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A star is born: Sydney Theatre Company debuts its online ordering system “We wanted to offer our subscribers a better way to do
business with us. I don’t think Company Profile anyone at the Theatre was The Sydney Theatre Company is a major force in live Australian drama, under the illusion that we with a reputation for presenting acclaimed performances from would suddenly increase our Australian and international playwrights. Generally regarded as one of the leading theatre companies in the city, the Sydney Theatre overall subscriber base – that Company was formed in late 1978 and opened its first production on 1 wasn’t the point of the January, 1980. exercise. We were more concerned that we had this Operating out of The Wharf Theatre, on Sydney’s harbour, and the loyal base of people who Drama Theatre and the Playhouse of the Sydney Opera House, the wanted to subscribe to our Theatre also tours productions across Australia and internationally. shows and we simply had to There are currently plans underway to move the Company into a new offer them a better way to do theatre by 2003. it.” Pip Sprott, The Theatre is assisted annually by grants from the Federal Marketing Manager, Sydney Theatre Company Government through the Australia Council and the New South Wales
Government through the Ministry for the Arts. STC is also supported by Organisation various sponsorship and donations from the corporate sector and Sydney Theatre Company private individuals. However, around 80 percent of the Theatre’s funds are raised through ticket sales, and,in particular, through its loyal Web Site subscriber base. www.sydneytheatre.com.au Business Scenario The Annual Subscription Season features up to eleven plays including Industry recent or new Australian works, as well as interpretations of theatrical Entertainment classics. By becoming a subscriber, theatregoers are able to get first option on the best seats for shows, at a discounted price. This Business Scenario Summary commitment to rewarding customer loyalty has led to a regular Faced with a paper-based system subscriber base of over 17,000 people, making up around 50 percent of for handling subscriber requests, the total annual audience attending the theatre. the STC felt it was not projecting the sort of up-to-date image it The process of subscribing was completely paper-based and involved desired. By not having the filling out a form making choices about which shows to see, choosing capability to accept subscribers dates and backup dates, and finally mailing the whole bundle back to over the Internet, the Theatre felt the theatre for manual processing. As Sydney Theatre Company’s it was not meeting the needs of Marketing Manager, Pip Sprott, says, “In this day and age, where the Web generation. people expect to be able to go online to do their banking and their shopping, book holidays and trade shares, the idea of having to fumble around with bits of paper to book a night out just seemed so old-
1 Sydney Theatre Company debuts its online ordering system fashioned. Here we were, trying to attract new people to live theatre – especially young audiences – but the process of subscribing was not Business Solution Summary keeping up with the expectations of these people.” Within 15 weeks, the Sydney Theatre Company moved from a Although it is possible to order tickets on a one-off basis through the paper-based system to online via Theatre’s Web site, that process is handled by having an external link its Web site, providing patrons to Ticketek, a third-party booking service. There was nothing in place with a greatly improved way to to meet the needs of the regular subscribers, many of whom attend ten submit subscriptions to the or more shows per year. The Sydney Theatre Company decided it was booking office. time to address this situation.
Overall, it has led to improved Business Solution levels of customer satisfaction, a The goal for the Sydney Theatre Company was to create a convenient, better opportunity to appeal to online booking service to accept orders from its valued season subscribers. The idea was to allow them to prebook seats to an entire younger theatregoers, and a more series of shows, much the same as the existing paper-based system, modern image for the Theatre. except it could all be done via the Web – raising the Theatre’s appeal to its younger, more tech-savvy patrons.
It’s all about Customer Service Says Sprott, “We wanted to offer our subscribers a better way to do business with us. I don’t think anyone at the Theatre was under the illusion that we would suddenly increase our overall subscriber base – that wasn’t the point of the exercise. We were more concerned that we had this loyal base of people who wanted to subscribe to our shows and we simply had to offer them a better way to do it.”
A surprising response
The system went live in September 2001, after only 15 weeks of development time. After four months of operation, the system has been responsible for handling 16 percent of the Theatre’s 17,000 subscribers, a result with which Sprott is extremely pleased.
“To be honest, we never expected the take-up rate to be that high, that soon,” says Sprott. “We really didn’t even promote it that heavily to start with, but the response has been quite overwhelming.”
At the moment, the Web-based subscription service is essentially an improved, high-tech version of the old paper process. The Web solution delivers the requests to the box office staff who still allocate seats and tickets manually using the existing booking service. However, the new system has been designed to allow for future development of integrating the Web interface with the legacy booking system.
Ensuring success with a Microsoft Certified Partner
Like most performing arts organisations, the Sydney Theatre Company has a number of valued corporate sponsors. One of those sponsors is Accenture, the world's leading management and technology services organisation and a Microsoft Global Partner. When the STC began thinking about ways to bring its online subscription service to reality, they naturally turned to Accenture’s Sydney office for help and advice. Steve Hayr from Accenture says, “We were really pleased to be
2 Sydney Theatre Company debuts its online ordering system approached by the Theatre to help them set up the new system – after all, we had been a sponsor of the Theatre for a number of years, so Partner Details this was a nice way to actually get involved and put some of our Accenture technology expertise into their operations as well.” Tel: (02) 9005 5000 Email: [email protected] Sprott is full of praise for the Accenture team. “We were amazed at Web: www.accenture.com how well the whole project came together under their guidance. They were very professional. In fact, due to the tight deadlines we had set Benefits ourselves, we actually went live with the system without a pilot As well as some worthwhile cost program – it came straight out of development and was placed directly savings, the STC is pleased with online as a fully functioning system. Naturally, when you do that, you its new capability to appeal to expect there to be a few glitches along the way, but the team from subscribers via the Web. Accenture were magnificent. They just made it all happen.” Within four months, the system
Benefits had captured 16 percent of its The most obvious benefit to the Sydney Theatre Company is their 17,000 regular subscribers, a enhanced image as a forward-thinking, modern company. Says Sprott, result with which the Theatre is “If you don’t offer this sort of online service, people see you as being extremely happy. old-fashioned and not keeping up with the times. And that’s certainly not the image we want for the Theatre.”
Saving money There are other benefits, of course. When the annual subscription season starts, the Theatre gets flooded with subscription applications and usually needs to employ a number of casual staff to help cope with this peak load. By utilising the Web site to gather people’s subscription requests, Sprott expects that the number of casual staff required will be reduced significantly.
The only business benefit that really matters
However, the most important benefit is for the Sydney Theatre
Company’s subscribers. It’s important to remember that subscribers are not just customers – they are long-term, repeat customers, the sort of customer that every business wants to gain and retain. By clicking onto the Theatre’s Web site, potential subscribers can now check information about shows, browse the upcoming performance schedules, choose the dates and times which suit them best and, when they are happy with their final choices, complete the transaction online using a credit card. No more fiddly forms to fill out, and no more stamps and envelopes to worry about.
Judging by the rapid uptake of users to the new system, the convenience of being able to manage this process online from anywhere is creating some very happy customers. And a happy customer is one of the best business benefits there is.
Technology
The engine behind the solution is Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000. It also makes use of IIS 5.0 and the new generation of Active Server Page technology.
While the current solution has been a great benefit to the Theatre and
3 Sydney Theatre Company debuts its online ordering system its subscribers, Accenture’s Hayr sees it as the first phase of an even bigger project. By taking advantage of the inherent scalability of Microsoft Technology Microsoft’s server products, the door is now open to allow the system · Windows 2000 Server to scale up, including the integration into the existing legacy booking · SQL Server 2000 system. There are also a number of future benefits which can be · Internet Information Server 5.0 delivered by SQL Server in terms of developing business intelligence · Active Server Pages statistics, which will enable the Theatre to get closer to the important business metrics of their subscriber base.
As far as actually developing the solution, Hayr makes the comment,
“The Theatre already had an existing Web site, so we naturally wanted to ensure that the Web applications we were creating would work seamlessly with their existing setup – not just from a technical perspective, but from an aesthetic perspective, too. One of the great things about working with a Microsoft environment and the Web
Development Tools it provides is the way it’s so easy to adjust the look and feel of a Web application as you develop it.”
Hayr also cites the simplicity of the Microsoft developme nt tools as a key factor in having rapid concept turnaround times – of being able to take an idea, turn it into code and quickly produce a finished application, ready to use on the Web.
Maximising Success Sprott feels that the Web interface for the subscriber booking system is an extremely positive step for the Theatre. The system is proving to be very popular and she expects that growth to continue as more people adopt the Web lifestyle. “When we were contemplating putting our booking system online, it was not so much a question of ‘Should we do it?’, but more a case of ‘What would happen if we don’t do it?’
There’s no doubt that we had to offer this service to stay relevant to For more information our subscriber base.” For more information about Microsoft
products or services in Australia, “We’ve had plenty of feedback from customers, including some great contact Microsoft on 13 20 58. To suggestions for making the system even better, and we plan to use access information via the Web, go to that feedback as we continue to refine the service,” notes Sprott. www.microsoft.com/australia/business
The Future The Theatre now has the option to link the Web interface to the ©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights booking system, allowing patrons to have a real-time booking service. reserved. This customer solution is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT In the meantime, the Theatre is about to start construction on a brand- MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR new theatre, in the old Bond Stores opposite Piers 6 and 7. Due to IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, SQL Server and Windows are open in the second half of 2003, the new theatre will seat 850 people, registered trademarks or trademarks of providing a superb dance and drama performing arts venue and a most Microsoft corporation in the United States suitable new home for the Theatre. Complete with restaurants, bars, and/or other countries. The names of actual administration offices and of course, its new Web-based subscriber companies and products mentioned herein booking service, it promises to cement the Sydney Theatre Company’s may be the trademarks of their respective reputation as one of Australia’s finest and most modern theatre groups. owners.
4 Sydney Theatre Company debuts its online ordering system