Event Management Solutions Help Nestlé, SEIU, Hart Energy and Loews Hotels Achieve Greater Efficiency and Growth
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — December 18, 2012 —The ACTIVE Network, Inc. (NYSE: ACTV) , the leader in cloud-based Activity and Participant Management™ (APM) solutions, is ending 2012 with a bang. Its Business Solutions Group recently reported major successes for customers using their event management technology solutions for business events. The achievements underscore ACTIVE Network’s ability to help organizations of any size power smart events through its suite of solutions that are designed to improve event efficiency and management, deepen attendee engagement and help organizers grow their businesses through better leads and intelligence.
“Despite the fact that events are such a huge part of an organization’s spend, many companies do not have insight into the data necessary to maximize their investment because they’re relying on multiple point solutions to manage their events,” said JR Sherman, Senior Vice President of Business Solutions at ACTIVE Network. “Our Business Solutions Group offers organizations a single, comprehensive event management suite and as a result, many of our customers have the ability to achieve significant results.”
ACTIVE Network’s event management technology solutions—Conference™, RegOnline®, StarCite® Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) and the StarCite® Supplier Marketplace—are helping deliver efficiency, savings and growth to a wide range of organizations. Among the successes:
Program Expansion and Year-Over-Year Savings at Nestlé
Nestlé in the U.S. has continued to expand its strategic meetings management program powered by ACTIVE Network’s StarCite SMM solution. Their program has expanded from managing 150 meetings when it started, to more than 500 meetings a year. Nestlé continues to garner savings year-over-year through various cost reduction initiatives. Additionally, the meetings management team provides detailed meeting analytics on spend, savings and forecasting to their key stakeholders on a regular basis.
“StarCite technology has provided the backbone for us to automate and streamline our processes,” said Nancy Teresa, Procurement Manager, Travel and Event Planning at Nestlé. “With the centralized portal and data collection, we’re able to see our event spend as a category versus having to track it throughout various expense reports.”
48% Savings at SEIU
The 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sought a way to automate and improve the planning of its more than 200 annual events, including 4,000-person conventions for which meeting RSVPs were still being tracked in Excel spreadsheets. ACTIVE Network’s StarCite SMM solution provided that automation as well as helped to enable SEIU to identify savings opportunities, source venues more efficiently, and reduce event costs by 48% in 2011.
“Because we are a labor union with diverse membership needs, our processes are not as cookie-cutter as a corporation’s,” said Tim Bone, Director, Union Conventions, Events, Meetings & Travel for SEIU. “The StarCite solution was flexible enough to handle our unique processes. Today, the meetings group’s service and reporting capabilities have reached a whole new level.”
Event Growth Skyrockets at Hart Energy
Hart Energy, one of the leading providers of news, data and analysis for the global energy industry, realized that its existing event registration tool would not stand up to the demands of a rapidly growing event schedule. It turned to ACTIVE Network’s RegOnline solution to simplify major event tasks such as online registration, credit card processing, and attendee badging with bar-coded check-in and exhibitor lead scanning. The company now uses RegOnline to manage 20,000 attendees at events all over the world each year.
“Our conference business has skyrocketed over the past couple of years,” said Mark Chiles, Chief Technology Officer of Hart Energy. “RegOnline has helped us grow by allowing easier event production and a more professional registration experience that meets the needs of our executive audiences.”
57% Increase in Booked Room Revenue at Loews Hotels
ACTIVE Network is a long-term partner of Loews Hotels, which has 18 properties across the U.S. and Canada that rely on meetings & events for the majority of their revenue across more than half of their properties. ACTIVE Network’s StarCite Supplier Marketplace has helped Loews realize a 57% increase in booked room revenue in 2012 through its Supplier Marketing programs, MarketView eRFP system and the quality of leads running through the system.
With the world’s leading Fortune and Global 500 companies managing their meetings and events with ACTIVE Network, StarCite’s Supplier Marketplace provides access to some of the largest corporate, financial and pharmaceutical meeting customers in the industry. “One of our key challenges is securing the right types of corporate group business, and StarCite presents these opportunities to us,” said Anthony Del Gaudio, Senior Vice President Sales Operations at Loews Hotels.
ACTIVE Network is powering the next generation of smart events through its Business Solutions technology suite, which provides intelligent data and insights designed to increase potential revenue growth, deepen attendee engagement and gain efficiency. Customers of all sizes—including small and medium-sized businesses, enterprise corporations, associations, tradeshows and expos—benefit from a single technology partner for all of their event management needs. The Business Solutions technology suite includes Conference™ for large flagship conferences, RegOnline® for attendee management solutions, StarCite® SMM for strategic meetings management and event expense management, and the StarCite Supplier Marketplace to connect events with suppliers. For more information on ACTIVE Network Business Solutions please visit www.ACTIVEevents.com.
About ACTIVE Network
ACTIVE Network (NYSE: ACTV) is on a mission to make the world a more active place. With deep expertise in Activity and Participant Management™ (APM), our ActiveWorks® cloud technology helps organizations transform and grow their businesses. We do this through technology solutions that power the world’s activities and through online destinations such as ACTIVE.com® that connect people with the things they love to do. Serving over 50,000 global business customers and driving over 80 million transactions annually, we help organizations get participants, manage their events and build communities. ACTIVE Network is headquartered in San Diego, California and has over 30 offices worldwide. Learn more at ACTIVEnetwork.com or ACTIVE.com and engage with us on Twitter @ACTIVEnetwork, @ACTIVE and on Facebook.
About Forward-Looking Statements
The Active Network, Inc. cautions you that the statements included in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any such statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. More detailed information about The Active Network, Inc. and the risks and uncertainties that may affect the realization of these forward-looking statements is set forth in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings may be read free of charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and The Active Network, Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
© 2012 The Active Network, Inc. All rights reserved. ACTIVE.com, ActiveWorks, RegOnline, StarCite and the StarCite Supplier Marketplace are registered trademarks of The Active Network, Inc. ACTIVE Network, Activity and Participant Management and Conference are trademarks of The Active Network, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Media Contact:
Aleka Mesaros, ACTIVE Network
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