Management Events acquires 100% of Business Connection

17.9.2009

Now CIOs across Northern Europe will get help in finding the right suppliers

Meeting pioneer Management Events, operating in six countries including Sweden, has acquired 100% of the Swedish Business Connection that helps organizations find and meet the right suppliers for their upcoming IT-investments. As a result of the acquisition Business Connection has strengthened its position on the Swedish market and will have further possibilities for an international expansion of its innovative business concept.

Effective and exclusive business meetings between an IT buyer and carefully selected suppliers is a business-model on the move. This is clear since the international meeting pioneer Management Events, with operations in six countries - Finland, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden – has acquired 100% of the Swedish consultancy company Business Connection.

– Ten years ago Management Events arranged gigantic exhibitions with 10 000 visitors. Five years ago we abandoned exhibitions for summits with 1 000 visitors. Today we offer for example IndustryForums and 600Minutes events that are gathering 60-200 people. Business Connection has also taken a step from larger forums to exclusive business meetings and in this merger we see good possibilities in learning from the experience and competence of each other, says Olli Muurainen, the founder and chairman of Management Events.

In the business model of Business Connection, the first phase is clearly defining the IT-buyers’ need within a particular IT-investment area. The next phase evolves around researching which supplier solutions that matches the needs in the best way. Thereafter the suppliers are qualified to a meeting day with the IT-buyer in question. Each project demands thorough preparations and is divided into three basic and reliable process steps: Research, Qualification and Meeting Day, RQM. In average Business Connection spends between 6-8 weeks working on each project.

Business Connection has since 2003, with the help of its process-based methodology, initiated and carried out 130 qualified business meetings between IT-buyers and the suppliers of the market. Now Management Events wants to contribute with time, resources and means to further strengthen the position of Business Connection in Sweden as well as opening up for an international expansion of the business model.

– Considering that Management Events already have offices in six countries, I see large possibilities to export the business model of Business Connection to these, says Olli Muurainen. The two companies will however be managed as two separate units. With this acquisition we are creating an unparalleled Business Meeting Competence House in Sweden and the rest of the Nordics, Muurainen summarizes.