IVVY STEPS UP GROWTH STRATEGY FOR EVENT PLANNERS

GOLD Coast technology company iVvy has launched an "Expedia or Wotif" solution for Australia's event needs, with close to 1000 venues already registered on the cloud computing software. 

Event organisers can search, compare and book through what is Australia's first and only central registry - with more than 150 of these venues offering instantaneous and live-booking options.

CEO Lauren Hall says it will give customers power and control over their events and will give venues the opportunity to connect directly and in real-time.

"Almost every other facet of travel and hospitality has real-time booking capabilities, so it is high time event planners get the same efficiencies," says Hall. 

"In a hyper-connected digital age, we are enabling the industry to work more collaboratively, so consumers benefit from quicker access, process efficiencies and better experiences." 

iVvy was first established as an events and venue management cloud computing software that enables event organisers to run and manage events effectively.

Hundreds of clients including Telstra, RioTinto, Fairfax Media, Woolworths, the Queensland Government and Harvey Norman have contributed to more than nine million ticket sales and transactions on the iVvy platform.

Newly launched iVvy Marketplace goes one step further and will work as a one-stop platform for all event needs from meetings to weddings, and allows planners to find a venue and book it in just six minutes.

iVvy founder James Greig says the new offering has been in the pipeline for more than five years, and has worked with hundreds of event organisers and hotels to fine-tune the platform and collect appropriate data.

"One of the challenges, and the reason no one has been able to offer this service before, is because the data hasn't been available," says Greig, who also runs Varsity Lakes-based web development company Bloomtools. 

"What we have done over the past five years is build the software that help venues manage their function space and, because they use our cloud-based software, we can instantly see the availabilities and prices because we are pulling it directly from their system."

Greig says iVvy might just be starting with venues, but will start adding supplies over the next few years.

"We really truly believe that iVvy is going to revolutionise the events industry and we are not just going to stop at the events space, our goal is to have the entire supply chain for events online," he says.

"Any part of an event, including a speaker, catering, lighting, décor or draping, whatever it may be, all of those services need to fit into this category where they can have live availability and people can make instant bookings online."

iVvy caters to clients globally including New Zealand, the US, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and Belgium.