Roger Tomlinson gives sound advice to anyone about to embark on the process of selecting a new system
• Don’t assume all systems do the same things – they don’t
• Do specify very clearly all the ways you sell and relate to customers, especially discounts, sales promotions, membership and Friends schemes, subscriptions and packages, oh, and fees
• Don’t specify criteria which only your present system can do, and in a fixed way: think about outcomes and what you want a task to achieve, so that different solutions could meet your needs
• Do prioritise your criteria – is something Essential (you won’t buy without it) or Desirable (it would make a big difference if included) or Useful (not relevant to your current choice but could be helpful)
• Don’t believe what sales people say to you – make sure you see what you want: WYSIWYG
• Do check through carefully exactly how (the process) systems handle various tasks: count the clicks, check it is easy for operators, make sure the data you want is captured, repeat on-line
• Don’t accept work-arounds without seeing exactly what this involves; the devil is in the detail
• Do query promises of new features “in the next version” – can they describe exactly what they are going to deliver, and when?
• Don’t accept reporting and extractions without double checking exactly what is provided: reporting tools can be crucial in whether a system gives you the analysis and marketing outputs you want
• Do make clear your interfacing requirements to other systems – which systems do you want to interface with what, on what basis? Single Log-Ins? Website registration into the ticketing system? E-marketing? Vital Statistics?
Roger Tomlinson is a Senior Consultant with Baker Richards and an Associate of ACT Consultant Services. He is also an independent consultant and runs The Ticketing Institute.