Integration: Five Obstacles Holding Planners Back

In “The State of Event Technology Adoption” — a study conducted in 2015 by MPI and PSAV — 69% of respondents shared that they use manual processes (information tracked through Word documents, email or spreadsheets) to ensure that programming, sessions, speaker lists and session details are consistent across the web, print directories, digital signs and the mobile app.

This same study concluded that “the manual data management — using Word documents, emails, handwritten notes or spreadsheets — used by a large numbers of event professionals to align both attendee and program databases means that they are precluded from the wide range of benefits that come from automated data synchronization and integration. This lack of technology adoption has the potential to increase staffing costs, decrease operational efficiency, increase data inaccuracy and deprive organizations of the insights that comes from the advanced computing capabilities of automated systems.”

As I read this study, some questions came to mind — What’s holding planners back? Are planners continuing to use manual processes because integration of their programs is too difficult? Too expensive? How big of a pain point is integration for planners? What would be the resulting benefits if technology platforms could be integrated on demand? Is lack of integration holding planners back or are they choosing to stay manual?

After lots of discussion with both technology companies and meeting planners of all types, we’ve come up with the top 5 reasons why planners continue to deal with an inefficient system of non-integrated platforms:

1 — Integration is not a priority for the platform providers and often takes cooperation among providers for integration to work. While the sales teams find that lack of integration slows down the sales cycle, development teams would rather work on improving their products
2 — Planners are busy people and integration can be time consuming, sometimes taking weeks or months — who has time for integration when you’ve got an event starting in five weeks? Followed by another, then another……
3 — Integration can be complex — planners aren’t developers so they need to rely on others to manage integration
4 — Internal IT departments don’t have the time or capacity or knowledge to handle the integration of systems they spend little time in.
5 — Integration can be expensive — hiring outside contractors isn’t in the budget and ROI is not immediately apparent

Say “Hello” to a new concept called IPaaS — Integration platform as a Service! The Event Guys and the EventTechGuide has formed a strategic partnership with the technology innovators at Built.io to bring their enterprise level IPaaS (integration platform as a service) to event technology.

Essentially, this platform is a neutral third party “middleware” where key data is exchanged and automatic workflows are created by accessing the API’s of almost any platform through triggers, actions, and webhooks.

So rather than one company building direct and singular integrations from their platform to another independent platform — an expensive chore that might take weeks of coordination and continued maintenance — the IPaaS platform creates integrations in a matter of hours, can be done on demand, and enables integration with hundreds of other platforms, including non-event tech like CRM’s, sales & marketing automation, Google, Accounting systems, project management, etc…

Subscriptions for Built.io IPaas can be purchased through the EventTechGuide with pricing typically set on a case by case basis, driven by the number of data “calls” that are exchanged during the contract period. Once purchased, clients have access to their own Built.io dashboard where they can build the integration workflows themselves, or outsource the builds to an experienced and knowledgable contractor, like The Event Guys.

So there you have it! Integration of your event tech software is now easier, faster, and less expensive. By turning to an experienced third party Integration Platform as a Service, planners can focus on getting the most out of their systems, become more productive with the time-savings, decrease staff costs, get more insight into their programs and enjoy a host of other benefits. No more holding back!

Next Up: Baby Steps — or a Giant Leap — into Integration?

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The Event Guys are experienced and knowledgable project managers and programmers familiar with integrating event technology platforms and meeting planner work flows on the Built.io platform.