75,000 employees, one effortless way to book events

At a glance

This company was running its M&E program through a legacy platform that required extensive training. Smaller events were falling outside the system entirely, leaving procurement with major blind spots.

Planned replaced the complexity with a simple booking experience backed by dedicated event specialists. Planners submit a brief. Planned handles sourcing, negotiation, and contracting. Policies, approvals, room blocks, payments, and reporting all run through one platform.

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"Planned's sourcing is fast and accurate. The team provides a better service, has more thought leadership, and is more innovative."

Global Senior Manager, Meetings & Events

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Challenge: A booking tool that got in the way

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Smaller, high-frequency events made up the bulk of the program. They didn't justify the Cvent learning curve and were organized outside the system entirely. Procurement had limited visibility into a large share of event spend and no consistent way to enforce policies or track performance.

The M&E team needed something planners would actually use for events of all sizes, without sacrificing the controls and reporting procurement required.

Solution: Specialist-led sourcing with built-in program controls

Planned integrated with the company's existing infrastructure. No full platform migration required. For events under $25k, planners submit a brief and Planned's event specialists take it from there: sourcing venues, negotiating rates, and finalizing contracts.

Policies and approval workflows are built into every event. Compliance happens by default. Hotel room block management runs through the platform too, tracking guest reservations and changes in real time to reduce admin work and help avoid attrition penalties.

All payments flow through Planned as a single vendor of record. The company pays Planned. Planned pays the suppliers. No new vendor onboarding per event, no chasing invoices, no reconciliation.

Procurement now has a single view of every event in the program, with real-time reporting on spend, compliance, and supplier performance.

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Results

33 hours average time saved per event

14% saved on small meetings

400+ unique suppliers sourced per year

The biggest time savings came from the tasks planners used to do manually. Supplier negotiation alone accounts for 35% of hours saved. Proposal management and supplier outreach make up another 51%.

With Planned in place, the M&E team went from scattered processes and low adoption to a single, unified program. Planners use one tool for events of all sizes. Procurement has real-time visibility into every booking, every dollar, and every supplier.

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