Event tech leader Cvent and fast-growing event production company Encore have announced a partnership focused on providing end-to-end services for virtual and hybrid meeting clients.
The deal gives Encore customers access to Cvent’s software and support services, and provides Cvent clients with production management expertise.
Both companies have been in acquisition mode over the past five years, shoring up their segment-leading positions. Cvent, with a technology suite that includes tools for event registration, event management, email marketing, meeting site selection, virtual meetings, and more, has bought at least five companies since 2018: Quickmobile, Social Tables, Kapow, Wedding Spot, and DoubleDutch.
Encore, known as PSAV until spring 2020, also is growing its design, production, audiovisual, and virtual event services through acquisition. PSAV and Encore Event Technologies merged in 2019, and in the two years before that, PSAV bought FMAV (Canada), Hawthorn (U.K.), and Hargrove and Concise in the U.S.
In a release, Cvent CEO and Founder Reggie Aggarwal commented on the challenges for planners now managing a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. “With the digitization of events driven in part by the pandemic, events can be more impactful than ever before, but that also means it’s more complex to manage an event program that drives results.” The Cvent-Encore partnership is aimed at simplifying this management challenge with end-to-end services.
“Rarely do core competencies of two organizations offer such a strategic complement of services for a shared customer base,” said Encore President and CEO Ben Erwin. “As organizations race to return to the benefits of in-person events while adding the advantages learned through virtual experiences, Cvent and Encore together present marketers and event strategists with the combined strengths of two trusted partners.”
