Government Business

The effects of the credit crunch show little signs of abating. With increasing signs that businesses are tightening their belts, spending on luxuries such as recruitment, bonuses and training are under scrutiny and budgets are cut as companies batten down the hatches in the wake of an economic slowdown.
    
In such a climate, any ways in which companies can save time and money will be warmly welcomed. In the conference, meeting and events market, there is an argument for the introduction of technology to save time, reduce staffing and improve the efficiency of the venue – particularly in venue booking management. However, there is also the case for the personal touch, which provides a service that technology can’t. So in terms of attracting business, which is the best method to invest in – technology or people? Will the personal touch increase business levels, or will technology streamline the business, increasing efficiency and therefore cut costs?

The help of technology
Technology that did not exist a decade ago is revolutionising the process by which conferences, meetings and events happen today. For the meetings organiser, time and money have become precious commodities and a whole raft of tools have sprung up to micro manage every nuance of planning and execution.
    
The method of booking systems varies greatly between venues and meeting spaces. From bookings taken via the telephone, to state-of-the-art online web portal systems, the chosen booking system is usually selected to reflect the venue’s requirements and its clients.
    
Today’s ever advancing technology should be embraced instead of shied away from. In a fiercely competitive market the correct use of the right type of technology contributes to a successful business dynamic.
    
One of the key necessities for venues when taking bookings is to ensure that its clients book the correct room configurations for their event – something which has not been possible through technology support, until now. Another requirement for venues is a system that is able to cope with the management of a high volume of bookings – a requirement of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in London.
    
A large number of reservations were being taken via telephone for its restaurant and brasserie; which were incredibly difficult to manage at peak times, and resulted in missed calls and double booking.
    
Parrimark Technology put in a system that allowed faster and real time booking service for the Institute’s members; allowing staff to be able to cope with demand, irrespective of the number of enquiries being made. The system could also produce various activity reports for the restaurant team, enabling them to manage its daily levels effectively. In addition, the system was also totally integrated with its key systems including finance, membership and data warehouse, resulting in a time and cost effective business; giving it a competitive edge over its competitors.

The personal touch
It can, however, be argued that the ’personal touch’ could be lost to technology when such a system is implemented. Some suggest the best way to communicate is in real time through face-to-face (voice-to-voice) communication, the ‘personal touch’.
    
Sister properties, Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire and Scalford Hall in Leicestershire offer powerful business and learning environments away from the stresses and strains of modern city life. As established properties offering both conference and event facilities, and residential rooms, they prefer to use the ‘personal touch’ when taking bookings for their business and leisure guests.
    
Mick Talbot, sales and marketing director for the hotels explains: “As often as possible our bookings are taken manually to ensure a guests’ first port-of-call is a human voice; adding quality through personal communication. We do, however, use state of the art technology facilities within our hotels, meeting the demands of our discerning business customers.”
    
“We work hard to balance this with a traditional service of face-to-face communication with additions such as personal event organisers at both properties to ensure that every aspect of the day will run smoothly. Whittlebury Hall and Scalford Hall favour the personal touch and believe that their guests do too.”
    
The best of both worlds is providing a human face to front the technology. It defeats the point when people are able to do everything online except actually talk to someone when they need to. It’s about allowing technology to enhance the customer experience, not remove the human interaction between the venue and the customer. As long as a service or system is tailored to suit the individual business and its customers, then technology and human interaction can work together to improve all areas from planning through to event execution.