Kielce Trade Fairs has an area of 90,000m2 of exhibition space, and the events it organizes are of international scale. Every year, more than 276,000 visitors from nearly 60 countries visit their events. And, as a part of the organized trade shows and exhibitions, the company serves nearly 7 thousand companies - exhibitors every year.

The company's offer includes not only exhibition trade shows, but also the possibility of arranging large conferences and congresses as well as small business meetings.

The most modern exhibition pavilion in Poland of an area of 5 355 m2, provides a possibility to organize congresses and events for even 4500 participants at a time. With the extensive infrastructure, the company offers services at the highest level. 
 

Challenges of growing organizations

The growing number of processes combined with a lack of digital tools can hinder the operations of an organization by increasing the number of custom inquiries, high personalization of products and services, and data processing tasks. Manually processed documents can accumulate and it becomes increasingly difficult to find the one you are looking for. All this makes the risk of making mistakes grow and the execution of daily duties becomes more demanding every day.

Kielce Trade Fairs (Targi Kielce S.A.), the second largest organizer of trade shows and exhibitions in Central and Eastern Europe, faced similar problems. They serve more than a quarter of a million participants from nearly 60 countries and about 7 thousand  exhibitors year after year.

The employees faced a huge complexity in the interconnected processes, which were to be carried out mainly in a manual manner. An enormous amount of tasks to do - transmission of information, coordination, and implementation of tasks for individual teams (delivery of equipment, arrangement of stands, catering, maintenance of cleanliness and many others), cooperation with partners and exhibitors, or the service of visitors during the events are just a few of them. For example, the process of ordering services by exhibitors involved filling in a paper form, often as long as several dozen pages. It was very difficult for the company to manage the documentation due to the high scale of organized events and the large number of exhibitors.

All such actions required a huge amount of time and money.
Moreover, manual work involved the risk of errors and misunderstandings. The company also lacked flexibility, their previous management method required huge preparations. Everything had to be carefully planned and refined in advance, and even a small change in a task caused numerous complications.

The increasing complexity of processes and the desire to provide services of even higher quality made it necessary to improve the processes of cooperation, communication, organization of tasks, and broadly understood customer service.
 

It was necessary to implement a digitization in order to build a competitive advantage and strengthen the company’s capabilities internationally.

The Client was in need of an integrated, digital environment that would respond to numerous needs and requirements, and combined the internal structure of the company with external services. Digitization of processes made it possible to implement automation in many areas of the company's operations.

Kielce Trade Fairs - The New Reality

The result of the cooperation between the Kielce Trade Fairs and Ideo Software is the full digitization of the company. The process has improved its functioning, allowed for the reduction of fixed costs, and positively impacted cooperation with partners and customers.

Currently, most of the tasks are performed online. They are available to other process participants in real time providing a huge saving of time, and a reduction of risk of errors and mistakes. In the specifics of the client's work, it is the real-time communication that is the basis for cooperation between various teams preparing an event.

Each group - visitors, exhibitors, or partners, received their own space, which is connected to the Customer's module. In this way, we have implemented an advanced system to handle the entire process. Starting from the preparation stage of the event, through its comprehensive organization and service, and ending with collecting feedback and settling.

Both the high abilities of Ideo Software’s experts and experience of the Customer’s employees resulted in the implementation of an extensive IT system which improved Customers' daily work and reduced the ongoing costs.

On the one hand, there were numerous experts of the Kielce Trade Fairs with extensive experience in the event industry, who know the specificity of functioning through and through, and observe all trends and technological innovations in this industry. And on the other, Ideo Software implementation and advisory team with specialist knowledge and experience in the field of digitization and implementation of complex IT systems.

Efficient and proactive teamwork based on mutual trust and respect, and focusing on the development of the best solutions for online work became the grounds for achieving the intended goals.

Its main effect is a well-functioning IT infrastructure, which has modified how the Kielce Trade Fairs operates. Currently, most tasks are performed online, which is extremely time-saving, and the risk of errors and mistakes is reduced. Real-time communication is the basis for cooperation between various teams which are to prepare an event.

The visitors, exhibitors, and partners were given their own web space which is strictly connected with Client infrastructure. As a result, we have created an advanced system to manage the entire process starting from the event preparation stage, through its comprehensive organization and service, and ending with collecting feedback and settling.

"Our main goal was to create an integrated IT environment that will respond to the numerous needs and requirements of the event industry and cleverly combine the internal structure of the company with external services. Ideo Software has guaranteed us these elements, at the same time meeting all our needs and requirements."

Thanks to the implementation of a new IT ecosystem, which consists of numerous applications, external and internal communication of the company has become more effective, and customer service more efficient.

Main Benefits for the Client

• Working online gives you more control over processes. Real-time data updates, as well as a log of tasks performed in the system, allow the client to react more efficiently to changes.
   
• The partner portal and an interconnected CRM improved cooperation with the contractors. The document workflow has been optimized and the decision making process shortened. The new CRM system has resulted in increased work performance and, as a consequence, financial savings.
   
• The web page is the central information point of the Kielce Trade Fairs. An intuitive offer presentation and a set of marketing tools to promote events.
   
• Centralization of communication channels. The implemented tools guarantee a smooth and seamless communication process between the company's various employees.
   
• Expanded contact details. An element that facilitates work is the ease of searching databases. The flexible search engine allows you to use any characteristics assigned to a contact.
   
• Optimization of indirect communication. CRM allows assigning responsibility for a specific task to individual employees. This feature has marginalized email communication, which has been completely replaced by CRM processes.
   
• Technological stability. The information system adapts relatively easily to dynamic changes in the company. In a situation of increased demand for additional services, it can be efficiently expanded with new modules. The system grows with the company and supports it in every aspect of development.

Key figures of the project

Since its launch, the system served to:

• 22 000 tasks generated,
• 210 000 contractors,
• 2 328 active exhibitors accounts and 694 co-exhibitors,
• 40 639 registered Visitors,
• 1 327 reservations.

TargiKielce.pl information portal

The portal intuitively shows the company's offer and provides many marketing tools supporting the promotion of trade events. The Client has the opportunity to build separate websites as part of the organized events. Each of them is created in the chosen graphic template with ready-made functions.

If the event is international, the translation module processes the structure of the pages and the relationships between them and displays the content in the selected language version. The scale of the project can be seen in the content migration, which is over 17 thousand pages and news.

The portal handles approximately 150 dedicated event pages per edition

Within the portal, there are three spaces that are dedicated to visitors, exhibitors, and partners. As a result, a representative of each group will find interesting information. These are also places in which every potential Client is able to, among others, place orders quickly and automatically, and the processes (submission to implementation, state of work, information on the performance of the task) are provided in real-time.

With such work organization, individual teams organizing the trade shows can immediately respond to new orders or changes.

Functionalities implemented in the project:

• Exhibition program – a module containing a trade show planner and the possibility of creating lists of speakers.
   
• List of exhibitors – module integrated in the trade show planner and the plan of exhibition and arena. The client has the possibility to define the exhibitors' business cards and display them on a list and on a map.
   
• Exhibition and area plan – it bases on the import of svg maps into the CMS panel and is connected with the list of exhibitors.
   
• Multimedia – multimedia sets for a given event.
   
• User accounts – the module to register on a given event page as a visitor or journalist.
   
• Dedicated forms – the Client is able to create special registration forms and service order forms for exhibitors.
   
• The 3D stand designer allows exhibitors to design their own exhibition stand. One is able to determine the dimensions and add individual elements of the stand, including the entire structure and equipment.
   
• B2B meetings calendar – is a tool for communication managed by exhibitors, who have, among others, an option to share a view with visitors.
   
• Notice board – a panel with notices visible to visitors on the website.
   

Exhibitor Portal

It is a place in which exhibitors can, above all, order and configure services. There are all elements of the offer of the Kielce Trade Fairs and their partners related to their presence at a trade show. Exhibitors are able to arrange all formalities for ordering and purchasing services online. The automation makes this environment very user-friendly.

It is worth emphasizing that before that, the ordering of services related to stands or resources was performed manually, on a paper form, which often contained numerous pages. Such forms our Client received from each exhibitor, and depending on the event, their number reached several hundred or, during the largest trade shows, even several thousand.

The solution, which eliminated numerous problems and inconveniences, is an interactive service ordering form - the main module of the Exhibitor's Portal. It eliminated the need to print order documents.

The exhibitor's portal is a place in which one is able to intuitively and quickly order all the offered services from a single page. The form has also an option of ordering services (e.g. accommodation or catering) from partners of Kielce Trade Fairs.

Partners have their either own or individual accounts, in which they determine the availability of resources, e.g. the number of rooms. All of the information is updated regularly. In this case, it is also possible to integrate the partner's system directly so that the data will be updated in real-time.

3D Stand creator

An important element of the process of service ordering is the possibility to design and visualize the stand with the use of an intuitive interactive configurator. An exhibitor can use the already-existing templates or design their stand individually. The creator is in an interactive form, and the progress of work is updated in real-time.

A great advantage of this tool is the possibility to use the library of stand components. It greatly facilitates the work of the teams preparing the exhibition stands, and for the exhibitors, it is an attractive and practical option that allows for designing the exhibition stand precisely.

There is also a tendering module that provides an option of negotiating services and the possibility to create personalized identifier templates.

A great help is the Helpdesk which has significantly improved the organization of work in the company. With it, exhibitors can during an event report any faults or demand for additional service, e.g. cleaning service. The request is automatically forwarded to relevant teams and smoothly performed by them.
 

Visitor zone

It is a place in which one is able to see business cards of trade shows, catalogues of companies, or schedule a meeting with an exhibitor. It is also here that one can apply for journalistic accreditation.

There is also a mobile application on which one can, among others, check a place in which they are currently, e.g. a parking space, or a given stand. Visitors are able to create lists of their favorite stands.

Thanks to the function of location, they are able to plan the path of visiting the event, and even if they get lost, the application will show them the way, e.g. to the car, or to a given stand.

Partner portal and CRM

The integration of these two greatly facilitates cooperation and management of events. With the CRM system, employees manage most of the processes of customer service. For example, they add a trade show event, contracts, set prices, resources, manage exhibitors' orders for both the services of the Kielce Trade Fairs and partners – e.g. hotel services, catering, rooms, etc.

On the partner's website, Partners (hotels, restaurants, etc.) manage service inquiries, conclude agreements with the Kielce Trade Fairs, and settle orders. Everything is carried out directly in the system, and the changes are up-to-date. It not only speeds up the execution of orders, but also eliminates the risk of confusion.

In CRM there is a financial section for workflow of the document related to contracts, external orders, or invoices. This is the place for employees to manage the infrastructure of the event and perform the ordered services. From this level, one manages the ordered stands, their development plans, documentation, and there is also a possibility of assigning the team responsible for the performance of the stand.

Another important element is the creation of a task map module by the project department. There is the work plan, e.g. for builders. The "stand details" tab contains the services to be performed and the persons assigned to them. With the possibility to select the status, one checks the progress of task execution. To facilitate their work, the companies have access to the mobile application in which any changes made are visible in real-time.

A right solution, which is also included in the CRM system, is the calendar of events and reservations. This tool controls the reservations of conference rooms. The changes made to the calendar are being updated on an ongoing basis. This is a response, among others, to the lack of flexibility resulting from the "manual" managing of trade show events.

CRM has a modern reporting system based on Power Pivot. It allows for importing and editing data from many different sources, which can additionally be combined. One can freely customize, export, group, and filter the report information.

In addition to the rich content of modules in the system, there is an option to print (in 2 languages) informations such:

• Offers,
• Orders,
• Demands,
• Outsourcing.

which are immediately generated and have an automatic currency conversion function.

The CRM module is used by many employees, so for the purpose of greater control of the performed actions, each change in the system is saved in detail. It can be verified in the history of changes, reaching information such as the date, area, type of modification, and the person responsible for a given task.

The CRM system, with its modular design, provides the possibility of further development with additional functionalities. The user-friendly interface provides the possibility of easy management of documents, processes, and services.