StarCite, Inc., the leading provider of Web-based solutions to strategically manage corporate meetings and events, today announced that the company set a new record for client expansions during the second quarter of 2009, driven by the growth of strategic meetings management programs by current customers to increase global savings and control over their meetings investment.  StarCite also added to its roster several new marquee clients including a Fortune 500 financial institution, a leader in higher education and a global eye care manufacturer.

With its continually expanding client base, StarCite broke the 10 million mark for attendee registrations and the four million mark for total meeting electronic request for proposals (eRFPs) processed since the company’s inception in 1999.  After reaching one million RFPs in 2006, it took StarCite just three years to quadruple its RFP volume.

 

“We selected StarCite because they are the gold standard in meetings technology,” said Louann Cashill, Meeting Services Manager at Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. in Torrance, California.  “The breadth and depth of supplier participants in their Marketplace is unsurpassed and their platform will allow us to reduce costs and use our resources more efficiently, helping us to maintain a robust meetings program.”

 

“StarCite provides the only meetings technology solution combined with strategic meetings management consulting that fully addresses the needs of global organizations. Our account management team is the most experienced in the industry and knows how to help drive value for our clients,” said Elizabeth McNulty, StarCite’s senior vice president of global account management.

 

“StarCite has been an indispensable partner for growing our meetings and events business,” said, Michael Beardsley, vice president of global sales, North America, Accor Hospitality.  “While the sheer volume of potential business flowing through StarCite’s platform is extraordinary, even more impressive from our point of view is the quality of the RFPs they deliver.  StarCite brings real meetings business to our doorstep – period – and they do it in a very cost-effective and efficient manner.”

 

This year also marks the first time the number of non-U.S. hotels and suppliers participating in the StarCite Marketplace has exceeded the number of domestic participants, underscoring the rapid international expansion and adoption of the StarCite strategic meetings management model.

 

“Our achievements in 2009 show how companies are using the downturn as an opportunity to realize new levels of savings and control over their meetings spend,” said Greg Dukat, StarCite’s chief executive officer.  “Companies are turning to our technology and services so they can manage meetings like they manage other large spend categories – providing visibility, control and savings in an area that is historically unmanaged.  Perhaps most gratifying is that more current customers have expanded their SMM programs with us than ever before.

 

“In addition, because so many of the world’s biggest companies now use StarCite, our hotel and supplier partners rely on us to deliver real business – strong leads that they can convert directly into growing sales,” Dukat continued.  “The suppliers in the StarCite Marketplace will be the direct beneficiaries of our growth as our RFP volume continues to expand and the quality of the leads we deliver becomes even richer.”