Tickets.com Realizes 65 Percent Increase in Efficiency, Optimizes Ticket Use with InviteManager
InviteManager has revolutionized our internal ticket management andhasmeasurably saved us time and effort. The reports give Tickets.commanagement insight into how our tickets and suites are being used, thereby enabling us to maximize the value of these assets.
Tami Fox
Senior Analyst, Sales & Business Development, Tickets.com
Tickets.com is a leading provider of event ticketing solutions that enable professional sports teams, multi-purpose arenas and performing arts organizations to control their ticketing operations. Through its advanced ProVenue ticketing platform, the company helps enhance ticket sales,marketing efforts, and the overall customer experience for thousands of top arts, entertainment, and sports organizations worldwide. A wholly-owned subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media, LP since 2005, Tickets.com is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has regional offices across the U.S. and around the world. The company also sells tickets directly to consumers through its website at
www.tickets.com.
This method required manual input of the company’s massive ticket assets, back and forth emails for requests and approvals, and manual distribution of tickets. In addition, there was no process in place to keep track of how tickets and suites were being used – even those that came with additional perks, such as food, beverages and parking.
“With tens o f thousands o f tickets t o manage internally -- spanning multiple sports leagues and overlapping seasons, plus myriad concerts and other live events -- we needed a n automated, transparent and efficient ticket management solution for our internal use,” said Tami Fox, senior analyst, sales & business development at Tickets.com.
SITUATION
Tickets.com is a leading provider of event ticketing solutions that enable professional sports teams, multi-purpose arenas and performing arts organizations to control their ticketing operations. Through its advanced ProVenue® ticketing platform, the company helps enhance Through its client relationships, Tickets.com holds millions of dollars in ticket and suite assets for its own use, which the company uses to support business development initiatives, entertain clients, reward employees, and give to charity.
BENEFITS OF
INVITEMANAGER
- Reduce Wasted Tickets Helps reduce unused ticket and suite assets with effective usage tracking
- Increases Administration Efficiency Saves administrative time and money with automated ticket uploading, requests, approval and distribution
- Maximize ROI Helps ensure that companies allocate their tickets and suites to the right people for the right business reasons
- Identifies Proper Tax Deductions Ensures compliance with company policy and IRS and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements by accurately tracking tickets and suites used for entertainment and charitable giving
CHALLENGE
Prior to using InviteManager, Tickets.com managed its corporate ticket inventory with a combination of spreadsheets, email communication and a proprietary ticket reservation tool.
InviteManager also provides secure, real-time access to business impactreports that measure ticket inventory, top users, most invited companies, and ticket utilization. “The reports give Tickets.com management insightintohowour tickets and suites are being used, thereby enabling us to maximize the value of these assets,"
Tami Fox
Senior Analyst, Sales & Business Development, Tickets.com
SITUATION
InviteManager isa Tickets.com preferredprovider, meaning that Tickets.com recommends the SaaSticket management application toits own clients. “Wehave a policy ofvalidating and recommending only best-of- breed providers toourclients,”said Fox. “Throughthe validation process, werealized wecould use InviteManagertomanageour internal tickets as well.”
Cloud delivery ofthe ticket management software eliminated anyneed for Tickets.com toinvest inadditional hardware, orhandle software installation, set up or maintenance. After switching to InviteManager, Tickets.com beganenjoying theease ofautomated uploading ofits vast ticket inventory, which includes tens ofthousands of season andsingle-event tickets andsuites.
Using InviteManager, Tickets.com managementandemployees are able toview ticket availability onthe Internet andmake requests through the system.
The company nowtracks ticket requests, approvals, denials, invitees, attendees andthe business purpose ofinvitations through the InviteManagerapplication. Ticket requests are centralized, enabling allocation oftickets andsuites according tothe intended business use andpriority. For example,iftickets andsuites for weekend events are still available onWednesday, employees can request them for personal use through InviteManager afterthey have been allocated for high priority purposes such asclient andprospect entertaining.
InviteManager also provides secure, real-timeaccess tobusiness impact reports that measure ticket inventory, top users, most invited companies, andticket utilization. “Thereports give Tickets.com management insight into howour tickets andsuites are being used, thereby enabling ustomaximize the value ofthese assets,”Fox said.
RESULTS
“InviteManager has revolutionized our internalticket management and has measurably saved us time and effort,” said Fox. Coincidentally, the number of tickets and suites owned by Tickets. com has nearly tripled since before InviteManagerwas implemented. “We had a difficult timehandling the volume of tickets we used to manage. But with the number of assets we now manage, it would have been a full-time job. We couldn’t havedone it without InviteManager,” said Fox. Sheestimates that in the first year of using InviteManager,Tickets.com realized a 65 percentimprovement inefficiency managing tickets and suites.
With tens of thousands of tickets in various markets, some markets hotter than others, Tickets.comalso has a better insight into internal demand andutilization of tickets and suites by market, team, venue, etc. “In our hottest markets, forexample, we have up to 97 percent utilization of our tickets and suites,” Fox stated. With reports thatbreak down percentage of internal ticket and suite use, InviteManager provides Tickets.com managementwith a clear picture of the value of these assets.
“Our tickets and suites represent a huge asset,but before using InviteManager, we didn’t knowtheirvalue to our organization. With InviteManager, we’reable to use our tickets and suites more effectively to maximize their value and enhance our position in the industry,” concludedFox.