Box Office Software. Ticket Software. Ticket Printing.

Identity Theft: Is the Ticketing Industry Doing Enough to Prevent It?

Identity theft. For some, it’s the reason they won’t even consider purchasing tickets online or via their smartphone. For others, it’s something that only happens to other people. The truth lies somewhere in between.

According to Identitytheft.info, an estimated 15 million United States residents have their identities stolen each year with financial losses totaling somewhere around $50 billion. And, approximately 100 million Americans have their personal information placed at risk each year when government or corporate databases are lost or stolen. The best defense against identity theft is an educated consumer and a vigilant industry.

Extended Validation (EV) SSL is one important tool in protecting your customers’ personal credit card data. Essentially EV SLL assures customers that you are who you say you are (not an imposter posing as reputable business), and it is an important safeguard in the fight against phishing. With EV SSL, the customer’s web browser displays a green address bar when visiting a web site that has a valid EV SSL Certificate.

The second critical piece in ensuring your customers’ credit card information is safe is Payment Card Industry (PCI). PCI is an organization accredited by the credit card industry in order to help ensure credit card transactions are secure. I want to be perfectly clear upfront that Vendini is PCI level 1 compliant and EV SLL certified. Because we never store credit card information locally, a missing iPad or mobile device used at check-in would never compromise anyone’s credit card data.

Still, PCI compliance is critical whether you’re a customer or a retailer – bricks and mortar, online or mobile. The first thing everyone should know is that anyone who processes credit cards ― regardless of their size ― must be PCI compliant. This means all ticketing services must be PCI compliant if they are accepting credit cards.

The next thing you need to understand is that there are different levels of PCI compliance – from level 1, the most secure required for companies who do the largest number of transactions, to level 4 for smaller players. My recommendation is that everyone strives to be PCI level 1 compliant. Unfortunately, the cost involved means many providers simply accept lower compliance levels. Gartner research firm estimates that the average cost to become Level 1 compliant is $500,000 and it can take 1 to 2 years to complete.

Here’s why Vendini has chosen to take the additional cost and time to be PCI Level 1 compliant. Quite frankly, level 2 compliance is much less secure than level 1. Level 2 compliance means that a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) has NOT audited the ticketing company's network infrastructure. Level 2 compliance only asks that the ticketing company’s IT department sign a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) saying they "believe" they are compliant. At the end of the day, you are at risk unless Level 1 Compliance has been achieved by the ticketing company.

Service providers who are not PCI compliant at the level required based on the number of transactions they process may face heavy fines from the merchant banks -- $5,000 to $50,000 (or more) -- for non-compliance. Some card brands levy fines against merchants, up to $25,000 per month, until they obtain compliance. It is not unheard of for banks to close providers accounts if they are not compliant.

So when it comes to choosing your Ticketing platform it makes sense to investigate whether their vision of online data security lines up with yours and your patrons.

posted by Mark Guarnera Monday, March 5, 2012 @ 5:58 PM 0 Comments

FOUR Trends in Ticketing to Track 2012

2012 is starting off to be one of the most exciting years in ticketing to date as technology continues to evolve the fan experience and makes doing business easier and more profitable for the concert and sporting arenas and performing arts venues serving them. I’m also excited to mention Vendini will have some big announcements to make later this year around new technology that we are confident will make a huge positive impact for the ticket buying public. Around here, I’ve been thinking a lot about the trends and opportunities I see emerging in this fresh year and I’d like to share my predictions and encourage you to share your comments with me on how you think the year will shape up for the industry.

MOBILE, MOBILE and more MOBILE. I don’t think it’s possible to overestimate the influence mobile technology will have on ticketing in 2012 and the years that follow. Based on the growth in mobile Vendini has seen in the past year, by 2015 fifty percent of ticket sales will be mobile.
Mobile ticket sales will continue to change the face of ticketing as it allows virtual box offices to pop up anywhere and everywhere.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY SKYROCKETS. According to Moore’s law, technology doubles every 18 months. We probably haven’t even seen some the new cloud-based technologies we’ll be using by the end of 2012. Being on the cloud means we can make upgrades quickly, as often as we want, to all our customers and at very little cost. Obviously, the speed and flexibility that cloud-based systems offer will continue to significantly change the ticketing industry.

CUSTOMERS ADOPT DIGITAL TICKETING. I think 2012 will the year for digital ticketing to reach the tipping point. There will always be a few traditionalists who attach great sentimental value to their paper ticket stubs, but the majority of fans will be using their Smartphones instead soon. The benefits of lower costs for the venue and convenience to the customer outweigh the souvenir value of a paper ticket stub.

SOCIAL MEDIA TIE-INS APPROACH THEIR POTENTIAL. Finally in 2012, I think we’ll see social media reaching its true potential when it comes to ticketing. We know social media is there and we’ve learned how to use it. In 2012, watch for FaceBook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and others to play an important role in customer relationship management.

I’m looking forward to hearing what you think 2012 has in store for us.

/Mark

posted by Mark Tacchi Tuesday, February 28, 2012 @ 11:39 AM 0 Comments

2011: A Year Worth Bragging About for Vendini

2011 was definitely a good year for me and for Vendini. For one, 2011 was the year I joined Vendini. I wanted to come to an organization that had a passion for changing the world of ticketing, as we know. At Vendini we do this every day, as a team using innovative, simple and continuously brilliant technology (mobile, social, etc.). Like great companies that came before us Apple, Google, Facebook, and other well-respected Northern California companies, Vendini is a group of world-class people who want to disrupt an entire industry through innovation.

Being relatively new to the company, I wanted to share some background on myself and why I’m so proud to be part of Vendini. So far, I’ve enjoyed a pretty good career in sales increasing top line revenue growth for both start-up and Fortune 400 organizations. I’ve grown other companies from $45 million to $350 million, from 40 sales people to over 300, from 6 markets to the top 30 in the U.S.

That’s the kind of potential I see for Vendini and we’re certainly realizing it. In 2011, we signed a new venue every day. That’s something you don’t hear of in this industry. During a two-week period in December, we added 8 new venues per day. At this pace, we will be adding over 500 new members in 2012, significantly outpacing the industry.

Vendini is emerging as a leader in the industry. We are the fastest growing company with the largest sales force. Vendini is truly a national player with a physical presence in all major ticketing cities: San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and soon to be in New York and Las Vegas.

Just a few more things that set us apart from the industry and will allow us to take market share while other companies may falter:

- 10 years in business, 1500+ venues
- Top Silicon Valley engineers and management team
- A series of scalable business processes
- Innovative technology including Mobile and Social applications
- A strong financial position, self funded and highly profitable

We are a technology firm in the ticketing industry and we’ve become the top cloud based ticketing company. We dominate in Performing Arts and are growing every day in Concerts, Festivals, Sports, and other events.

It is these drivers and our momentum that give me the confidence that Vendini will be one of the few companies that emerge from the "Primordial Ticketing Swamp." Of the hundreds of companies in the ticketing business today, only the strong will survive -- and Vendini will be on top.

FS

posted by Frank Sette Monday, January 9, 2012 @ 10:23 AM 0 Comments

Mobile Ticketing A Smart(phone) Way to Catch Customers on the Run

It really wasn’t that long ago when part of the concert experience was camping out – sometimes for days – waiting in line to score tickets. Or, maybe you remember waiting up until midnight for tickets to go on sale, calling Ticketmaster and hoping not to get a busy signal.

Well, those days will soon be gone. More than 4 billion consumers own mobile phones. That’s almost 60 percent of the world’s population. As for smartphones (iPhones, Androids, etc.), it’s estimated that nearly 250 million people worldwide own one (50 million of those in are in the US), and by 2013 more than one billion people worldwide will carry a smartphone. Now, some skeptics will argue that just because someone has a mobile phone that doesn’t mean they want to use it to buy tickets. After all, people don’t just stop cold in the middle of the street and realize they need to buy tickets for the opera. Or do they?

A new study by Juniper Research predicts that the market for mobile ticketing will reach 15 billion transactions by the year 2014. Last year, Juniper estimated that just over 2 billion mobile tickets were sold. So, get ready because the ticketing industry is going mobile, and it’s going fast. I see this trend at Vendini, where our mobile ticket sales have increased more than DOUBLED in just the past 10 months. By 2015, I believe the majority of our ticket sales will be mobile.

What surprises me, though, is that despite the fact that more than 40 percent of Americans have smartphones, mobile ticketing is still in its infancy. Considering that mobile ticketing is a win for both the seller and the buyer, I would expect far more mobile ticketing programs. For the customer, it’s all about the convenience – being able to purchase tickets any where they have their phone and not having to worry about losing a paper ticket. For ticket sellers, it’s improved productivity, ease of use from anywhere, and lower costs.

I’ll be writing about mobile ticketing here again soon to let you know when Vendini’s new Android app is ready. We also have some exciting updates on the way for our mobile ticketing App in iPhone’s App Store which today enables venues to scan tickets and allows the manual look up of tickets to check people into events by name. What are your thoughts about the future of mobile ticketing? How are you envisioning a world where your Smartphone can get you in just about anywhere? We’d love to hear your ideas here.

/Mark

posted by Mark Tacchi Tuesday, October 18, 2011 @ 1:21 PM 1 Comments

More Than Just Great Software

A lot of people have asked me where the Vendini culture comes from. Our roots come from the heart of Silicon Valley in California, as we were (and still are) geeky tech gurus looking for something fun to do. We could have built any kind of tech company we wanted, given our background. We chose ticketing because it looked fun and it was an industry in desperate need of innovation. Over the years, we’ve shaken things up considerably, mostly due to our great software and dedicated service to our customers. However, there is something else that has made Vendini successful, our cloud based system architecture.

Architecture is Important
It’s true, the average user doesn’t much care how the system is designed on the back-end, they just want it to work when they click a button. However, decision makers and executives do care. Why? Simple, it has to do with money, growth, and long-term customer satisfaction. Anyone considering a new ticketing system for a small, medium, or enterprise operation should understand how a ticketing system’s architecture can affect a venue’s prosperity in the years ahead.

Vendini’s software is delivered over the Internet as a service. We operate in the “cloud.” Ten years ago, very few software companies took this approach. As we grew we noticed larger competitors, who installed their servers and software onsite at venues, were starting to take interest in our speed to market. They were probably wondering why we were gaining ground so fast.

And then a peculiar thing happened. While on sales calls at venues, we noticed their backroom closet, which had normally stored their ticketing provider’s servers, was gutted and servers removed.

When I asked them where they went the response was, “they’ve moved them to a building off-site.” So, I asked, “how do you get access to the software now?” They looked at me quite pleased and said, “through a connection from our building to the offsite building and we now use a web browser.”

Hmm, I wondered… did the ticketing company simply replicate that backroom closet at an off-site facility? Did they raid all of their clients and create a hundred backroom closets at the facility? Did they do all this to show that they too can be on the internet?

Over the years, I’ve come to find out that the this was indeed the case. So, what does it matter? It matters a lot. This architecture that calls for separate instances of the application to run for each customer, often on separate machines, is outdated and doesn't scale. Companies who operate this way are termed Application Service Providers (ASP). This model was big in the 90’s. Today, I hear some referring to this architecture as being “pseudo-hosted” or “pseudo-cloud”, where it mimics a real cloud architecture like Vendini’s which is “truly-hosted” or “cloud based”.

The Big Difference: Cloud vs. ASP
The differences are of critical importance. Let’s take software upgrades as an example. Basically, what you want to know is “will the software grow with my organization?” Consider 3 main points: How often are the upgrades? How much do upgrades cost? What is the total number of feature enhancements each year?

To demonstrate the advantages of a cloud based architecture, I’ll use the analogy of your cable television provider (ticketing provider). Let’s say you live in an apartment building where everyone has basic cable. One day Jim, who lives on the top floor, calls the cable company and requests they offer HBO. They tell him they don’t currently offer it, but will include it in a future upgrade as a free option. A month or two later when Jim receives HBO at no cost, everyone in the apartment building also receives HBO at that very same moment, also at no cost. Pretty nice, huh?

With cloud based architecture, everybody wins.

In the outdated ASP model, Jim waits for 6 or more months before the cable company can offer HBO. That’s because the company only offers upgrades once or twice per year. To add insult to injury, Jim is also required to pay $100 for the upgrade! For his neighbors, it’s worse. They’ll wait 8, 10, or 12 months for the same upgrade, and each will pay a $100 upgrade fee.

In the ASP model, the cable company has to visit each apartment, untangle the mess of wires, and spend weeks or months figuring out how that specific installation is configured, before any upgrade can occur. Liken this to an ASP ticketing company having to rummage through every closet in an off-site facility. When they get to your closet, who knows what they’ll find. All this investigation and configuration (professional services) costs money, which helps you understand why upgrades can costs thousands of dollars with the ASP model.

Summing it Up
In short, “true-hosted” or “cloud based” systems like Vendini receive upgrades daily or weekly to a single platform. This results in every venue using Vendini getting frequent upgrades fast, simultaneously, and at no cost.

I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to build software companies that reflect both models, ASP and cloud. With cloud architecture, I’ve seen a 30% increase over ASP models in the total number of features released on an annual basis. You could say it’s a good way to gain market share, but I see it as a system that customers can grow with.

posted by Mark Guarnera Friday, October 7, 2011 @ 6:12 PM 1 Comments

Why Does Vendini Love the Arts?

My vision for Vendini has always included giving back to the arts community and through a number of philanthropic initiatives we are striving to be just as creative and resourceful in our philanthropy as we are in developing our industry leading technology. That’s why we started “Vendini Loves the Arts,” our corporate giving program dedicated to funding non-profit arts organizations (read press release).

A lot of people tell me it’s great to support the arts, but aren’t there more important issues considering today’s economy? It’s a good question. In tough economic times, many U.S. companies are giving less to the arts. But at Vendini, we’ve increased our overall support of non profit arts.

According to recent economic reports, many companies report that they have jobs but can’t find qualified workers right now. Well, I believe that strong community arts programs help develop the skilled, quality workforce businesses are looking for right now. And there’s research to support my out-of-the-ordinary view. Studies show that communities and schools with strong arts programs lead to smarter and more creative workers. According a report from The Conference Board, 72 percent of business leaders say creativity is of “high importance” when hiring employees and a degree in the arts – music, dance, creative writing, drawing – helps give future employees the skills they need in the workplace. Art programs in schools have also been linked to higher SAT scores in all three areas of the test -- math, reading and writing. Students who took four years of arts or music in high school on average score 100 points higher than those who study the arts for a semester or less.

I have to admit, supporting the arts motivates our current employees, too. We recently hired performance artist Ian Ross to do a piece in our corporate offices. All of us were enthralled as we watched him transform our lobby wall into a piece of art. It was an experience that inspired us as we watched its creation and continues to contribute to our creativity every time we walk through the lobby.

So, what are your thoughts? Are we crazy to support the arts in these tough economic times? Or crazy not to?

/Mark

posted by Mark Tacchi Monday, September 19, 2011 @ 2:41 PM 2 Comments

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