India’s meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry is growing rapidly. With the market projected to expand from $319 million to $840 million by the end of the decade, large trade fairs, conferences and exhibitions are becoming bigger and more frequent. Yet behind the growth lies a challenge that many organisers continue to grapple with: fragmented event operations.

Despite advances in event technology, many large-format events still rely on multiple vendors, spreadsheets and messaging groups to coordinate thousands of moving parts. Industry experts argue that the issue is less about a lack of technology and more about the absence of clearly defined processes.

“The mistake the industry keeps making is trying to buy event technology before it has defined its processes,” says Sarvesh Kumar, founder of Eventstrat. “Event technology is not a substitute for operational clarity; it is a multiplier of it.”

The situation mirrors the evolution of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in enterprise sales. CRM platforms became effective only after businesses standardised processes, defined sales stages and created accountability structures. Event management, industry observers say, has yet to undergo a similar transformation.

According to Kumar, successful event operations require three layers: process definition, experience delivery and AI-driven technology. Without clearly defining responsibilities, deliverables and accountability, even sophisticated tools such as chatbots, matchmaking platforms and analytics dashboards struggle to deliver meaningful outcomes.

The approach has been tested at several large-scale events. At the UP International Trade Show 2025, the platform claims to have facilitated more than 31,000 meetings, while at AAHAR 2026—one of Asia’s largest food and hospitality trade fairs with over 1.55 lakh visitors and 1,800 exhibitors—it enabled thousands of business meetings and handled significant attendee engagement through digital tools.

As India’s events industry scales, the debate is increasingly shifting from which technology to adopt to how organisers structure their operations. The industry’s ambition is clear. The bigger question is whether the processes supporting that growth can keep pace.

For many event professionals, defining workflows and accountability before investing in technology may prove to be the missing piece of the puzzle.