On the afternoon of Wednesday, Jan. 29, INTIX 2025 attendees can attend the “Cultural Arts Ticketing and Engagement: Digital Transformation for Increased Customer Insights and Streamlined Operations” workshop. Moderated by Michael McDermott, General Manager of the Americas for SECUTIX, this one-hour panel session will feature industry leaders who have successfully navigated digital transformations in cultural arts ticketing and engagement.
McDermott is looking forward to what he hopes will be a free-flowing discussion and exchange of ideas, information and experiences: “We’re going to open it up and answer the questions like, ‘What does the journey look like?’ ‘What was your planning and preparation strategy?’ ‘What are the Gotchas?’ ‘What are the lessons learned?’”
Panelists will include venue and vendor experts Mike Brown, Strategic Solution Engineer for Salesforce Nonprofit Solutions; JCA Chief Executive Steven Jacobson; Peter Michelson, Senior Director of the Gordon Center for Performing Arts; and Washington Pavilion Inc. & 3e Encore President and CEO Darrin Smith. Together, they will delve into the motivations behind their digital transformation journeys, key successes and future directions. Attendees, meanwhile, can expect to gain knowledge of how to leverage digital technologies to improve operational efficiency and enhance customer insights in cultural arts organizations.
Michael McDermott
McDermott says, “What I hope to demystify in this panel and in our conversations is ‘You should not be forced into a big decision or a big move.’ If you have the right people, the right partners and the right technologies, you can take a crawl, walk, run approach to evolve into the digital transformation that makes sense for your business. It’s a journey, and you’re in control of that journey. If you’re not, then you are with the wrong people!”
He adds that the ideal attendees will be “anyone from technologists to executives — those who are looking to answer the question: ‘How am I going to drive revenue, get better insights into my customers and have better control over my ticketing operations.’ You’ll learn from the lessons learned of those who’ve already gone through such transformation.”
In addition to strategic reasons cultural arts organizations embark on digital transformation journeys, panelists will also detail common obstacles and strategies for overcoming them in the implementation of digital solutions. Finally, there will be some exploration of the emerging trends and innovations that are shaping the future of ticketing, including the role of data analytics.
McDermott is definitely the ideal person to lead such a workshop, being one of the key decision-makers at SECUTIX. “We’re a tech company and not a ticketing company,” he states. “The fact that we’re based in Switzerland, in the middle of Europe, and have to figure out all of these ways to work with different countries, different currencies, different cultures and different types of events ... it’s really created a unique platform for the ticketing industry.”
McDermott expressed pride in SECUTIX’s mission “to unlock the potential of our customer experiences — the ones never to be missed and forever enjoyed.” He says, “We support our customers to take control and maximize the benefits of their ticketing and operations. We’re not here to sell our brand. We are here to unlock the potential of [our clients’] business so that they can better drive revenue, engage with fans, build communication paths, run promotions and yes, sell tickets.”
McDermott continues, “We have 20 years of experience working on some of the biggest brands, the most popular events, $3 billion in revenue annually and more than 65 million tickets annually that we are processing. To be able to do that over time with scale and stay out of the news, it’s what drives us into a different part of the universe.”
Partnerships have certainly helped propel SECUTIX to that next level. The company runs on two of the most powerful technologies in the world — Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (or OCI) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — that make up the backbone of SECUTIX’s cloud platform. And because of the openness of that platform, SECUTIX is able to partner with companies like DataDome and add extra layers of technology and protection against bots and other cyber threats. McDermott remarks, “We’re fighting technology every day, and that fight starts with bots.”
But it’s SECUTIX’s newest partnership that will be getting a lot of attention at INTIX 2025. McDermott says, “We’ve spent the last year in conversations with Salesforce and built an integration that’s in use with a couple of great customers, the Lawn Tennis Association and The Gordon Center in [suburban Baltimore], to build a real-time, integrated ticketing and [customer relationship management] platform solution. We’re announcing it at INTIX 2025.”
So, is that what McDermott is looking forward to the most at the upcoming conference and exhibition in Manhattan? “No way!” he exclaims. “I’m looking forward to my annual hug with [INTIX President and CEO] Maureen Andersen! That’s on the top of my list! But, seriously, I just look forward to all of the collaboration. We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and really looking at ‘How are we participating as an organization in driving the integrity of this industry to propel it into the future?’”
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