OVG360 has been in partnership with VenuePro since April 2023, and one of the first venues to onboard the VenuePro platform was Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center in West Virginia.
Originally built in 1958 the Charleston campus includes a 13,500 seat Coliseum, a newly renovated 100,000 net sq. ft. Convention Center, a 3,483 seat Municipal Auditorium and a 738-seat Theater. Between them these spaces host hundreds of events every year including concerts, family shows, sporting events, conventions, corporate events and exhibitions.
The onboarding of the VenuePro platform was led by Charleston Coliseum Assistant General Manager Andrew Thompson, who has also been instrumental in ensuring the seamless roll-out across other venues, working closely with the VenuePro team.
We recently interviewed Andrew to discuss his experience so far, how his venue is using VenuePro and the benefits the team have seen and expect to see in the future.
1) How long have you been using VenuePro and how’s it been so far?
We’ve been using VenuePro since March of this year (2023) and the overall experience has been very positive. The VenuePro team have been responsive to any requests we’ve had and have been supportive when we’ve needed any assistance. They have worked closely with us to ensure a seamless onboarding process, which made the transition hassle free.
The platform itself is comprehensive and robust with a diverse range of modules, which allows us to manage our complete operation across our broad scope of different event types.
2) What VenuePro modules are you currently using?
From the 21 modules that make up the VenuePro platform, the ones we are currently using are Event Scheduling, Event Planning Wizard, Facilities Management, Compliance Management and Incident Management.
The Event Scheduling and Planning Wizard allows us to easily create and plan events in detail, thereby providing stakeholders and departments with all the information they need, including deliverables and timelines. The platform provides us with transparent data to see our progress at any point in time, under the different verticals.
The Facilities Management module allows us to quickly raise, assign and track maintenance tickets in real time to in-house staff or external agencies to speed up repairs and reduce downtime.
Compliance Management provides us complete control of compliance for day to day operations. With this module we can create checklists and schedules to ensure tasks are tracked and completed, which previously was a manual or paper based process.
And finally Incident Management which gives us the ability to effectively respond to any medical or non-medical incident in real time, assign to an individual or team, continually track, and monitor, while maintaining the entire lifecycle of the incident.
What is impressive is that all the modules are connected, so if there is a non-compliance or an incident that requires a ticket to be raised, it can be done from the corresponding module itself and the updates are reflected in real time.
3) What benefits have you seen to date from using VenuePro?
One of the main benefits of VenuePro is that it’s a single solution with everything we need to operate effectively in one place. It negates the need to use multiple different products which don’t communicate with each other and the cumulative cost savings we would achieve.
It’s allowing us to move away from paper based records and spreadsheets to completely digitize our operation, allowing those who need it, access to real time information. This is benefiting us now, but will also be extremely useful in the future allowing us access historical data, reports and analytics.
We are able to work more efficiently by automating and streamlining processes by standardizing our operations. Plus, it has significantly improved how we communicate and collaborate across departments as a team.
4) What additional benefits do you envisage going forward?
Going forward, and as we use more of the VenuePro modules, it will drive more efficiencies and productivity as an organization. We will also see the benefits that would be garnered from the analysis of data and intelligence that will develop over time.
And as more and more of the OVG360 managed buildings come onboard, we can already envision how this will be hugely beneficial in terms of data sharing across the estate which will help to ensure best practices are applied and knowledge is shared more widely, which will enable better and more informed decision making going forward.
Ultimately, VenuePro will provide us with a distinct competitive advantage, allowing us to streamline much of our operation and help us improve our profitability and return on investment.
5) What modules are you looking to onboard in the near future?
Now that we’ve embedded the VenuePro technology, we are looking at utilizing additional modules and ideally the entire suite of features and functionalities.
These modules include PEAPs, which will ensure complete compliance against a range of pre event checks; Risk analysis and assessment; Inventory management; Lost & Found; Asset management checks and Finance management for straightforward accounts payables, receivables and cash flow management.
VenuePro is currently undertaking a programme of onboarding across all OVG360 managed buildings, so that the whole organization can start to benefit from improved operational efficiency, better ways of working, improved collaboration and better ROI.
To find out more visit www.venuepro.co
