Finding the Problem to Fix: Five-Step Process Before Making Technology Decisions at Your Venue

This article was originally published in Boardroom | 2024 Volume 4  

Organizations worldwide, including convention centers, are facing a dilemma: which technology should they invest in? According to Sven Bossu, CEO of AIPC, which represents a global network of over 200 leading centers in 55 countries, the starting point is not the technology but the problem that needs solving. Taking this approach will ensure company-wide acceptance of the change which comes with the new technology and allow for a focus on value creation and ROI.

The events industry has traditionally been a slower adopter of technology than other sectors, with venues often waiting for technologies to become more mainstream before readily accepting them. However, this hesitation leaves the industry vulnerable to disruption if the default approach is to shy away from innovation. With more options than ever competing for attendees’ dollars, the events industry cannot afford to be left behind. 

Each year around December, lists are published with the top 10 technologies to look out for the next year. Unsurprisingly, AI was at the top of many of those lists for 2024. AIPC had a look at what AI could bring to a convention center and it proved to be a lot: from predictive maintenance, customer experience design, Natural Language Queries (NLQ) for easier reporting, revenue management and much more — a total of nine focus areas were identified. And AI is just one of the many technologies in the top 10 charts mentioned. 

At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that any investment in technology will come with change, impacting one or several teams within the organization. Recent research by Gartner (Top 5 HR Trends and Priorities For 2024 | Gartner) indicates that change management is one of the top 5 HR challenges faced worldwide.  

In a nutshell, it comes down to the fact that there is “change fatigue” in many organizations. To address this, management needs to invest a lot of time in explaining the drivers for change, how they fit with the overall strategy and market landscape and how it will impact the individual employer. Most technology projects that fail are because there wasn’t enough emphasis placed on the change process. People can feel threatened or overwhelmed. The best way to ensure this isn’t the case is to ensure everyone who is going to be impacted by the introduction of a new technology project is included in the planning and implementation.  

Value-Driven Technology Investment

Combining these two facts — the multitude of possible technology investment and the change management required — makes it even more important that investments are value driven, ideally from different perspectives. 

The following example makes this clearer. Food waste is a big challenge in the event industry, as it can have a big impact on the ecological footprint of an event. But it also has a significant financial impact, and it is not compliant with the values of the upcoming generations — both on the client and the service provider's side. Therefore, investing in technology which reduces food waste is likely to be easily accepted, even though the implementation will have an impact on the current way of working, simply because it ticks a lot of boxes: values, ROI, sustainability and possibly a commercial advantage. 

Sometimes, the decisions to take are less straightforward. How much should we invest in cybersecurity? Should we upgrade the existing system or invest in a new one? Should we insource or outsource? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to these questions. However, applying a clear process will make things a lot easier. 

Five-Step Process Before Making Technology Decisions at Your Venue 

First of all, it is important to have an overview of the areas within your company where you believe technology could make a difference. This could be part of the SWOT or SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results) analysis that most organizations do on a regular basis. Once the areas are defined, a prioritization needs to be made. This could be done by offsetting impact versus effort. It is very important that the full management team is aligned on this analysis before moving to the next step, as this will be the very foundation of any investment. 

Once the priorities are clear, you need to look for use cases that build value through improved productivity, growth and new business models. It is very likely you will need to look outside your own industry to find good cases. In the world of convention centers, temperature tracking in engines, as applied in many manufacturing environments, could be of interest for monitoring the performance of critical infrastructure. Booking systems as applied by airlines – including a dynamic pricing system – could be of use to automate booking of meeting rooms. 

Once the examples are found, you will need to decide on the approach. Will you implement the new technology on a stand-alone basis? Do you want it to be integrated with your existing systems? Or are you going for a full re-build? (in AI, these options are defined as “taker”, “shaper” or “maker”). Once again, there are no right/wrong answers to this, but it is important to be aware of and agree on the consequences of the choice made. 

Next will be to create a multifunctional team who will analyze the solution in detail. Typically, this team will involve representatives of all the departments impacted. In the case of the automated room booking system, this will be sales, IT, operations and finance. Having such a team will ensure that all different aspects (from customer experience to invoicing) are considered. 

Finally, an assessment needs to be made of the upskilling/reskilling required within the organization, the risks involved and the mitigation actions which can be taken. 

Going through this five-step process will allow any organization to take technology-related decisions in a way which will both ensure value creation and smoother change management, eventually leading to higher performance at company level. 

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