Events Management System

Matsushita is a global electronic company that includes leading brands such as Panasonic and Technics.

Anyone involved in event management knows just how difficult it can be to make sure everything goes smoothly.  Hotel and conference venue bookings, fast changing delegate lists and guest accommodation all demand careful co-ordination and management.  One company facing these challenges regularly with corporate events is the leading consumer, business and industrial electronics company Matsushita Europe. 

Working with long-time partner Sopra Group, Matsushita developed a new web-based IT system to take the strain out of organising its regular pan-European conferences.  Best known for its Panasonic and Technics brands, Matsushita Europe holds large-scale conferences for its delegates and retailers on a regular basis.

Jeff Currall, Assistant General Manager, Matsushita Electric Europe explained "For instance, we held our Digital World and Club Convention conferences in Monaco.  These ran for five days and involved more than 1,000 delegates and dealers from over 20 countries.  In the past, with a manual system, handling the administration of such huge events was a real nightmare.  When delegates cancelled or were replaced at the last minute, it became incredibly hectic."

After working in a close partnership with the IT services and systems integration consultancy, Sopra Group, Matsushita has now applied a powerful new Oracle-based solution to the problem of planning its European events.  Sopra Group was involved in the project at an early stage.

Jeff went on to say "Our relationship with the company goes back years, and it's a very strong partnership.  Sopra Group has a good track record and we were happy to work with the company on this project, as it had developed our previous applications.  We decided to get them involved as quickly as possible and we were very pleased with the result."

"We decided it made more sense to introduce an IT system to do the work instead.  We originally looked at using an off-the-shelf package, but quickly realised that nothing suitable was available for a job such as this."

An added complication was the fact that the timescale for the project was incredibly tight – the system had to be up and running in just six weeks.  Sopra Group, with its high levels of competence in Oracle, built the online infrastructure to the database and the data capture.  The partnership arrangement also extended to the development needed for sales and manufacturing companies to input their delegate details into the system.  Matsushita sent these out, while Sopra Group wrote the software to process the details into the database, thus adding a personal touch to events with the new web-based solution.

The new Oracle solution replaces a manual system, and has brought dramatic improvements to the company's event management process.  Administration is now far easier, the possibility of error has been greatly reduced, and functionality increased.  Currall acknowledges that the partnership between the two companies on the project was both close and extremely productive.  Now the system is in place, Currall and his colleagues are extremely pleased with the results.  In return for their investment in the new IT infrastructure, they have obtained an easy-to-use, browser-based facility which is hugely scalable and can be accessed via any PC connected to the Internet.

Key Benefits

The new Event Management System - EMS for short - has proved to be a huge success as well as a testament to the partnership between the two companies.  Says Currall: "It makes us more efficient and means we can organise events much more easily."

"The main user benefit as far as we are concerned is that we now have easy access to the information we need.  Everything is held in a central database and we can immediately see which delegates have been invited and by whom."

"All along, the relationship with Sopra Group has worked well.  Because of the tight timescales, there was very little documentation – we just relied on seeing the deliverables at certain points.  We needed it working as soon as possible, and it all came together.  We'll certainly be using the company again."

Currall feels that the most important thing about the new IT system is that it makes life easier for staff and brings a human touch to the company's conferences.

"We were able to use it to record individual delegates' details and focus our hospitality on personalising the event, for instance, identifying vegetarian preferences, checking on the date of birth of delegates at the Monaco event, and sending a cake and champagne to those who were celebrating during the conferences.  We'd never have been able to do that under the old manual system."

The next version of the software was also developed by Matsushita and Sopra Group.  When completed, it added yet more functionality, such as giving companies attending conferences the ability to register their delegates directly over the Internet. "It also made the screens a little easier to use and navigate", explained Currall.