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#TBF20 Takeaway: The secret of a successful migration

Organisations looking to switch ticketing platforms should constantly re-evaluate their assumptions if they are to make decisions that will prove beneficial in both the short and long term.

That’s the view of Tim Parnin, president of digital at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, one of the US’s biggest tourist attractions with more than 800,000 visitors each year.

Parnin was speaking at this month’s TheTicketingBusiness Forum 2020 in a session in which he discussed the attraction’s recent migration to TixTrack’s Ticketure system. Speaking alongside Brian Stallings, TixTrack’s director of business development, the two looked at how their relationship developed and how the Cleveland, Ohio-based venue was assured they had selected the best option to suit their needs. Attendees can watch the session in full here.

‘Rock Hall’ was unhappy with its existing system, and Parnin – who runs the organisation’s digital team – was tasked with finding an alternative. The existing system was “deprecated, and wasn’t configurable or customisable,” but its hybrid nature as both CRM and ticketing platform was considered a benefit.

As Parnin looked at alternatives he realised that his initial assumptions about what was required needed to be reconsidered.

Parnin explained: “While I was looking to minimise IT sprawl I realised that the best solution was actually to pursue best-of-breed ticketing and best-of-breed CRM.

“We realised that ultimately it was a data project – originally we wanted to overhaul ticketing, but we really needed to get data set across the business. We needed to come up with a digital ecosystem where Salesforce was the hub and data could flow both ways in real time.”

Parnin ultimately opted for a new system that would use Salesforce as a hub, with TixTrack’s Ticketure as the state-of-the-art, cloud-based, future-proof ticketing system.

That decision was made in January 2020, with an initial plan to flick the switch on the Ticketure system perhaps in October. However, when Ohio went into lockdown in March, Parnin again realised that a better solution had opened up.

“Our staff was not distracted and the building was empty; what better time to make the change,” he said.

“Just to illustrate how smooth and intuitive the Ticketure system is, we signed the contract on May 1 and went live on June 15. It was an aggressive schedule but it was so smooth, with Brian and the Ticketure team driving the implementation.”

TixTrack — which is a partner of TheTicketingBusiness Forum 2020 — is a software house specialising in live entertainment ticketing, with a focus on mobile technologies and revenue optimisation. Its products include TixTrack Pro, Nliven and Ticketure, a modern API-based, mobile-first, timed-entry ticketing system for museums, galleries and visitor attractions. Its portfolio of high-profile clients include Cirque du Soleil, Disney, Feld Entertainment and MGM Resorts.

Save the date: TheTicketingBusiness Forum 2021 takes place between 21-23 June, 2021…