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SOCIAL
ECO
SYSTEM
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sxc.hu/photo/624291, by: pr3vje
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TREND IMPLEMENTATION RONALD VAN DEN HOFF (CDEF HOLDING)
During the realization of our concept Seats2meet.com,
our focus was not to simply create a good product. Our
stakeholders we thought consciously or subcon-
sciously want an active role in co-creating a new product.
But if you do not have customers yet, and the product as
such has never seen before on the market, how to
proceed? Our goal was clear: a new service for the Dutch
market for organising meetings, that would t in the
current era and also serve as a basis for future suc-
cesses. It all started in 2007 in a shopping mall in
Maarssenbroek. In all tranquillity we opened a pilot plant
there and invited a number of good customers to test our
formula for one year. Initially we mainly focused on the
physical, transactional part of the organisation. But
gradually we took the 'social' route. For me, that was
what it was really about. Of course, our basic philosophy
was in order: we were already a vision-driven organisa-
tion, where 'responsibility' and 'transparency' are
paramount. But that was still in the old world.
The search for new connections in this new world
together with all our stakeholders, was a challenge.
These connections now run through social media. We
THE

FUTURE
ORGANISATION
NOW
Seats2Meet is a conference centre that is set up
according to the principles of an Organisation 3.0.
And that makes a prot that is three times as high
as that of conventional conference centres.
SEATS 2 MEET
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make full use of existing social software. With Mindz.com
we also have introduced our own software. We call it a
social ecosystem. Almost all of our social activities are
run through Mindz.com.
Cream of the Crop
If we look at what Chris Anderson refers to as the 'long
tail' of the 'demand for conference space', we see that
most of the business is generated by major parties with a
high booking volume at our traditional meeting centre
Meeting Plaza Utrecht. We know their purchasing
departments and we make annual price and volume
arrangements with them. This gives a degree of revenue
certainty. That will be at the expense of price, because all
our fellow providers deal with the same segment of this
market. The bookers of these organisations are profes-
sional and knowledgeable. The whole process of doing
business is therefore very efcient. And in line with the
20-80 rule: 20 percent of the Meeting Plaza customers
generate 80 percent of sales. The same goes for our
competitors.
In this fragmented market, we see more and more of my
beloved Independent Professionals (IP's). They book
conference chairs for themselves, but increasingly also
for third parties, including the larger conventional
players: the IP's receive an increasing number of
assignments from the 'old' segment. This increases the
number of bookers, but decreases the revenue per
booking and leads to a higher business risk. Uninteresting
business? Not at all; this is precisely the opportunity for
Seats2meet.com. With the new formula Seats2meet.com
and the social network Mindz.com we effectively focus on
the 'long tail' of conferences in the Dutch market.
All those small, individual bookers are connected to their
networks, which are in turn connected to other networks.
WORKING MEETING CONNECTING
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Many smaller customers by themselves generate a
fragmentary turnover. The overall value of these
small-volume customers, however, is enormous.
Our corporate story and our message is spread by our
business community. In Seats2meet.com people book
thousands of meeting rooms. And through Mindz.com
more than 60,000 IPs generate positive buzz and
constantly book rooms. They give us their business,
because they also get a lot from us: a free workplaces,
free lunch and free collaboration software. 95 percent of
the site Seats2Meet consists of 'socially generated
information', information that the market nds more
reliable than information provided by a company itself.
That also is for free. So I can do more with less money. I
get more exposure and bookings with less effort. Our
'classic' protability, according to a benchmark study, is
three times higher than that of traditional companies,
and then we arent even including the social capital.
Only three FTEs work at each Seats2Meet location, where
traditionally at least fteen FTEs are needed. I no longer
check our communication efforts and content. This takes
some getting used to, but I dont need to manage, drive,
train, administer, pay and meet with all those people any
more. We don't have sales, marketing, public relations or
reservations departments. We do not need printed
matter, brochures, information folders and such.
To each their own seats
The number of Seats2Meet locations is also rapidly
increasing. In the spring of 2011, there are 'descendants'
in Lelystad, Eindhoven, Breda, Tilburg, Amersfoort,
Amsterdam, Utrecht and Maarssen. We provide inter-
ested entrepreneurs and businesses with knowledge,
both in digital form and in monthly test-ups. They are
more than welcome to train with us to experience
everything we do (and are free to freely to copy us!)
Our business advice is free. Of course, they themselves
invest in arranging their location. They can use our
Seats2meet.com software for free. Only when their S2M
operator earns money by renting chairs, will we modestly
share in the prots. Do not be surprised if within ve
years, dozens of railway stations will have S2M sites. Or
the regional ofces of Rabobank. Sometimes we copy
part of our formula. For 'exible workspaces' and the
'new world of work' movement, for instance, which are
possible everywhere, as long as there's a chair, a desk
and an Internet connection. So for government buildings
we offer our Seats2share.com program ofcials can work
at any public location. For companies who like people
from the outside outsiders, afliated with their company
or not, to work with them, we offer the Seats2work.com
formula. A lot of countries are interested, from Estonia,
Brazil, and India to China.
Grown by staying open
Ultimately, we are, to put it in an old fashioned way, an
SME-organisation with a business-to-business image. In
2010 we have70 FTEs and a turnover of more than eight
million euros. Our solvability is more than 40%, so even
in these times of crisis I can sleep well at night.
Our entire organisation is suffused with social media. We
are transparent and try to communicate personally with
all stakeholders. We think in terms of abundance, we give
a lot away and will continue to do so. We share all our
knowledge. We offer many newcomers, IP's, entrepre-
neurs, innovators and do-gooders a platform, both
physical and virtual. We learn every day. We believe in
sustainability. Our whole social media strategy has
become a kind of ecosystem in which its employees and
all other stakeholders fully participate.
In classical nancial terminology this is an incredibly
cheap and very effective, but above all fun way of doing
business. Not just to do business with money, but above
all to do business with fun new people who have
boundless energy, creativity and the natural tendency to
'share'. The energy and innovation ow. Every day is a
party!
RONALD VAN DEN HOFF
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www.cdefholding.nl
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INCREDIBLY
CHEAP
AND VERY
EFFECTIVE
DO BUSINESS WITH FUN NEW PEOPLE
WHO HAVE BOUNDLESS ENERGY,
CREATIVITY AND THE NATURAL TENDENCY
TO 'SHARE'. THE ENERGY AND INNOVATION
FLOW.
EVERY DAY IS A PARTY!
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