Even before hearing the industry term "strategic meetings management," the concept was on the minds of many corporate travel and meetings professionals. They realized early that multitudes of meetings - small and large - were taking place without the benefit of process controls, strategic sourcing and basic spend management techniques, and they immediately understood that their companies were exposing themselves to undo costs and increased risk.

Despite swift advances and strategic savings efforts in the transient travel space, corporate adoption of meetings management has lagged behind. A StarCite study conducted in August 2008 revealed that less than half of companies surveyed had a centralized meetings team with formalized planning processes and policies to govern meeting planning activities. In addition, only about half of those companies with central teams managed all meetings through that team.

What's the hold up? According to 30 percent of the StarCite survey respondents, they lacked the resources and corporate support necessary to implement substantial changes that would provide visibility into enterprise-wide meetings activities and spend. If you struggle with a similar challenge, rest assured you are not alone.