Bryan Sumner
In recent years, box office software is becoming increasingly sophisticated, with many more companies offering software systems, including more alternatives, more features and more cost options. Consequently for an organisation considering adopting a web-based ticketing solution, it has become a lot more difficult to determine which system to choose.
For most organisations, several of the most important issues are expense of the system, ease of installation and setup, ease of use, any supplementary hardware necessities in addition to the provision of good customer service. It goes without saying every organisation will also have its individual set of explicit requirements on top of these fundamental considerations, so you should firstly draw up a list of requirements that you consider necessary, and then proceed to evaluate separate box office ticketing systems on these criteria. But let’s have a look at some of the most typical considerations.
Cost of the System
Generally speaking, there are two options – either acquire software outright, or else sign a licensing or usage contract with a company providing a completely hosted service. In the former you’d purchase the computer software outright and install it on your system. If however you are desiring to sell tickets via the internet, you’d probably be required to enroll in an additional service, since selling tickets on the web calls for a dedicated server to handle the ticket selection and payment to be available 24/7. On the other hand, with a fully hosted system, the ticketing software company maintains all the software system so the ticket selection and payment processing is executed on the software provider’s servers. The venue operator is generally given a password and log in to access the system, typically through a Web interface.
The benefit of buying software outright needless to say is that it is a once only charge, even though there could be further expenditure for upgrades or maintenance contracts. But for sophisticated ticketing systems, the cost of purchasing software is usually very high, and for many medium to smaller sized organisations who nevertheless require a sophisticated system, the alternative model of a hosted system is probably the best alternative. In this instance, the ticketing software company will ordinarily charge for the service on a per ticket basis on the value of all tickets sold through the system.
Ease of setting up and implementation
Any new ticket sales software system will require a learning period, so ideally the system should have an interface that’s consistent with a normal Windows or Mac interface or menu structure to make it easier for all operators. It must also be undemanding to install and configure. A lot of systems nowadays make use of a Web interface which enables an operator anyplace in the world to access the system and to sell tickets as necessary. Ideally, it should not be necessary to have on-site training, however in that situation it needs to be possible to coach users of the system via internet chat or instructional videos.
Features & options
Most up-to-date ticketing software will include a bunch of different features, many of which may never be required by the average venue operator. Ideally it is best if you have the ability to shut down needless features, in an effort to simplify the system for end users. And it at a later period you have use for those features, then you should have the ability to turn the features back on.
Hardware requirements
Assuming you have a relatively up-to-the-minute computer and up-to-date operating system, by and large no hardware upgrades ought to be necessary to operate ticketing software. But if the system is Web-based, you will need a fast Online connection. The only other crucial hardware requisite is a means of printing tickets. Even though thermal ticket printers are undoubtedly the most convenient choice given that they can print solitary tickets on demand, they tend to be comparatively expensive and may be outside the budget of small organisations who may sell only a few thousand tickets per year or fewer. Fortunately however, some ticketing software systems will permit tickets to be printed with a regular inkjet or laser printer. Bar-code scanners may also be necessary for venue operators who are selling general admission tickets and have permitted PDF tickets to be printed online, as this is the only practical way to ensure the legitimacy of such tickets.
Reports
You should be able to access a wide range of financial, admission, transaction and customer related reports on demand which ought to be either viewable on screen or printed for later analysis. You should have the ability to rapidly look up any ticket that is sold, to determine who bought the ticket, the ticket seller, the date of the transaction and the price paid as a minimum requirement.
Customer Database
With a high-quality customer database, you should have the chance to categorise your customers, to record substitute addresses, to easily remove or merge duplicate entries, to check the transaction history of any patron and to send out e-mails or print address labels for your customers directly from your database.
Customer service and support
With any ticketing software system, you should expect swift and helpful support and customer service. Whilst such type of support on a 24/7 basis may perhaps be impractical for many ticketing companies, any service shouldn’t be restricted to e-mailed customer support tickets but you should be able to speak to qualified support personnel. You must also expect detailed instruction manuals to be supplied and ideally web based support manuals with searchable capability.
Comparing ticketing systems
The best way to evaluate a ticketing system is to get a demonstration version of the software program. Ideally the software should be a full functioning version with possibly just a few features disabled. You should be able to carry out some test administrative functions to grasp how the fundamental setting up and ticket selling process works. In case you are unable to obtain a demonstration version, then at the very minimum you should be able to see screen images of the main features. You shouldn’t be required to sign up for any system on a long-term basis unless you have the ability to cancel the agreement if you discover that the system is not meeting your requirements or doesn’t live up to its marketed claims or your expectations. It is also useful to check out other organisations who are using the system that you’re considering by visiting Web pages that use the system and proceeding as far as possible with the test ticket purchase without actually purchasing the ticket. Then you can get a good idea of the ticket purchasing procedure from a customer’s viewpoint.
Choosing a new ticketing system can seem like a rather overwhelming task, but if you limit your appraisal to the basic requirements referred to above as well as any individual needs, it will hopefully make the task somewhat easier.
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Tags: ticketing software
Posted in Theatre · July 22nd, 2010 · Comments (0)
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Posted in Theatre · July 3rd, 2010 · Comments (0)