This is a transcript from a keynote delivered by our founder, Vusi Sindane.
Skybookings is like an onion. So, today, I will peel open the layers until we get to the core philosophy, a view of the world that we believe is worth creating.
1. Now, let’s start with the outer layer.
On the face of it, skybookings is a ticketing and RSVP management platform. Event planners use our platform to sell tickets to a broader audience, and we pay out their ticket sales every week. We also assist with private events, like gala dinners, awards ceremonies and shareholders meetings, to facilitate RSVPs and guest logistics.
2. Now, for the second layer
When we look at the market, we find that most of the market-leading ticketing platforms are better classified as ticketing retailers. Their sole purpose is to help their customers sell tickets online.
But we are not a ticket retailer in that sense. Skybookings is growing rapidly to become an all-in-one events management platform. As it stands, we have a suite of features you will not find in an ordinary ticketing platform.
For instance, we have audience management tools. Event planners can import their “database” or contacts onto our platform and segment them according to their preferences — like VIPs, Inner Circle, Club Members, and so on. Skybookings also uses behavioural analytics and AI to organise audiences to improve targeting.
This way, we are not just a ticketing retailer, we also offer relationship management tools to help event planners strengthen their relationships with their audience and create better experiences.
3. Now, let’s go even deeper.
Truly appreciating that retailing is just one aspect of events opens a new reality — the reality that events are social networks. Events are tribes where event planners serve as community leaders, bringing together suppliers and patrons to deliver, often, life-changing and magical experiences.
Our role as skybookings is to make this happen as smoothly and as effortlessly as possible using technology. In this regard, skybookings will soon roll out tools for managing all these connections, from suppliers to patrons, to put together a magical experience.
I am saying that skybookings is an events management platform. But unlike leading events management platforms that cost a fortune, skybookings is built with modern technology and AI, giving it a significant cost advantage and making it possible to provide advanced tools, like WhatsApp AI integration, supplier coordination, payment solutions, and hyper-personalisation at scale to small event planners.
4. Yes, there’s another layer.
To top it off, there’s a financial services aspect to skybookings.
Suppliers will have the peace of mind of knowing that they will be paid on time because skybookings will use AI to guarantee payments. On the other hand, event planners will also have tailored fundraising opportunities based on their ticket sales performance.
In other words, we are building skybookings as a vertically integrated business with an underlying ethos of bringing people together.
Covid proved in no uncertain terms that people cannot live without each other. Yes, we fight; yes, we bring out the worst of each other. However, the arc of history proves that we are underwritten by a moral ethos that ensures progress when we come together in the spirit of Ubuntu.
Our mission at skybookings is to promote this ethos by building technology that sustainably brings people together in the spirit of Ubuntu.
