ISM, NBTA Summit Highlights Strategic Importance of Corporate Travel, Challenging Economy
2nd Annual Event Grows Attendance by 25%
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and the Institute for Supply Management™ (ISM) this week welcomed 170 corporate travel, meetings and procurement professionals to the second ISM and NBTA Summit on Travel & Meetings in Tampa, Fla. With more than 25 percent growth in attendance over last year, despite a down economy, the Summit offered its attendees a unique forum for travel and meetings managers and those in procurement with...
Craig Banikowski, CCTE, C.P.M, CMM, NBTA President & CEO, said, “Economic changes of the last 18 months have heightened the importance of cost containment, transparency, and supply chain management. The better we understand each other as procurement, travel, and meetings, professionals, the more we can meet these challenges on behalf of our companies.”
Over the past two days, industry thought leaders addressed issues such as current business drivers for senior executives, the “new normal” for the travel and meetings industry, and collaborative technologies and travel alternatives. One underlining theme taken from education sessions is the strategic importance of corporate travel and meetings. Travel professionals agreed businesses are coping with new and uncertain paradigms and shared new ideas and best practices for maximizing travel spend.
According to ISM Senior Vice President and Corporate Treasurer Deborah Webber, CPSM, C.P.M., “Procurement’s charge to continually drive savings without losing value, and even adding value, has only been emphasized during the last several years of the difficult economy. The overwhelming success of this year's Summit highlights the growing importance in the link between procurement and travel and the opportunities that exist to drive better performance from both perspectives.”
Attendees also heard from renowned economist Dr. Lee McPheters, Research Professor of Economics in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Dr McPheters provided a cautiously optimistic outlook of the U.S. economy, predicting recovery in the next three to five years. He said, “The economy is currently contracting, and the recession will end when the contraction is over. However, we’re better now than where we were.”
Banikowski added, “To get a firm grasp of economic and industry changes, as well as the changing role of travel managers, we need to go beyond simply speaking each other’s languages. We need to work together to create effective approaches to our common challenges, select the best of each discipline and apply it to today’s realities, and shape a new way of thinking about procuring the travel and meetings services that will help our companies meet mission-critical business goals.”
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