EMS Software is an enterprise space management, event, class and resource scheduling application acquired and now supported by Accruent in June 2018.
N/A
Cvent Event Management
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Cvent is a cloud-based enterprise event management company with nearly 4,000 employees and over 300,000 users worldwide. Cvent offers software solutions to event planners and marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event management and marketing, onsite solutions, email marketing, and attendee engagement. Cvent's suite of products automate and simplify the planning process to maximize the impact of events. Cvent provides hoteliers with an integrated platform, enabling…
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.
The system is great for registering for your event, including session add-ons, taxes, and more. It can manage different access and visibility to different sessions or prices based on the reg type. For smaller events, it is just too pricey and does not make sense to use.
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.
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.
Emails - you can't pre-schedule emails, and it's very complicated to target a specific group.
Testing - You have to clear your cache in between testing, or go incognito mode. Makes for a very lengthy testing process. Wish you could just see live updates as you went!
Gameifcation in the App - I have not had the best luck with this section of the app. It doesn't ALWAYS work. They have some improvements to be made on that front.
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.
We are very pleased with the features that Cvent gives us. The ease of use and the immediate support when something does stump us. Cvent provides us with everything that we need to run a successful event. The only reason I did not Rate Cvent as a 10 is the cost
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.
The Cvent Event Management is very user friendly and intuitive. It's easy to use. Initially it's a bit of a learning curve because it is such a robust system with so many features. Whoever is using it really needs to take time and dig into it to learn the platform because if you go through it only on a surface level you can miss a lot of key features that can be beneficial to use.
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.
It's not very often the platform has switched off or had errors. That only occurs when multiple people are usually in the same events making changes. On our end it usually slows the platform down , not an often occurrence
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.
It works well, integrated into other platforms hasn't cause problems. However saying that it cause other platforms such as iCapture to work slower and slightly glitchy- this has been raised but for now its a put up with it type of issue. This has only recently started happening
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.
The company offers 24/7 customer support, including phone, email, and chat support, to ensure that we can get help when we need it. Additionally, the platform has a comprehensive help center and knowledge base, including user guides, tutorials, and FAQs, which help us troubleshoot issues on our own. Cvent also provides training and support resources, including onboarding assistance, live training sessions, and webinars, which help us get the most out of the platform. Overall, Cvent appears to be committed to providing excellent customer support and resources to its users, which can help ensure a positive user experience and successful events.
Our on-site trainer was very knowledgeable in the product and gave us very important pointers on best practices and how to perform tasks in the simplest manner
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.
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.
It would have been nice during implementation if we had received more pointers on how to organize our parked report folders, libraries, etc. to avoid the mess we find ourselves in today. If we had known ahead of time the limitations we could have planned better.
[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.
Cvent was the only events software that could meet our needs at a price that was palatable. We have been with Cvent for over a decade and I shop around every time we come up for contract renewal just to see what's out there. Cvent hands-down is able to handle so much more complex needs than anything else out there. The value for what you get is exceptional.
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.
There are multiple people across our organisation who use CVENT Event Management. They do only use the simple features and thats mainly for registrations, but the simplicity of being able to duplicate events makes life easier for those members. They are able to duplicate events and keep them running smooth and take payments.
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.
