Leading venue owners have rethought their operations in the new post-pandemic world, driving demand for venue technology to an unprecedented high.
One venue manager with big plans is Louisa Kerr, Head of Sales and Marketing at Rosebery Venues in Scotland, which recently changed its venue management system.
She said: “Our old system was no longer fit for purpose or supporting our changing business requirements.
“With a growing portfolio of five star venues and a growing team we need to improve productivity, streamline the sales process and ensure the system can integrate with our accounting software. Also, with staff now working in a hybrid fashion, we need a cloud-based system which works remotely to our server and can be accessed from multiple devices.”
Emma Martin, Operations Manager at Salomons Estate in Kent echoed Louisa’s comments, saying; “We needed a cost-effective way of securing all our client databases and bookings and found that during Covid, we weren’t achieving this.
“Realising that our system was out of touch with the current demands of the hospitality industry, we decided it was time to invest in a more professional system to look after our client bookings. In addition, our working remotely need to be able to login wherever they are based.”
For Karen Davies of Penarth Pier Pavilion in South Wales, going digital became a must. She introduced a venue management system to deal with increasing demands for flexibility.
“I needed the booking system to be efficient, user friendly and with sufficient versatility to meet the needs of the business,” she said. The requirements for user-friendliness and efficiency were also cited by Louisa Kerr and Emma Martin as key criteria driving their change.
These trends were identified when NFS Technology analysed the reasons behind the significant increase in enquiries that the company has received this year for its Rendezvous Events venue management system.
Luis De Souza, CEO of NFS Technology, said: “As industry leaders, we understand that things are changing fast for our venue clients.
“Emma, Louisa and Karen are just a few of the many venue managers who have told us that their experience during and since the pandemic has proved a powerful catalyst to upgrade their venue technology.
“Many say the move to hybrid working initially created major difficulties for their teams in accessing booking and management systems remotely and shone a light on the limitations of their existing technology.
“Now they are now rectifying them with future proof systems – and because venue management systems have evolved rapidly to meet the shift in operational requirements, they are discovering benefits to their entire operations and customer service levels.”