American Express in the first quarter of 2006 plans to launch an electronic auction tool for corporate meetings negotiations to help customers comply with procurement policies and automate the bidding process, according to Amex executives in an exclusive interview with Meetings Today. The tool will be powered by Philadelphia-based meetings technology provider StarCite Inc.
“When we’re working with customers, we start by looking at their policies, and a lot of times companies have procurement policies that require them to automate or essentially e-auction certain contracts of certain sizes. Once companies specify that threshold, they will be able to have that bolted into the process that we perform for them,” said Jay Roseman, vice president of American Express Business Travel.
The tool will work like a typical electronic auction tool, but companies will be able to narrow bids to preferred suppliers and locations, Roseman said. A company sets predetermined qualifications on which meetings are put up for e-auction and suppliers that meet those qualifications would be able to offer a price and value-added services for that event, he said.

Posted: 12|6|05 at 9:14 am. Filed under: Auction News.