Meetings Matrix

10


11/12

Card data is also analyzed to improve supplier leverage.

With spend channeled to Cards, American Express can analyze

hotel-and chain-specific reporting, which it utilizes to enhance

negotiations with suppliers. Purchasing Services not only

sees which suppliers are being used, but also monitors how

much is being spent with individual suppliers, and by whom.

Monitoring the spend is now done in conjunction with the

Companys transient corporate travel spend.

SUCCESSES

Over the first three years, the meetings expense management

program achieved a number of significant successes, including:

Process improvements leading to consistency in

procedures and service delivery

Elimination of 10 to 30 invoices per meeting

Policy compliance rate of 95%

Savings of 16% of total spend (for large meetings) in its

third year

Following year three, American Express continues to achieve

double-digit cost avoidance for consolidated meetings.

Additional successes include:

Streamlined billing process based on the Meeting Card

platform, with reduced cycle time

Policy compliance rate of 99%, monitored weekly

Transient and meeting spend leveraged with suppliers

V. Summary and Next Steps For Your OwnProgram

There is no one solution that is right for every company,

as varying corporate cultures and unique requirements

are the key drivers in shaping a program. This white paper

describes a tightly-managed, highly successful program

that addresses the primary goals of American Express to

rationalize spend, lower the cost of meetings and deliver

consistency across the procurement of meetings. The

steps involved in creating a comprehensive meetings

management program include assessing the current state

of your meetings procurement process, developing and

rolling out a meetings policy, selecting direct and indirect

vendors for the preferred supplier program, implementing

a payment platform and processes, and putting reporting

tools in place to drive control and compliance. The changes

in processes, procedures, and purchasing rules, coupled

with compliance management have resulted in considerable

savings and control for American Express.

11


12/12

For more information on how we can help you optimize your air, car, hotel and meetings spend,

contact your American Express Business Travel representative or visit one of our Web sites above.

About American Express Business Travel

American Express Business Travel, a division of the American

Express Company, is dedicated to providing peace of mind

to clients as they achieve the greatest possible value from

their investment in travel through in-creased cost savings,

outstanding customer service and greater spend control.

For small businesses, medium-sized enterprises and

multinational corporations, American Express Business

Travel provides a combination of industry-leading booking

technology, travel management consulting expertise,

strategic sourcing and supplier negotiation support, andcustomer service available around the world, around the

clock, online and offline.

American Express operates one of the worlds largest travel

agency networks with over 2,200 travel service locations in

over 140 countries and territories worldwide. The Company

processed over $21.8 billion in global travel sales in 2006.

American Express Company is a diversified worldwide

travel, financial and network services company founded

in 1850. It is a world leader in charge and credit cards,

Travelers Cheques, travel, business services and

international banking.

Regional American Express Headquarters

North America

American Express

200 Vesey Street

New York, NY 10285

www.americanexpress.com/businesstravel

Europe, Middle East and Africa

American Express Services Europe Ltd.

Belgrave House

76 Buckingham Palace Road

London SW1W 9TQ

www.americanexpress.co.uk/businesstravel

Japan, Asia Pacific and Australia

American Express International, Inc.

175 Liverpool Street

Sydney NSW 2000

www.americanexpress.com.au/businesstravel

Latin America & the Caribbean

American Express

Patriotismo 635

Col. Ciudad de los Deportes

CP 03710

Mexico DF

Mexico

www.americanexpress.com.mx/businesstravel

Documents

WP Meetings Expense Management Us