Venue Management Software: Why You Need It NOW

Hey, you. Yeah, you, the venue manager with the desk covered in sticky notes and the Excel spreadsheet pulled up on your computer. The one who has to switch from system to system to get information or communicate with stakeholders. It’s time to make a change and take a look at venue management software.

Welcome to the 21^st Century, where technology can make your life so much easier, even in the world of live music. On average, event managers who use software save 223 hours each year compared to those still attached to their legacy system. That’s more than nine whole days. That’s almost 28 eight-hour workdays you could get back if you had a better system.

On top of that, event marketing and event automation software is ranked as the number one technology for successful events. Why are you wasting your time looking for what you need and manually entering data when you could focus your energy on more important (and frankly, more fun) things?

Let’s look at your options here, because in light of what’s been happening in the live music industry, we all need a little help.

Why It’s Time to Start Using Venue Management Software 

We’re gonna take a wild guess and say that you didn’t get into the music industry for the paperwork. You love music, everything about it. But how’s the management side of things for you?

We all have our opinions on the Beatles vs. the Stones, but we can probably agree that live music events are so much better when everything goes smoothly. Too many people shy away from implementing new software because they think the learning curve will be too steep or that the system will be too expensive to purchase and maintain. 

The truth is that the right event management software will enable you to do more for less time, money, and effort. 

Modernize Your Operations 

Bring your system into the modern world by retiring your legacy system or various legacy systems. According to Bizzabo, companies that use multiple event software solutions have two times more problems demonstrating event ROI than companies that use one integrated software. 

Additionally, cloud-based technology makes it possible for you to log essential details or complete bookings when you’re out of the office, which you likely are quite a bit. No one wants to be tied to their desks to accomplish tasks.

No matter how you measure the success of an event, management software enables you to check your stats across all aspects of an event, from audience attendance to revenue generated and everything else that falls in between.

Ditch the Manual Tasks

Instead of inserting numbers into a spreadsheet or writing everything out on paper, you can use venue management software to compile your data automatically. Automated reports save you a ton of time while ensuring accuracy. Additionally, venue management software makes quick work of generating statements by week, month, quarter, or year.

Streamline your booking process by using templates within your consolidated platform. Music venue employees spend between one to four hours every day on booking and ticketing alone. Save your employees’ time and make your work days more productive.

A centralized platform makes sure you have all the information you need at any given moment and that nothing gets lost. When you get rid of all of the obsolete processes and systems in favor of technology, you can accomplish more in a shorter amount of time.

What to Look for in a Venue Management Software 

There’s a lot of venue management software on the market, but let’s start by agreeing that managing a live music event is different from managing just about any other event. If you’re a venue specializing in live music, you need management software that has all of the necessary capabilities for the industry. 

Your management software should have features that: 

• Improve your booking processes – such as a centralized dashboard with easy-to-navigate production details for every event, the ability to assign tasks and deadlines to your team members, and flexible permissions to monitor who has access to specific data
• Track your expenses in real-time – so you catch reimbursable expenses and stay on top of estimated, reported, and actual numbers
• Keep your events organized – with a calendar that enables drag-and-drop, one-click, and other features for simple navigation
• Easily integrate with other applications – so you can still use the systems you and your clients know and love
•  Make things easier for your clients – when you’re on top of your game, your customers will be more at ease and want to work with you more often

Finding the Best Venue Management Software

Now that you know why you need venue management software and the features you should look for in a solution, it’s time to figure out cost. Yes, this has a cost to it, but it’s more of an investment into your business. When you have the right tools, you can increase efficiency and productivity, accuracy and reliability, and customer service. All of those improvements have benefits that hit your bottom line immediately or eventually.

The question then becomes, how much is it costing you not to have venue management software? How much more business could you book if you could be more organized and have everything you need in one place, accessible from any device at any time? How many more clients and partners could you impress when you are more responsive and timely in your payments, for example?

Prism offers top-of-the-line venue management software because it was developed specifically for music venue owners by music venue owners. We developed our software to make your life easier, and we could go on and on about how awesome Prism is, but we’d rather show you.

Schedule a free demo so you can see how easy it is to use our venue management software. We’ll show you how to increase your entire team’s productivity, so you can spend more time booking stellar shows.