CrewBrain provides a tool for event-related staff planning. Whether for the members of a band or the employees of a company, CrewBrain provides a quick overview of upcoming events, rehearsals and other jobs. In addition, the software creates interfaces for data exchange with third-party providers or self-developed software.
In this interview, Sven Schlotthauer tells us what he expects from the industry and how his tool supports companies in event planning.
1. Last year saw an increase in the number of events after a forced break of two years. How did your company perceive the past months?
For us, the fact that more events can take place again was and is a kind of salvation. It’s true that we also had a lot to do during the forced break, because many of our customers recognized the opportunity and used the time to invest in digitization. Nevertheless, the long-term development is of course also relevant for us, because if our customers cannot hold events, there is no need for planning software such as CrewBrain. With the discontinuation of the Corona measures, our customers and thus also we again have planning security to the greatest possible extent with regard to the next few years and can fully concentrate on strategically developing our offerings and services.
2. What are your expectations for the industry in the coming years?
There is currently a lot of pent-up demand for events. This will certainly continue for some time, but at the same time issues such as inflation will of course also determine the further course of the recovery within the event industry. Overall, the industry will continue to professionalize itself and, in connection with this, also digitize itself further in order to be able to offer its services as cost-effectively as possible while at the same time covering costs. Smaller events will continue to decline for lack of profitability and the industry is likely to focus even more on commercial festivals and events and, in particular, corporate events.
Especially with regard to personnel, the challenges regarding working hours, occupational health and safety and the entire organization will be a challenge for some companies in the process, which they will only be able to manage in the long term with the help of suitable software solutions. Some legal changes like the obligation to record working hours are foreseeable or already decided, in the end all these points will lead to increasing personnel costs which will further press on the profitability of the events.
Despite all the challenges, the industry has shown, especially in the Corona period, how adaptable and changeable the individual players are, so I look positively and excitedly to the future here and look forward to further developments.
3. What significance does Prolight + Sound have for you as an event technology trade fair?
Prolight + Sound is currently the most important trade fair for us at which we can present our product to a broad international audience. Especially due to its central location within Germany, Frankfurt is the ideal trade fair location for us, where we can meet a large part of our customers and acquire new customers with manageable effort.
4. How does your platform support companies in the staff planning of events?
With CrewBrain, we take a holistic approach to workforce planning. Accordingly, support begins with the recording of personnel master data including certificates, skills, emergency contacts and many other relevant information. This master data of employees, freelancers and also service providers later enables a quick selection of suitable personnel during the actual planning of events, and our integrated request and booking process ensures full transparency regarding the availability of employees and freelancers.
Digital contracts for work and relevant documents for employee leasing can be generated directly from the system with just a few clicks of a button. But also reporting lists for the accredited and general call sheets for the crew are created easily and quickly.
Meanwhile, CrewBrain also goes far beyond the actual personnel planning of events. With the ability to record working hours and travel expenses, store service instructions, advertise vacancies and manage applicants, and much more, we offer an all-round carefree package for many aspects of personnel planning and management.
5. How easy is it to use CrewBrain and what experience do you need to use the platform efficiently?
The system is designed so that the individual dialogs are as self-explanatory as possible. At the same time, CrewBrain offers a high degree of configurational possibilities, for example in the area of time recording when it comes to bonuses and other salary components. It is therefore often helpful for administrators and dispatchers to get to know the most important functions of CrewBrain in a training course. However, prior experience is not necessary here.
However, especially the start with CrewBrain needs time in any case. Due to the many configuration options, the system can be excellently adapted to one’s own needs, but one must first test various combinations for this. Starting “overnight” is therefore usually the wrong approach. If you want to work with the system in the long term and also use the deeper functions of the system, you have to familiarize yourself with the system in any case. Of course, we are happy to support you here with training courses and online conferences.
6. How can CrewBrain help increase efficiency in the event industry?
First and foremost, it’s about saving time in the context of workforce planning. Since employees and freelancers can find all relevant information directly in CrewBrain, there are no annoying and time-consuming queries. Evaluations of working hours, for example, also make it possible to see where time is being invested in less important things – and to take appropriate countermeasures.
Since CrewBrain automatically logs many processes, it also makes data maintenance much easier. Whereas previously notification lists, call sheets or documents for employee leasing had to be created individually by hand, in the future they can be created directly from CrewBrain with just a few mouse clicks.
7. With a view to Prolight + Sound 2023: Can you give visitors a little foretaste of what they can expect?
At Prolight + Sound 2023, we will present new features in the area of occupational safety. For example, in the future it will be possible in CrewBrain to generate and manage risk assessments for the employees deployed at events – another topic that is extremely important given the increasing professionalization of the industry.