New alliance between VISA and Arcaneo

Today, strategic meeting management technologies have a low-tech side. When the bills come in, spend figures have to be manually keyed in to the expense reporting system. The next step for strategic meeting management technologies is to put some efficiency into that process, and a new alliance between Visa USA, Visa International, and Arcaneo expects to make that happen.

The partnership, announced this week at the National Business Travel Association International Convention & Exposition in Boston, will integrate Toronto-based Arcaneo’s strategic meeting management technology, Metron, with Visa’s commercial payment cards, allowing meeting expenses to populate Metron automatically. The online system, says Clement Ng, vice president, client services at Arcaneo, “will take actual spend numbers and stick them in the budget.” Some meeting expenses will still need to be manually reconciled, but it will be an online “drag-and-drop” process rather than rekeying, he says.

To have spend numbers automatically populate Metron, an organization would need to issue a unique Visa payment card for each meeting. Companies that use a single Visa card to pay for multiple meetings would still be able to drag-and-drop spend data into Metron.

Ng is excited about the efficiencies and savings clients could see from the new partnership, but he’s also a realist in his approach to strategic meeting management. Because Metron can accept card data, that doesn’t make enterprise implementation of a strategic meeting management program significantly less complex. Technology, he says, is “no silver bullet.

“You’ve got to have the will to do this. It’s a big challenge,” he says, estimating that technology gets you 10 percent of the way, while the other 90 percent is implementation and change management within the organization.

Ng says Arcaneo’s relationship with Visa is not exclusive and integration with other payment cards is possible. Arcaneo launched Metron in 2002 and now has 30 corporate customers on the system, about half of which are U.S. based.

RSS Share

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.


Acceptable Use Policy
blog comments powered by Disqus

Search 125,000+ Venues

Search Meeting Space

Find Event Venues with Cvent

The Meeting Planning Blog

Face2Face Latest Posts

Sign Up for Our Free E-Newsletters



Meetings Collaborative

Rate your experience with meeting venues and suppliers.

Facility / Hotel

 
Powered by: Meetings Collaborative
Aega Awards

Latest Webinar

Beyond Marketing: What Else Social Media Can Do for Your Meetings
Thursday, May 24 | 2-3 p.m. EST

Most associations know that online social networks can be handy tools to spread the word about their meetings and events. But social media can do so much more than market. Our social media expert will uncover ways you can leverage social media to discover the educational content your members are craving, engage and energize your community, build relationships, and even simplify your meeting processes. Register Now!

VIEW ALL ARCHIVED WEBINARS

Recent Comments

Powered by Disqus

Back to Top

Explore Our Newsletters


Meeting Planner Survival Guide

Whether you're a novice planner or a veteran, this compilation of must-read articles is your meeting planning resource.

Must-See Meeting Files

Visit the MeetingsNet expert-advice site, where we’ve got top meeting pros on camera answering a variety of your questions as well as a collection of educational—and sometimes offbeat—editors’ pick lists — from the top tech tools to the best books for meeting professionals.

Suppliers/
Facilities/CVBs

MeetingsNet makes it easy to find the CVBs, tourist boards, and facilities you need for your next meeting.

Deal Finder

Special offers brought to you by MeetingsNet.

Find A Job

Targeted to all aspects of the hospitality and special events industry.

SMM PORTAL

Your source for Strategic Meetings Management info and intelligence

Facebook   Twitter   LinkedIn   RSS Feed

Inside Current Issue

May 2012 CMI

May 2012 FIM

April 2012

April 2012 RCM

April 2012

April 2012 AM

MM March 2012

March/April 2012 MM

Browse Back Issues