Charlie,

 

 

Thanks for passing our info along to your producing director!  Let me know if any questions come up.  I'd be more than happy to call or email whom ever. 

 

Like I said before I totally understand wanting to get away from Wintix.  That was really the driving force for developing our system.  Our box office used Wintix and over a period of time just grew increasingly more frustrated with the program and their support. 

 

About 5 years ago I started developing the Ticketjunior system and then here we are today helping liberate other box offices from their frustration with Wintix.  If we end up working together you'll be the fourth former Wintix users that's converted.

 

Again I'm here to help if needed.

 

 

Its understandable that your PD would want to just "buy/own" a different software package.  Most people first think about simply replacing the broken item with a similar item before they start creatively pondering is there a different or a better way to accomplish this task. 

 

Here's a few of my thoughts and theories about the purpose of a box office, performing arts groups and why software as a service in a lot of cases is a better choice than buy software in a box.

 

Its my opinion that most performing arts groups spend an enormous amount of time, energy and money on preparing for and performing the show.  Selling tickets on the other hand for most groups is either an after thought, a painful must or a challenge. 

 

The box office of most groups is the most under funded department.  The cast, the crew, the audio and lighting people get all the attention (money too) and the box office gets whatever is left over which is usually next to nothing.  And granted some groups are far better at getting the correct balance than other groups.  The groups as a whole though has 2 main goals.  The first is to put on a good show and the second is to get people to come see the show.  Again most groups are far better at accomplishing the first goal than the second and you almost never see groups packing out the house for a sorry show. 

 

Here's my solution.  Keep doing what you do best ... the performing part and let us join your group to specifically help your box office team (or your 1 person as the case maybe).  The Ticketjunior team is here not only to provide a great solution but we're here to help you sell more tickets.  We want people to show up and see your great show just as much as you want to perform your great show. 

 

Software as a Service.  This is not a brand new concept but its definitely an emerging concept.  Most people are very comfortable with buying a box with a CD in it and installing it on their computer (their friend's computer, their mom's computer and even in some cases sharing it with the world...but that's a whole other topic).  At the end of the day though really you just want to use the software.  Owning the software, installing the software, backup files the software creates, troubleshooting problems, maintaining, getting patches, updates and the latest release are all just the things you have to do with the software outside of just using it.  

 

Software as a service gives you the advantage to just use the software, to use it as much as you want, from where you want, when you want and to use the latest version of the software.  The other advantage is that the software comes with a team to ensure its reliability and availability.  Software from a box has a team too but the major player on that team is YOU.  Most of the time you can also talk to the team behind the box but you'll of course need to pay them to get on the phone with you and if your problem happens to have been "fixed" in a newer version then their solution will be for you to purchase the newer version.  Software in a box has its places and it won't be going a way for a while.  Software as a service also has its place and I think we're going to see a lot more of this in the very near future. 

 

Software as a service also has a different pricing structure.  We can't just say here's the price have a great life like software in a box.  We've got to price the software and service in away that allows us provide the software and services on a perpetual and on going bases.  Therefore our idea is move the cost of the software to end user and make the charge as small as possible.  They've already made up their mind to come to show, the price of the ticket is suppose to be covering the cost of the production plus profit so why not let them pay for total cost of the show including the cost to sell them tickets.  The problem with this concept in the ticketing industries is that certain competitors have abused this concept.  They not only passed along a reasonable fee to cover the cost of the software but they've decided to gouge the customer.  They've back them into a corner and their forcing them to pay nothing close to a reasonable service charge.  It would be our goal to re-educate the ticket buyer that our fees should be looked at like a shipping fee or a small tax.  No one leaves a meal or walks aways after buying something and says "good lord those local taxes are just outrageous".  They don't say that because the fee is reasonable and in line with their expectations.

 

Software as a service I personally believe fits very well for groups selling event tickets to community or regional events.  Most groups could greatly benefit from using a software product that just works and from a team that's willing, ready and able to help them sell more tickets.

 

That's my counter.  Hopefully that will give you and your PD some food for thought.  And when you see the light you can break free of Wintix and software in a box all at the same time!

 

I'm here to help if you need me.