"The economies-of-scale advantage that newly merged and acquired companies are going to have is going to force smaller and midsize companies to compete more aggressively. Keep your eyes on what happens in the hotel and meetings/events technology space. Mergers and consolidation in those areas will have both positive and negative impacts for corporations, associations, planners and the supplier community."

--My Top Trend Predictions for 2017, Kevin Iwamoto, senior consultant, GoldSpring Consulting

The merger of Cvent and Lanyon, the two largest technology-solution companies in the meetings and events industry, has generated considerable industry-wide dialogue and speculation as to what's next for the newly combined entity — and what other viable options are available.

Technological innovations for meetings and events and the rise of strategic meetings management (SMM) solutions over the past few years have changed the landscape of what’s relevant, strategic, and capable of scaling to client needs and demands. The next generation of technology solutions has matured, marked by an ability to capture event data and meetings-logistics information to support corporate duty-of-care programs, as well as implement key strategic integrations with corporate enterprise software and marketing-technology partners.

During a contract-renewal situation with Cvent-Lanyon, or when shopping for a new solution, preferring to evaluate a smaller-is-better supplier strategy, this comparison report of Cendyn Metron, etouches, and Lenos – the top three competitors to Cvent-Lanyon – will provide enough information to bypass a request for information (RFI) to shortlisted technology-solution providers. These three companies were examined based on brand recognition, clientele, marketplace coverage and a “must-have” solutions baseline that stacks up against what Cvent-Lanyon currently provides.

Northstar Meetings Group Content Solutions was commissioned to produce this report for etouches. It was researched and authored independently by GoldSpring Consulting for Northstar Meeting Group Content Solutions.