Places of worship are turning to technology to host more events

Priava’s on-line diary system and built-in CRM is an ideal platform to centralise all the information we need in one place

Priava, the leading cloud-based venue management software company, has announced that it is seeing an increased demand from churches, cathedrals and other religious organisations who are looking for technology to help optimise the revenues they can earn from hiring out their impressive buildings and spaces for events.

EMEA Head of Sales at Priava, Mike Jeanes commented, “The UK and Ireland is home to some of the World’s most iconic and architecturally wonderful cathedrals, churches and other clerical real estate that regularly host, not just their own services, but other private events such as weddings or even acting as a film set.

However, like many other venues, religious organisations are having to become more commercially minded when it comes to maximising the level of income they can raise from their unique assets that range from the main nave through to meeting rooms or a crypt. With many places of worship boasting impressive audio visual capabilities and other facilities, they are extremely desirable spaces to host a wide range of events and conferences and this provides opportunities to boost revenue outside of their standard operations.”

Using cloud-based venue and event management technology, places of worship can automate many of the tasks associated with booking and delivering events. As a result they can increase the volume and complexity of events they are able to hold, and at the same time increase funds towards the running and upkeep of buildings and for the overall benefit of their own congregations and communities.

Two well-known places of worship that have recently chosen to implement Priava include Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin and St. Andrew Holborn Church in London.

Susanne Reid, Head of Tourism and Events at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, commented, “The reason we chose Priava was to provide our events team with a professional system that could save substantial time and enable us to more efficiently manage the Cathedral’s increasingly busy diary, from booking spaces for clerical meetings through to hosting a wide range of events such as lunchtime recitals or evening concerts.

Priava’s on-line diary system and built-in CRM is an ideal platform to centralise all the information we need in one place, so we can easily communicate exactly what is going on to all the key stakeholders within the Cathedral. We also liked the fact that Priava was cloud-based as it would give us a solution that would be continually updated in the future.”

The benefits that cloud-based venue and event management technology deliver to religious organisations

Some of the key benefits of implementing Priava include:
• Maximise occupancy of spaces for events leading to additional income generation that can be reinvested to support maintenance of buildings and other services

• Smoother and easier booking and managing of religious and secular events delivers an enhanced experience for congregation/guests and saves time for personnel

• Centralised system provides greater clarity for clergy to see what is going on through access to a shared on-line calendar

• Enables places of worship to diversify the type of events to include private functions such as weddings, corporate meetings, parties, filming et al

• Saves time on administration of events so clergy can focus on core duties

• Online enquiries - Integrated online calendar and easy-to-use enquiry form means that it is easier to capture all enquiries that are recorded straight into the system

• Real-time availability at a glance - Manage multiple venues/spaces and high volume of events at the same time and maximise occupancy levels with access to real-time availability

• Repeat & reoccurring bookings - Save time and manage repeat bookings and create and edit reoccurring events with ease e.g. services/masses, prayer times, educational tours, community outreach programs, special events and celebrations etc.

• Moving from manual to automated system enables support for higher volume of events

• All Health & Safety information can be recorded centrally and attached to individual event sheets

• Reduced dependence on IT resources - No need to depend on the resources of in-house IT staff, as all updates are carried out remotely and made available to all users simultaneously

• Customise reports & booking templates - The easy-to-use report designer enables administrators to create simple and effective booking forms and contracts etc.

About Priava’s Technology

Priava is a cloud-based and centralised event management & booking system aimed at venues of all sizes – from meeting rooms through to large stadia. With its familiar and easy-to-use web interface, the software requires minimal training, yet its powerful functionality provides all the complexities involved with multi-venue availability, including event logistics, CRM, sales & marketing, catering, business intelligence, equipment and resource requirements. Unlike other systems, all Priava customers are always on the same version of the software, so venues can always access the latest features and enjoy the benefits of being part of a global community of users.

Offered in the cloud as a service, Priava enables venue managers to arrange and plan future venue availability and review both customer history and ongoing operational trends in real time. The results are to boost the customer experience whilst maximising the venue’s overall efficiency, number of bookings and revenues.

Key modules that form part of Priava’s software include; an easy-to-use CRM system that allows users to add & edit contact, organisation and opportunity records with ease, Events & Bookings which combines the ability to access a sophisticated venue chart together with the ability to find, add & edit event bookings, Online Calendar & Enquiries which has been developed to boost efficiency for organisations that manage venues that need to be booked on a self-service basis such as internal meeting rooms or external facilities that are in high demand (e.g. sporting facilities, community halls etc.) Catering & Inventory allow users to attach food, beverages, resources and equipment to quotes and event bookings with advanced reporting on profits and losses as well as the ability to link to accounting packages, Advanced Permissions which enables administrators to control the information that users have access to, and Priava’s REST API which allows Priava to sync information with 3rd party systems.

Cloud software is being rapidly adopted by the venue and event management industry who demand fast, reliable and secure access to key information, at any time and from anywhere.

With minimal training, the Priava cloud platform enables venue managers to work on multiple events at the same time, rapidly locate any event, contact or account record, manage calendars, and review confirmed events. Using the standards-based REST API, Priava’s system can also be easily and quickly integrated with other complementary third party systems such as accounts or marketing.

About Priava
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Priava is the World’s leading cloud-based venue management software company that specialises in delivering venue and event management solutions using the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business model to a wide portfolio of niche markets in the venue and events sector. With additional presence in London, New York and Christchurch, the company supports a diverse range of venues across the globe from single venues through to 100+ multi-site operations.

For further information, visit: www.priava.com

Press Contact:
Jane Moores
TTA Communications
jane.moores@ttacomms.co.uk
T: +44 1225 580214
M: +44 7966 176028