CONVIEN Outlook Addin

Inside Microsoft Outlook, a calendar add-in from Convien helps the person arranging a meeting choose where it should take place. The add-in, called the Meeting Place Finder, is designed to reduce the carbon footprint of meetings during the planning stage, which the company says can fall by as much as 40 per cent per event. Because it sits in the calendar, planning, invitations and scheduling happen in the same place where the organiser already works.

Choosing the venue from attendee origins

The organiser enters the departure locations of attendees and the dates or time slots under consideration. The add-in then calculates the most suitable meeting location by weighing travel time and carbon output for each potential city between all attendees. The company says the result is a comparison of options before any travel is booked.

Scheduling and attendee updates

Within the calendar, the organiser can invite attendees, schedule the meeting and send messages to them in a few clicks. Real-time updates let every participant see changes as they happen, which the company says creates full transparency across the group. The add-in therefore supports the administrative side of a meeting as well as the choice of location.

Cost savings and travel policy

The company says an organiser can see potential savings before committing to a venue, with cost comparisons that run across a large number of airlines and hotels. It presents the add-in as a way to keep meetings within a company's travel policy. Where the organiser then moves on to book, the online booking engine provides flights and accommodation.

Web platform and wider analysis

The Outlook add-in is one part of a wider system. The web platform is browser-based and can be integrated into a company's IT setup. It supports travel and hotel cost analysis, analysis of parallel trade fairs, and the use of large sets of travel-related data points to test meeting options against the company's own guidelines.