Saving Time & Improving the Bottom
WITH EVENT MANAGEMENT, CATERING AND RENTAL SOFTWARE
BY SHOSHANA LEON
As event professionals are enjoying the timesaving and moneysaving aspects of technology and the internet, they are also taking advantage of the benefits that computer software has to offer. There are a variety of software programs available for several areas of the events industry including rentals, catering and event management. All of these programs are designed to increase efficiency and save time, a scarce commodity for the busy event professional. With the events industry growing at a fast pace and embracing technology in record numbers, software is being used by many event businesses to streamline the various fragments of the event planning process.
One segment of the events industry that can greatly benefit from utilizing software is the party rental business. There are many software programs available to make the rental process more efficient with features such as inventory management and order processing. Arabesque Software & Consulting's Rental and Production Manager allows rental operations to check for instant availability, as well as tracking inventory and invoicing. "When event rental companies get to a certain size of staff, clients and inventory, they can no longer track everything by hand," says Anne LaCourt, owner of Arabesque Software & Consulting. "The only solution is to go to a computerized system to maximize use of inventory by immediately tracking orders, availability and cancellations."
Other rental programs include Party Track, a product designed specifically for the event rental industry, and SEC Sales Group's ReNTiT, which handles orders, quotes, invoices, inventory control and customized reports. Synergy International's newest product is the Visual Synergy Rental program that not only offers inventory tracking, but sales prospecting features and marketing reports. "The use of software facilitates better communication and offers the ability to find information quickly," says Chris Marsh, president of Synergy International.
Catering is another field that has a lot of software options to handle everything from room layouts to menu costing. Horizon Business Services' Caterease is a software program designed for a variety of operations from small catering companies and event planners to hotels and restaurants. "Caterease is a one-stop place to handle all aspects of catering from booking an event to staffing," says Caterease's Greg Kopriva. "Automating a business saves time and organizes the company, eliminating duplication and double booking. Once a company is automated, there is more time to generate more business."
In addition to offering Visual Synergy Rental for rental companies, Synergy International also has Visual Synergy 2000 with several features for on- and off-premise catering operations including sales and event management, recipe costing, inventory management and cost analysis. Visual Synergy Lite is a simplified version of Visual Synergy 2000 for those companies who don't require as many functions and features.
Culinary Software Services' ChefTec and ChefTec Plus feature an integrated system of recipe and menu costing, inventory control and nutritional analysis. From small caterers to major hotel chains such as Marriott, users can create menus, calculate food costs and even attach photographs to recipes. "As one of the last industries to embrace technology, the foodservice industry has taken a quantum leap in the computer era as hardware and software have become more affordable," says Alexandra Lynch of Culinary Software Services, whose newest products are ChefTec PDA and PDA Max, customized programs that are used with 3Com's Palm III for mobile inventory counts.
Efficient Frontiers' ReServe Interactive software manages event sales, dining reservations and club memberships for operations of all sizes from small catering businesses to stadiums and restaurant chains. "We offer more than a database program," says Lynn Carter, director of product development for Efficient Frontiers. "It's an interactive program that processes all information and generates business."
Many event management software programs were developed by planners who wanted to streamline the event planning process based on their own experiences. TimeSaver Software was created when company president Sandy Simon experienced difficulty with room layouts as a meeting planner. TimeSaver now offers two programs to help planners, hotels, facilities and caterers create room layouts. Room Viewer automatically sets up space based on data that the user inputs into a simple fill-in-the-blanks form. Event Sketch, used in conjunction with Visio, is a drawing tool utilized as a manual layout product. TimeSaver Software recently introduced a feature that allows planners and caterers to add buffet, catering, casino and audio visual shapes for the most accurate room layouts. In addition to these room layout programs, TimesSaver Software also has Golf Trend Analyzer, software which tracks golf scores and trends and can be used at golf tournaments or as a client gift.
Another product designed by an event professional who wanted to make running an event management business more efficient is Day to Day Event Manager, which handles all aspects of the event planning process from generating proposals and managing vendors to archiving menus, decor and entertainment. Another event management program is Certain Software's Event Planner Plus, designed to manage the many details involved in event planning with task scheduling, timelines, vendor quote comparisons and invitation and attendance lists.
The cost of these programs can range anywhere from less than $500 to tens of thousands of dollars for the most complex, multiple-user system, depending on the features desired and number of users. Most software companies offer training, maintenance programs, upgrades and technical support. "It's easy to justify the cost of automation," says Carter. "Software has a direct impact on a company's bottom line, saving time and eliminating many administrative tasks."
Software companies are constantly adding features to improve the efficiency of their programs and increase functionality. Many companies use feedback from their clients to make changes or improvements. "We listen to what our users want," says Lynch. "We create and implement features to reflect the working reality of professional caterers."
With the internet gaining popularity in the events industry at an overwhelming rate, most software companies agree that online software programs are the wave of the future. Companies such as Event411.com and PlanSoft currently offer housing and registration software through the internet. Wyntrac, an internet tool designed to plan and track meetings and events, offers web-based registration and hotel reservations for groups of 10 to 75,000.
Like other technological innovations, software saves time which ultimately results in more business. "Using software increases profitability," says Beth Goodell, director of marketing and strategic planning at Efficient Frontiers. "It allows companies to offer higher quality customer service by responding to customers faster."