Likelihood to Recommend Accruent EMS is well-suited when it comes to room utilization and transparency but with regards to onboarding other departments such as A/V and Catering, it becomes a challenge because there are other software that meets the needs of these departments that EMS does not have. The use of multiple systems for other departments is a nuisance especially with inventory mangement.
Read full review It's the best software I've used. It allowed me to collaborate on a huge event with multiple stakeholders to ensure the main planner understood the venue and capacity issues. It's also allowed me to realize the scope of venue needs and abilities. Very helpful in visualizing a space
Read full review Pros It's user friendly. By doing a little self-exploration one can find out the many features that EMS offers. It is simple to add or remove conference rooms and provide details of the conference rooms. I appreciate that there are different ways of reserving conference rooms. This allows each user to feel comfortable in their use of EMS by finding what works best for them. Read full review User-friendly. It's easy for us to train other team members/staff/volunteers to use the front-end system for registration and event check-in. Social Tables is great for creating custom room layouts and diagrams. Social tables is customizable. We're able to capture specific information for attendees, and can "tag" them when additional info is needed. Read full review Cons Incredible complexity on the back end. While its highly configurable nature lends to flexibility, it also makes it a challenge to manage. Support has not been as quick as we'd like when we've needed to reach out. Most likely due to the company recently changing hands, we had real trouble with their billing department attempting to double charge us for our services, and sorting it out took 6 months of back and forth. Read full review A development that would be useful would be the ability to reorder the diagrams to a custom order in one event so that when exported as one document, they are in an order that can be customized to flow well for the meeting planner. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Accruent EMS has always been a one-stop-shop for our organization when it comes to scheduling conference rooms, offices, apartments, services, etc. It has a wide array of reporting, and what isn't set up as a standard report, can usually be created as a query to report on the information you are looking for. Accruent EMS has pushed out new releases with updates to bugs and other add-ins and stays current and up-to-date with market trends.
Read full review Usability Most new users would greatly benefit from (or possibly require) at least some training on how to use EMS, but the training doesn't need to be extensive for the users to get comfortable with it. Most functions are easy and straightforward, so users tend to not have many issues with it.
Read full review Reliability and Availability Currently I can only access EMS from my work computer, from in my office, on campus. While I'm sure this isn't an Accruent issue, and mostly our IT issue, Accruent hasn't exactly stepped up and tried to help when these issues have been addressed.
Read full review Performance The only other software we use in conjunction with EMS is Epaper Signs by Visix. Once we worked out the initial bugs, the integration has been seamless. It does not slow down our software or cause any errors. Our signs are updated every 15 minutes with any problems.
Read full review Support Rating Since the merger, our team has found that there are a select few of the tech team that can actually support our questions. More often than not, we have already tried the suggestions that they give us and they are either unable to answer our questions and submit them as update suggestions or they have to be sent to supervisor for an answer. Once or twice in the last year we have received bad advice that resulted in system issues. Prior to last year, the customer support system was at the top of the list of tech support departments that I have ever had to deal with, especially during our upgrade to 4.0.
Dana Mims Executive Director of Events Management
Read full review The support was exceptional, and they remained an arm's reach away for when we ran into any questions after we began using the tool. Overall, we experienced phenomenal customer service. We also had more than one web-based call where their team would walk us through examples and answer any questions we had.
Read full review In-Person Training we had brought out several consultants over the course of the past couple years and they have been fantastic from Brandy Cahill to Matt Luther
Read full review Online Training It was great but could have been a little better. I feel like there are different ways to use some of the software and some of that was not explained. I think at the time the training was great but now that we are more experienced with the product I can see we missed training based on what part of EMS the instructor thought we were going to use.
Amy Williams Assistant Production Manager- Notre Dame Studios
Read full review Implementation Rating I think one of the biggest things is to step back and see how you want your organization to function and use the product prior to quickly diving in and configuring. I think some (based on some EMS Live conference sessions I attended) built their systems on how they used their old systems or old processes, but thinking about how you want your organization to function moving forward will help you configure it the best way and make the necessary changes from the start rather than having to go back and adjust.
Read full review Alternatives Considered [Accruent] EMS is very robust, and a great all in one solution for hospitality and Event management needs. I have dealt with a few other software solutions in the past that try to handle event planning and management, but have run into the need to have multiple solutions to handle all those needs.
Read full review It has similar tools that MeetingMatrix has, but the Collaboration, or allowing vendors access is the feature that I appreciate the most that Cvent Event Diagraming offers that MeetingMatrix did not have. It is also easier to save as a PDF to print and email a version to vendors as well
Read full review Scalability We purchased the client, web version, and Outlook plug-in. I'll be honest, we haven't pushed the email part, but I did test it and liked it. After the old program we placed, I have simply been gun-shy about implementing another email plug-in. However, the client for the super users to get department alerts, etc. and the web version for all users to create reservations has been fabulous and easy to use and understand.
Read full review Return on Investment The most noticeable improvements in our usage of EMS is our ability to process requests more efficiently using a standardized form that has a professional presentation. Before we began using EMS, we processed our parking requests by simply typing an email with a few details. Pricing was jumbled in with the wording and clients often did not read the fine print. EMS has definitely made an impact with projecting a professional image to our clients when they receive confirmations and invoices. Read full review This program allows us to be nimble in our communication with our vendors and clients. This program has empowered my new staff members to solve problems discreetly and on their own, prior to bringing them to my attention. It is a key tool to our success. Read full review ScreenShots Cvent Event Diagramming Screenshots