TECH BEAT

Meetings-management technology provider Cvent introduced mobile-device-friendly online registration and event websites this week, a welcome addition to the platform. We knew this feature was soon to arrive, based on our recent interview with some of Cvent's young employees ("A New Generation of Suppliers"), who said they were called upon to test the new functionality. While I haven't seen a demo, it appears that ease of use and flexibility are key characteristics of the enhancements. Planners can create a mobile-device-optimized event website and registration form automatically, based on pre-existing desktop event settings, or customize the website and form with their choice of colors, display settings and content. Benefits of the mobile-friendly site for use during the meeting include new geolocation capabilities -- to find nearby events or restaurants, for example -- as well as the ability to check the show agenda or a personalized schedule.
 
Additionally, Cvent has boosted social media and marketing integration for the platform. For instance, after registering for an event, future attendees are prompted to share details with their social networks. Facebook comment boxes and "Like" links may be placed directly on the Cvent event website as well. And for marketing tie-ins, automatic updating for Salesforce.com and eMarketing e-mail campaigns have been added.
 
Cvent also makes survey tools, and in a separate announcement yesterday reported that the surveys were now more flexible and could be responded to via mobile devices and in a variety of different languages.
 
Generally speaking, these aren't particularly flashy or overly complex enhancements, but they're important and they speak to the kind of functionality we will soon require of all meetings-management tools. Based on the number of iPads I saw at the recent PCMA Convening Leaders meeting, we're all aware of how important mobile-friendly websites are during an event. As for the pre- and post-event periods, the industry's overall commitment to mobile-friendly communication has been less consistent. To take one example, I've received several post-event and post-hotel-stay satisfaction survey follow-up e-mails in recent months, none of which linked to mobile-friendly sites. That means that the surveys which I would otherwise have completed on my iPad while waiting in airports probably went unanswered, buried among the wreckage of an overflowing, post-trip inbox when I got back to my desk. Cvent's enhancements should prove to be part of a trend in the right direction.

In this industry, we often work while on the road, and our success often relies on other people traveling. We have to make it easier for those travelers to work en route, too, and to acknowledge that they may want to register for our events or provide feedback about them while they're away from their desks.
 

Meetings technology provider StarCite will be acquired by tech supplier Active Network, the latter announced yesterday. Active Network provides a variety of event technology tools, including registration and community engagement platforms. The company has been enjoying a rising profile in the industry, particularly on the heels of its recently announced partnership with PCMA. Active is now sponsoring and supplying technology platforms for PCMA's events, including next week's Convening Leaders meeting in San Diego. If you've registered for that conference and used the online scheduling and social networking platform, you're familiar with Active's technology.
 
StarCite, of course, has been a major player in the meetings technology world for the last decade or so, and one of the driving forces behind streamlining the implementation of strategic meetings management. It wasn't a secret, however, that the company was seeking more outside investment.
 
Active Network will be launching a Business Solutions division in conjunction with the acquisition, of which StarCite will be a key component. Active will gain access to StarCite's global customer base, as well as its global supplier marketplace that includes partnerships with destinations, hotels and other venues. Active is touting the one-stop-shop benefits of the combined technology, calling it the "first ever, end-to-end global ecosystem for the events industry";  the company will offer an all-in-one solution for registration, strategic management and community engagement.

According to StarCite's site, no immediate changes are planned for the current lineup of StarCite products, but over time a broader and deeper range of solutions will be available as the integration progresses. StarCite points out in an online FAQ that current customers also will benefit from the added financial strength of Active, a publicly traded company with a proven track record for growth. As for layoffs, Active is "planning to leverage the talent and vision" of StarCite's staff, with organizational changes to be announced over the coming months.

I hope to get more details about the logistics and timeframe of the integration, as well as potential changes to personnel, next week at the PCMA show. I'll update you when I have more to share.

This week ON24 introduced Webcast Elite, an easy-to-use, do-it-yourself webcasting solution based on the company's Webcasting Platform 10. The new product, says ON24, now makes it possible for business customers to produce their own professional webcasts without relying on ON24 personnel. Webcast Elite is a software-as-a-service application, meaning there are no downloads or plug-ins -- everything can be run from a computer (or mobile device) with Internet access.
 
ON24's goal was to package all of the functionality of its full-fledged webcasting platform with the most straightforward of user-facing administrative tools. Feature highlights of Webcast Elite include customizable branding options in the user console, so that producers can promote their identities throughout the webcast; integrated social media and group collaboration interactive functionality; ROI-based analytics and reporting tools, and enterprise-level scalability.
 
In addition to the DIY ease-of-use lure, Webcast Elite is designed to be a more economical option, cutting webcast costs by about half. It's certainly more evidence of the trend I wrote about last summer, with respect to INXPO's VX platform. Purveyors of online meeting tools are trying to cut their labor costs and in turn lower their pricing, and put more control in the hands of their customers.
 
I haven't checked out the user console for Webcast Elite; when I demo'd INXPO's VX platform, though, I was enamored of the ease with which a customer could set up a virtual event. It's a nice idea, and I'd love to have similar control over webcasts.
 
But that control would likely come at a cost of time; putting together our own webcasts, for example, is time-consuming enough, content-wise, without also having production responsibilities. So this trend of DIY raises some important questions about staff responsibilities and time investment: How many companies already have planners or marketers dedicated to virtual event production? How many will likely need some if this do-it-yourself trend gains more traction? As easy as these tools might be, and as tempting as the lower costs and greater control are, will planners have the time and resources to make the most of the opportunity? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

On Nov. 3, Sabre Travel Network and Polycom announced their partnership in creating a global reservation system for videoconferencing. Through Sabre Virtual Meetings, as the system will be called, customers will be able to locate, reserve, and connect both public and corporate-owned high-definition videoconferencing and telepresence rooms. The product can be integrated with online booking tools or travel agency systems, allowing travel arrangers or travelers themselves to book such conferences in conjunction with or instead of a business trip.
 
Sabre is working closely with Polycom and its vast global network of videoconferencing sites to develop the platform, but Sabre Virtual Meetings won't be restricted to one supplier; it will be open to multiple telecom and videoconferencing technology providers. What's more, it is designed to be accessible through global distribution systems (not just Sabre), travel management companies, online booking tools and directly via the Internet.
 
I first heard about these plans at the Global Business Travel Association convention in August, during a session about what's working well in virtual meetings. The need for such a solution was raised, in fact, by a question from an audience member -- before Sabre's Jeremy Stubbs, who was presenting, even had a chance to hint this was coming. The question was, essentially, "Now that we've invested in these corporate videoconferencing solutions, how can we increase their use?" General consensus in the room was that access to booking and use of the videoconferencing sites was fairly limited, and many corporations hadn't been maximizing the technology's potential. The ability to link reservation capabilities to what employees were already using to book travel was sorely lacking. Even for intra-company systems, which needn't necessarily rely on public nor anyone else's videoconferencing sites, the infrastructure to check on room availability and reserve the space just wasn't there.
 
Sabre Virtual Meetings is designed to increase use of the corporate rooms -- and therefore a company's return on investment in the technology -- as well as use of public videoconferencing rooms that are being established at hotels and other sites around the globe. Companies that own their own rooms will be able to use the system to make the rooms available either on a strictly internal basis, to selected partners or to the general public. The platform is meant to be customizable according to customer needs.
 
The new tool could mean a significant boost to videoconferencing and telepresence use, as long as it's easy to use and actually works with all of the different technology and telecom vendors it aims to include. An effective and simple reservation platform, coupled with rising travel costs and continued economic uncertainty, could lead to small virtual meetings playing a far more important role at many companies. Sabre plans to roll out the virtual meetings system in the first half of 2012, through TMCs and directly with corporations.

There isn't a lot of security inherent in an iPhone or iPad to begin with, but bugs such as this one, uncovered yesterday by 9to5Mac.com, make the matter that much more disconcerting. Due to a bug in iOS 5 (and possibly in earlier versions, too), curious scoundrels can bypass the security passcode required to unlock an iPad 2 simply by opening and closing a Smart Cover in the right fashion. (The video describes exactly how that's done, if you're curious.) Now, if your iPad went to sleep on the home screen, prying eyes won't see much more than which apps you have installed. But if it slept while you were in the Mail app, for instance, the thief gets full access to your messages and accounts. Disabling Smart Cover unlocking in the settings can temporarily fix the flaw, reports 9to5Mac, and it's likely Apple will fix the problem quickly. Still, the bug begs the question of just what security precautions your company is taking with respect to these devices -- especially as we move, en masse, towards using tools like the iPad to manage events from the show floor.
 
Our own tech support at magazine HQ recommends that employees use the security passcodes, for starters. For any companies that use an Exchange server, mobile devices that access company e-mail can be wiped clean remotely; once reported lost, the IT department can erase all data on the device once someone powers it on. With the new iOS 5, that same functionality is available on Apple devices for free through iCloud -- which can also track the device's location before you decide to delete all data.
 
What other security measures do you take to protect your company's data, such as mobile security software packages? I'd be interested in hearing as much, as well as tales of mobile security problems you've had to tackle. How often do your colleagues lose their devices at conferences? I'd love to address some security tips in an upcoming article in M&C.