subject: How event software can integrate with your internal back office systems [print this page] How event software can integrate with your internal back office systems
By giving your event manager the capacity to integrate with your CRM solution can help ensure your data stays as accurate as possible, so all marketing efforts are as efficient and effective as they can be. The events industry is a hard market crack and event managers are starting to appreciate that the need to plan, manage and run events, as well as keeping up with this competitive event market, is becoming extremely tough.
To ensure you have a seamless business (and event) process, organisations need to ensure that all your internal business applications integrate seamlessly with each other. If you are an event manager then you understand that having clean data on your event and your delegates is imperative, but having the capability to inspect and examine this data from a single location is vital. Integrating your event system with your CRM and finance platforms means that all information that is related to whether your delegates have attended, or if payment and other activities are automatically sent to the CRM system from the event system. Consequently by ensuring you lessen the impact on your organisation and your businesses technological infrastructure you will ensure that you target your delegates simply and efficiently.
Selecting the Right Event Software Solution
As a business that manages events it is becoming more important that during the selection process of an event management software solution you select the system that has the capability to expand and adapt as your business grows and technology develops. Business applications such as CRM solutions, finance packages and HR solutions all include information that will need to be updated with every event you plan. The customer data on your CRM application will need to be updated with their most up to date activity, the finance system will need to process any payments and the HR solution will need to update employee records if the event involves staff attendance.
Through automation of this process the integration with your internal business systems will ensure you remove any mistakes and will make the process of informing other systems much more efficient. An all-inclusive event software solution will have a flexible technical architecture, allowing them to integrate with all your existing and future systems.
Integration into Back office applications
Planning an event requires information from all fractions of your business, from inviting the relevant attendees, to them confirming their attendance online, to receipt of payment; everything needs to be documented not only in the event system but also within the suitable internal systems. By integrating your online event software into your in-house business systems it will assure you advise critical and relevant statistics on all areas of the event, meaning event organisers can make improved strategic and financial decisions when setting up future events.
Some obvious benefits to event managers if they were to integrate their event management software and processes with their internal business model and infrastructure are:
Integrates with back office system for authentication on costs/discounts/prices etc and all delegate data
Creates a comprehensive event CRM system
All event data can be positioned, viewed and analysed from a single location
Minimise administration through automation of many event processes
immediate access to up to date event data
Full control over all aspects of your event
Ensures you have accurate, clean & up to date information on your delegates/customers
CRM
By integrating your event software with your in-house CRM you are able to manage customer/delegate data more powerfully. This means that the contact and company details, together with your event booking and attendance records would be pooled between the two systems. The CRM will account for event bookings and event modifications to be prepared directly from its own contacts records and allow the CRM user total control of customer event exchanges.
Finance
If your event is a paying event managing the finances behind this can be tricky. An event solution that is integrated into your business finance system will allow payment information and details to be passed, seamlessly between the two applications (and into your CRM solution if required). Invoices and credit notes relating to events can be produced and dispersed in either the event solution or in your in-house finance application, ensuring a seamless and secure payment journey for you and for your delegates.
Event managers are recognising that through the integration of their online event software into all their other back office systems, it can start to make their job a little easier as they are able to access vital and relevant statistics on all areas of the event, making it that much simpler for them to make improved strategic and financial decisions when managing prospective events.
