SHELTON, Conn. — BPA Worldwide, a global assurance provider of media, technology, events and sustainability standards compliance, announced the acquisition of VSef, the global data format for the digital events industry.
“A lack of a standardized data format causes inefficiency, incomparability, and increases the risk of error,” BPA Worldwide President and CEO Rich Murphy said. “The rapid rise of digital events during the pandemic brought a surge of new digital event solution providers, each applying their own definitions and data formats. It is very challenging to operate, communicate and compare data across multiple solutions. That friction will inhibit growth, and it drove the need to create an industry standard.”
VSef launched in early 2021 in response to the rise in digital event platforms and virtual events due to the pandemic. Leading event organizers and platforms, including Informa Markets, Tarsus Group, Emerald Exhibitions and Clarion Events, backed its goal of creating a global standardized data format for digital events early on. VSef also received support from strategic industry partners, including the Events industry Council, UFI and the Society of Independent Show Organizers.
BPA Worldwide also identified the lack of data standardization as an issue and launched the Reporting Standards for Digital Events initiative. During 2021, BPA Worldwide and VSef began collaborating on creating a single industry standard for digital events.
“BPA worked with the industry to create the Reporting Standards for Digital Events, which is a comprehensive initiative to create common definitions, criteria, and data formats,” Murphy said. “We worked with the VSef team to align the data elements wherever possible. There was strong cooperation between the two groups, and having one leadership team will allow us, and the industry, to move even faster.”
With so many events and organizers turning to digital while adapting to the restrictions caused by COVID, there was a need for – a singular way to collect and track data that was consistent across the plethora of technologies used for virtual events. Along with solving the problems caused by unstandardized data, there are future benefits to adopting an industry standard.
“The short-term gains will be improved operations, communication and data quality for the users. The longer-term benefits are endless, including creating new digital marketplaces built on high-quality, first-party data,” Murphy said.
“VSef has made great progress mobilizing and aligning the industry towards this common data format goal. BPA has the resources to build on this foundation and drive the industry forward faster,” Murphy said.
Reach Rich Murphy at (203) 447-2804 or rmurphy@bpaww.com
