Case Study
Cloud based venue management system is ‘fundamental’ in running and growing events business for 8 Northumberland Avenue
Heralded as London’s most central venue, 8 Northumberland Avenue, is a one-minute walk
from Trafalgar Square. As a former grand hotel, 8 Northumberland Avenue has its roots firmly in
Victorian London history.
Today it has been completely restored to
The venue has been hosting all types of
art technology including intelligent lighting
its former glory to become one of the finest
functions for over five years, from corporate
systems and Europe’s only dedicated 3D
venue spaces in London. Grand staterooms
events such as product launches and fashion
Holographic system. Key event spaces include
combined with cutting-edge technology make
shows through to weddings and dinners. With
The Ballroom, (quoted as being ‘the grandest
this the perfect venue for up to 1,000 guests to
over 165 large events and many more smaller
still in existence’ by English Heritage), The
be entertained in style.
meetings hosted at 8 Northumberland Avenue
Old Billiard Room and Annex, and the venue’s
every year, the venue boasts state-of-the-
sister restaurant Boyds Brasserie.
Learn more about Priava Telephone UK +44 (0)845 0744 250 Email sales.uk@priava.com or visit www.priava.com
Cloud based venue management system is ‘fundamental’ in running and growing events business for 8 Northumberland Avenue
Key Challenge – Lack of
reporting and need for more
targeted marketing
The Solution – “A cloud solution
was a natural progression”
Head of Venue & Sales at 8 Northumberland
on the market and for what we needed Priava
Avenue, Charlotte Stephenson explains, “As
was the best one. A key difference we found
the volume of our events business increased,
with Priava was the level of support, the
we realised that our current processes and
solution’s innate flexibility and its ability to
procedures needed to be updated. For
bring together all departments in the venue.
managing events we were using a function
We knew that a cloud solution was a natural
are giving your business solutions to
sheet based on Word that needed all
progression for us. Although we don’t hot-desk
problems that are tried and tested.
information to be inputted manually. This was
as such, it’s good for us to be able to access the
both time-consuming and made it difficult to
system from home or on the move via an iPad
track and check everything.
or a remote computer in another part of the
For future marketing and on-going business
Charlotte says, “We looked at many solutions
We’ve been providing solutions in
consultation with industry for over 15
years. When you choose Priava, you
building.”
development we also decided that it would
According to Charlotte the installation was
make more sense to manage this in-house.
really smooth and easy. “The system was self-
To achieve this we knew we would need a
explanatory and easy to train members of both
venue management solution that could be
the sales and operations teams. Priava were
All our datacentres are ISO 27001
fully integrated with a marketing/account
open to our suggestions on what we’d like to
certified with PCI compliant
management solution. In turn this would
see and worked incredibly hard to support our
enable us to target and communicate with
business processes.”
technology infrastructure meeting
the PCI Data DSS Level 1 standard.
Our EU customers can rest assured
existing and new customers more effectively.
Priava complies with the Data
We also felt that with a new system we would
Protection Directive and General
benefit from additional functionality and the
Data Protection Regulation.
ability to create detailed reports.”
Learn more about Priava Telephone UK +44 (0)845 0744 250 Email sales.uk@priava.com or visit www.priava.com
Cloud based venue management system is ‘fundamental’ in running and growing events business for 8 Northumberland Avenue
The Results – “build an
accurate picture of where
business is coming”
“Since installing Priava we now have access
to powerful reporting capabilities. So we
can now measure key metrics such as
because all relevant parties are now more
staff using the Priava system, from function
informed about the event, whether it’s
managers through to the catering team.
notes on what AV equipment is required
“Get to know our customers
better” – Priava will one
day fully integrate CRM with
marketing solutions
or particular client requests, the system
facilitates the event production and prevents
the unexpected popping up.
‘type of events’ like a dinner, wedding or
In the past it was also quite difficult to get
conference whereas in the past we would
everyone to use the systems we had, but
have had to trawl back through individual
with Priava the number of staff using it has
events manually. We can design the reports
exceeded our expectations. The fact that
ourselves and produce at a glance other
the functions sheet is on-line is also ideal,
key data such as ‘average spend’ or ‘profile
because if someone misses a meeting they
of clients’. All this information allows us to
can simply retrieve the information virtually,
build an accurate picture of where business
without having to print it out. The diary
is coming from and where to pool our
system is also perfect for weekly updates
resources. For instance if we see that a
for the sales team as we can view the
certain type of company from a particular
number of bookings or enquiries, see the live
market sector is booking with us, we can
opportunities and increase conversions.”
look at targeting other similar businesses. ”
Easier to spot ‘up-sell’
opportunities
Access all areas - “Sales and
production teams are now on
the same page”
“As everyone can clearly see what a client’s
total spending is, it is also simple, even
“One of the big differences with Priava” says
for a non-sales person to spot up-sell
Charlotte, “is that both the sales and the
opportunities. Post-event we can also
operations teams are now on the same page
measure contracted and final spends to
as all have access to the same information.
identify future opportunities.” In total 8
This uniformity is very important to us,
Northumberland Avenue currently has 17
The move to Priava will also help the venue
to support and enhance its marketing efforts
to target customers more effectively. “As a
result of work to integrate Priava’s built-in
CRM with our chosen marketing solution we
hope will be able to get to know and profile
our customers better.” Priava’s API will play
a pivotal role for the venue and ultimately
Charlotte would like to see all its different
systems linked together. “We’ve seen what it
(the API) does so far and we just want to use
it more.”
The return on experience and
the return on equipment
As well as being a fine historical building,
8 Northumberland Avenue also magnifies
what Charlotte refers to as the ‘return on
experience’ for its clients with an impressive
array of technology from a dedicated 3D
holographic system that has seen ‘Frank
Learn more about Priava Telephone UK +44 (0)845 0744 250 Email sales.uk@priava.com or visit www.priava.com
Cloud based venue management system is ‘fundamental’ in running and growing events business for 8 Northumberland Avenue
Sinatra’ perform at parties in the grand
Ballroom, through to intelligent lighting
systems that make a conference or awards
dinner extra special and memorable.
The Priava system is used to record what
Summary
The benefits that 8 Northumberland Avenue has achieved through the use of the Priava cloudbased venue management solution so far include:
• More enhanced reporting on key stats e.g.
• More synergy between ‘sales’ and
equipment and furniture is required for every
average spend on events, highest spenders,
‘operations’ teams - uniform and consistent
event, but it is also used to calculate the
market sectors and type of functions most
information can be shared across all
use and return of assets. Charlotte provides
profitable
personnel
an example, “If we restore chairs or put in a
new dance floor, with Priava’s reporting we
can measure the level of wear by how many
times a space or piece of equipment is used
or booked. This also allows us to justify any
past or future investment in refurbishment or
new capital items.”
“If it’s not on Priava it doesn’t
get done – it’s fundamental”
The invaluable tools and intelligence that
• Increase revenues by identifying up-sell
opportunities
• Easier to target repeat business
• System that could reflect venue’s specific
needs
• Contributes to increased sales conversions
• Measure value and return from key assets e.g.
AV equipment
• Smoother product upgrades – done
automatically via the cloud
• Ability to design own reports
• Simple to train staff
• Save time by moving from manual to
• Can access system from any location e.g. at
automated system
home, via iPad etc.
Priava provides are appreciated by both
the sales and production teams. Charlotte
Favourite feature
concludes, “Everyone is excited by it. We use it
“The universal search is good as you can search by more than one criteria. So if the name of the
all day every day and it is the gospel and is basis
event is the same, you can easily differentiate with another parameter such as date.”
of everything we do. No quotation goes out
without using it and if it’s not on there it doesn’t
get done, it’s fundamental to the business.”
Learn more about Priava Telephone UK +44 (0)845 0744 250 Email sales.uk@priava.com or visit www.priava.com