Bangkok--Sep 30--eTurbo news
WTMI Plans for Strategic Meetings Management Growth with Plan2Attend
WorldTravel Meetings & Incentives (WTMI), a division of WorldTravel BTI, today announced that Mike Malinchok has joined WTMI as vice president, meetings technology. In this role Malinchok will lead the overall development, operations and administrative functions for WTMI's Plan2Attend(SM) proprietary software, a comprehensive, Web-based meetings management tool that enables planners to streamline processes and provide consolidated reporting to help leverage meetings spend and lower costs.
WTMI is uniquely positioned to help customers at all levels of a strategic meetings management program. Whether a corporation is just beginning, partly consolidated or already strategically managing its meeting spend, there are always benefits to incorporating technology into the program.
"For more than 17 years we have provided consultation, negotiation strategies and support to corporate traveler managers on ways to reduce spend and consolidate travel," said John Snyder, chief operating officer, WorldTravel BTI. "Meetings make up 30 percent of overall corporate travel and entertainment spend for most companies. It is our job to show our clients how to realize the benefits of a comprehensive meetings management strategy, manage their data and automate some of the labor-intensive attendee management and budgeting functions required of all meeting planners."
"The black and white lines that traditionally separated corporate air travel and corporate meetings management have become very grey in the past few years," said Snyder. "We're seeing more and more customers on the transient side implement similar cost management strategies with their meetings programs. WTMI's strong leadership and service-oriented approach enable a compelling value proposition for travel and procurement buyers."
"Mike's arrival at WTMI couldn't have come at a better time," said Scott Graf, president, WTMI. "Plan2Attend is a significant component of our company's growth strategy. Mike's leadership and respect in the industry will only increase WTMI's ability to meet our customers' needs, and maybe more importantly, lead them into the future of meetings management."
Malinchok comes to WTMI after nearly five years at GetThere, a Sabre company. During his time at GetThere, he was responsible for the meetings technology product line from its inception as Allmeetings.com through the sale to the GetThere organization, and then to Sabre. Prior to that, Malinchok worked with StarCite and McGettigan Partners as well as several high-end hotels across the country. Malinchok is a member of MPI and serves on the Group Travel and Meetings Committee for NBTA. He is co-chair of the documentation team tasked with creating a series of NBTA sanctioned white-paper documents on Meetings Consolidation and Travel Integration.
WTMI is committed to the development of Plan2Attend. Graf said, "As a meeting and incentives company, we build functionality that truly meets the needs of meeting planners. There are many intricacies to planning meetings and incentive programs, and we deliver flexibility and detail in our product that makes this process more manageable."
According to Malinchok, 95 percent of companies need some type of meetings support such as data collection and analysis, procurement or attendee management. WTMI has the resources to accommodate a company's specific needs. Plan2Attend offers three modules: Strategic Meetings Management, Planning and Purchasing and Attendee Management.
"We have made some recent improvements to Plan2Attend's user interface, and we have many exciting plans for the upcoming year including the establishment of a Customer Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB will be the voice of the customer and will be instrumental in determining product features and priorities," Malinchok stated. "In addition, we are working on an e-procurement solution to connect the buyer directly with supplier."
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