ts.com

ts.com showcases new technology for the events industry

ts.com showcased exciting new capabilities to hundreds of clients and prospects at the Showman's Show in October. The company, which is renowned for its award-winning online booking system ticketingsolutions, demonstrated the latest innovations in web-based technology with its SMS ticketing and Fully Managed ticketing services.

This summer the company piloted its new SMS ticketing service during an exciting home game win for client Salford City Reds Rugby Club. After booking a ticket online, fans received a match ticket on their mobile handset, which included a 2-d matrix barcode containing data unique to the ticket holder and event. Tickets were sent to all phone types and were also scanned and verified from all phones at stadium access control points to allow the ticket holder entry to the ground. The mobile ticket also acted as a promotional voucher entitling the customer to a free burger or beer.

The new SMS ticketing technology has exciting potential for the events industry, and could offer paid or unpaid pre-registration functionality in addition to conventional ticket selling. Kiosks can be positioned at multiple locations to scan mobile tickets, and with over 50 million phones in use in the UK, this new form of ticketing is likely to be widely embraced by the public. Offering a streamlined purchase and delivery experience for the customer, it also has the added advantage of reducing queue times at festivals, events and exhibitions.

ts.com’s second new service was also welcomed at the Show, having been specifically designed for those events and attractions looking to outsource the management of their ticket sales. The ticketingsolutions Fully Managed Ticketing Service is ideal for those with limited manpower or those wanting to focus on other aspects of event management as it covers all aspects of ticketing.

Event pre-registration, and call centre, venue and web sales are all included in the new service along with the actual ticket printing and fulfilment. ts.com can even handle on-the-day ticket sales management along with all aspects of security, hosting, and reporting, and can also provide a full marketing consultancy service.

The National Trust and Badminton Horse Trials are just two of ts.com’s clients who have taken advantage of the cost-effective and easy-to-use system. Alice Ogilvie, Events Manager of The National Trust explains, “Each of our regions operates independently. ticketingsolutions gives us the flexibility to accommodate all those regional differences. They [the regions] can sell online, via the telephone, which they can operate themselves or outsource to a third party, or they can use a combination…. It has brought us unsolicited praise from our customers and gives us the ability to collect and utilise extremely useful customer data. It has been a great success all round.”

The flexibility and convenience of ticketingsolutions has also been welcomed by Badminton Horse Trials, as Box Office Manager Carol Alexander says, “Selling all our inventory via one system whether by phone, internet or mail order and having real-time card payment processing reduces time and the headaches of managing allocations and provides the convenience that our customers demand”.

ts.com’s Managing Director, Matthew Hare, commented on the launch of the two new services, “we are delighted to be piloting SMS ticketing and to bring our ticketingsolutions enhancements to the market. Not only are we consistently working at the forefront of ticketing technology, we are also committed to utilising our web-based technology to provide the events industry with effective solutions to help drive their revenues and profitability.”