Financial Services Client SMM Program

A large U.S. financial services organization found that around $25 million in meetings and events spend was happening outside of its core Meetings & Events (M&E) team. This meant a large amount of spend was unmanaged, creating financial and operational risk for the business.

This discovery came during a period of organizational change, alongside a growing leadership focus on cost control and risk reduction.

Key challenges included:

• No company‑wide meetings and events policy outside of the central M&E team
• Limited visibility into overall meetings activity and total spend
• Inconsistent sourcing standards and payment methods
• Venue contracts signed without procurement or M&E involvement
• Growing employee numbers, increasing the volume and complexity of meetings activity

The organization needed a simple, scalable solution that would improve visibility, reduce financial and contractual risk, and bring consistency to meetings activity, while delivering a simple, user‑friendly experience for employees.

BCD Meetings & Events, working in close partnership with the client and BCD’s travel consulting company, Advito, helped design and launch a Simple Meetings Management Program (SMMP) to bring control, visibility and consistency to unmanaged meetings activity, without adding friction for employees.

The solution focused on four key areas:

1. Clear program structure and governance

• Introduced a centralized meetings management framework for qualifying meetings
• Defined when meetings should be supported through a managed sourcing model
• Reduced financial and contractual risk through consistent policy and contract negotiation in line with legal requirements
• Applied best practices from similar financial services programs

2. Improved visibility and spend control

• Established a single, standardized intake and sourcing process
• Created clear visibility into meetings volume, value and risk exposure
• Enabled better tracking of activity that was previously decentralized and unmanaged
• Introduced controlled payment methods to improve compliance and reconciliation

3. Simple, consistent user experience

• Designed a process that was easy for employees to follow
• Removed the burden of venue sourcing and contracting from meeting organisers
• Provided end‑to‑end sourcing and contracting support through BCD Meetings & Events
• Ensured meetings were managed consistently, regardless of business unit

4. Change management and adoption support

• Led a structured change management approach to drive awareness and adoption
• Delivered leadership messaging to explain the purpose and value of the program
• Developed a dedicated program portal and user‑friendly resources
• Delivered virtual training sessions to guide employees through the new process

Implementation and ongoing partnership

• Hosted the program kick‑off and supported implementation planning
• Supported onboarding of the designated program team
• Officially launched the SMMP
• Continue to provide venue sourcing and contracting support, helping track progress against visibility, risk and savings goals

Within the first month, the program generated 47 meeting inquiries and brought $1.6M of spend into view.

These strong results have created immediate visibility into previously unmanaged spend and lay the foundation for long-term savings and risk reduction.

Planned outcomes include:

• Year 1: 30% of unmanaged spend in view ($7.5M), delivering $750K–$1.8M in savings
• Year 2: 50% of unmanaged spend in view ($12.5M), delivering $1.2M–$3.1M in savings
• Year 3: 60% of unmanaged spend in view ($15M), delivering $1.5M–$3.7M in savings

Beyond the financial impact, the organization now benefits from improved visibility, reduced contractual risk, a more consistent user experience and a scalable framework to support future growth.