Mention the word ‘migration’ to anyone in the ticketing industry, and it’s more than likely you will send a shiver down their spine.
Migration is not something that many venues, sports clubs or organisations look forward to, with this upheaval often causing issues with their ticketing system. It is critical for the ticketing company and venue to work together to ensure as little downtime or delays as possible, so as not to impact the end customer.
This was a major focus during a recent migration project involving SecuTix and Lancashire County Cricket Club (LCCC), which this year played host to the Ticketing Business Forum at its Emirates Old Trafford home stadium.
Richard Hilton, head of customer success at SecuTix, UK, spoke openly about the challenges that both parties encountered during the migration process, but also of the advantages of switching to a more modern system.
“The amount of data we had to handle was a challenge in itself,” Hilton said in a presentation at the Ticketing Business Forum. “We had over 20 years’ worth of data and had to find how to get this out of the old system and into the new.
“We had to do a lot of work to get us ready for the first day. It is critical that the fans do not notice too much change on the ticketing platform, with the exception of the nice, new features they can enjoy.
“After all, fans like what they are used to as they know how it works.”
David Hornby, managing director UK and Ireland at SecuTix, takes up the story, explaining that the depth of ticketing knowledge within the senior management team at LCCC helped the transition to the new ticketing system go smoother.
Hornby said: “What is interesting about this partnership is that the LCCC has a number of senior staff with excellent understanding of the ticketing market, which makes it much easier for us.
“Daniel Gidney, chief executive, joined the LCCC from a ticketing background, while sales and marketing director Justin Hopwood also understands ticketing and demand generation. In addition, Jonathan Nuttall, head of cricket sales, is a strong operator and understands ticketing.
“If you align these three things together, that then becomes a great customer for us to work with.”
Image: Gareth Owens
