Out With the Old, In With the New: How Upgrading Your Software Can Transform Your Cemetery

Have you outgrown your legacy or home-grown cemetery software? Is your current vendor forcing you to make a change? Are you managing your cemetery operations with Excel files and a paper database?

Regardless of your cemetery’s current situation, it’s always good to see what your options are. Cemetery software has come a long way in the last decade and we are proud to say that Axiom Cemetery Management (owned and supported by JMT Consulting) has been at the forefront of this evolution.

In this session, we show you how our robust and integrative solution can provide your cemetery with best-in-class technology handling finance, operations, mapping, kiosk, web search, and more — all at an affordable price.

Explore Axiom's best-in-class technology designed to handle finance, operations, mapping, kiosk, web search, and more!

JMT Consulting: Hello everyone, thank you all for joining us for today's webinar out with the old in with the new how upgrading your software can transform your cemetery.

My name is lauren hogan and i'm a regional marketing coordinator here at JMT we're very excited to have our own Joel right lead us in the webinar today.

he's one of our axiom solutions consultants here at GMT and he's going to go everything over everything here in a moment.

Just a couple of housekeeping notes, before I turn it over to Joel and kane if you have any questions during the webinar today, please go ahead and submit them into the Q amp a section, so you think of them.

will save them all until the end of the presentation, but don't hesitate to submit them as they come.

Also, just a reminder that will send you both some handouts, and the recording of today's webinar within 24 hours after has concluded and with that i'll go ahead and turn it over to Joe and camp to get us started.

Joel Wright: Thanks lauren appreciate it and good morning everybody Thank you so much for joining us this morning on CINCO de Mayo nonetheless which.

We hope everybody's having a great day, so far, and will continue to enjoy on a festive day I personally have drank a whole bunch of coffee this morning, so i'm a little bit caffeinated.

So hopefully i'll be able to keep everyone awake and excited about what we have to present today.

Before we do get started, I first wanted to introduce can't elkins the national sales manager for axiom.

Can has been on board for a couple of months now, but he's going to be a pivotal role for our client facing and prospect facing activities so Kent Good morning, do you want to say a few words.

Kent Elkins: Sure don't Thank you very much good morning everyone hope everybody's having a great day, I am kent elkins I am new to the software industry.

However, i'm not new to the cemetery funeral home industry i've been in the cemetery funeral home industry for 33 years, and this is really refreshing to see the software that i've always prayed for over the years.

Working in Center in your home industry, and so I hope you guys are just as excited as I am once you see it Joe take this away.

Joel Wright: yeah thanks Kent and yeah we're we're excited to have Kent on board with his experience working.

Over three decades at a cemetery knowing the day in the life of the cemetery us over here on the software side we're focused on technology and so he kind of brings that real world.

perspective to have a solution works so we're excited and we just want to take the time to introduce them to each of you that joined us.

lauren I believe we're going to have some polls, as well as we go through this right so yeah how about that, so it just popped up.

i'm going to answer.

I feel like this is a celebration in itself oh I can't vote nevermind.

So yeah if each of you want to cast your vote and we could also show the results and so there'll be a couple of these as we go through the webinar today so hopefully each of you saw the poll that came up asking, are you celebrating CINCO de Mayo today, and you can select yes or now.

Nobody wow 60 now 40% yes okay well.

it's also taco Tuesday or now it's Wednesday nevermind flying by yeah nevermind after you know, in a special year senior mile lines up on taco Tuesday.

So great so we all got do that i'm going to go on ahead and continue on to our agenda here so out with the old in with the new how transforming.

How a cemetery software solution can help transform your operations we're excited to talk about this today and we're going to dive into it, but first.

I just want to briefly discuss who JMT Consulting is talk about the current status new software capabilities and we'll wrap it up with the Q&A.

So who we are we've been around for 30 years GMC was founded by Jackie empty so, hence the name jm T it's her initials.

We were founded in New York and Jackie then moved to Tennessee she's right outside of nashville so today, we have an operation Center in New York, which is still our headquarter.

jackie's in nashville so we have a brick and mortar there lauren's in Austin Kent and I work remotely i'm in Dallas he's in Detroit.

And we also have an Austin or excuse me, Australia office as well, so we're a global organization, we have clients all across the world and.

You know, as far as the cemetery management component it's a product of GMT and we've been implementing those solutions for 24 years.

it's been award winning for its growth its innovation is technology and really where we see it, heading is is to continue to be a leader into the market.

So we always love meeting with each one of you, and we appreciate you taking time out of your day to join us as well and hear what we have to say.

Basically we've we've been in the market, we understand what's going on we've heard you know, we have our ears on the ground and we understand what's happening.

For some of you and we just want to let you know that we're here to assist.

You know, some of these vendors out here one prospect, I spoke with told me that they were being held hostage by their software vendor because they're being asked to upgrade their solution to latest and greatest.

And it's been pretty widespread we've been getting a lot of that, and so we felt like we should just kind of from our angle.

place our position in you know what's really happening and truthfully them asking for you to upgrade is not a surprise and it's because it's happening in every organization in any industry.

across the globe, you know what's happening is this major technology shift where there's technology providers these publishers have the solution move into this SAS model which, if you don't know SAS is a software as a solution.

or excuse me software as a service and basically we're seeing a lot of these publishers moving in that direction, mainly because.

It just seems to be a lot easier for them to maintain both their clientele and.

You know, historically, the way software was purchased was in a perpetual license, meaning that you bought the license you owned it.

And each year you paid for maintenance and support, but that data was yours you own that technology.

And what SAS is a major shift is it's a lease agreement for the software so it's a subscription basically just like netflix.

All these other subscription services your software is now a subscription So why did that change, and it really falls into this software development lifecycle and how technology is changing.

And you know security roles, all these aspects of technology and how it's being used by organizations and people.

is also changing and the best way to make updates and enhancements to that is on a subscription model because they can unleash these updates without any complications or any.

You know issues to you so it's really security management, the scalability the technical support all of these are fundamentals that are leading into this model that software publishers are moving in.

And so I believe we have another poll lauren if you want to go ahead and launch that will continue talking.

Organizations over the last 20 years have, on average, maintain their software for six to eight years now, mind you, this average is through a lot of different applications, including payroll and some other products that probably aren't so.

essential to an operation so maybe that you know average is.

You know skewed a little bit if you were to look at the main and maybe somewhere closer to 10 to 15 years but truthfully.

What we see a jm T with our 30 years of experience is that if a software solution could be running and effective for your organization for 10 years, then that has been a good solution for you you've gotten your Roi out of that solution.

cemetery and However, what we talked you know how we talked to them, and you know we asked them How long have you had your current system in place for.

What we find is that it's been a lot longer than what's average, so we have this poll here, you know, obviously, each of you work at a cemetery i'd be interested to see roughly how long has your current system, been in place and i'd love to see the results.

lauren are we getting some votes.

So 71% 10 to 20 years.

14% 20 to 30 years and a couple without a system so let's see we had seven folks vote, so we appreciate you kind of chiming in but that 10 to 20 years seems to be about right that seems pretty accurate the 20 to 30 years we've heard a lot of that as well.

What we also find is a lot of cemeteries don't have a software system at all, you know they've kind of been handed over these processes that are paper using lot books and whatnot.

That have been handed down for centuries, you know cuz cemeteries have been around for a long time so it's not be surprising to hear that there's not a system in place at all so.

These results are surprising, hopefully, then I don't imagine it'd be surprising to you either, but you know it's it's still a lot longer than what we're finding is average so.

Continuing on here, so we understand why your vendor may be asking you to upgrade but.

You know these are the things that you're dealing with your internal procedures if you've had a software product for 20 years.

Your procedures are most likely married to that system right your day to day activities, how you use the system interacts with how your people actually do their job.

So what is this upgrade going to do to my existing processes, how is that going to change how I do my day to day work.

And what implications is is going to have on my operational budget is it going to impact me fiscal year over year and what does that impact look like.

Maybe I had you know, an enhancement or a building and as going to do my cemetery but now, at this software upgrade and kind of impedes that now, I need to go back to the board or.

To the powers that be and kind of readjust whatever my budget main event, and you know truthfully and i'm just kind of putting words in your mouth here, I assume, each of you are asking yourself these questions, but if you're not you should.

You know, am I put in my organization in the best position to succeed by upgrading the system is this truthfully worth it, as somebody also mentioned to me taking a judge judges point of view, without reasonable doubt is this going to place my organization in the best position to succeed.

So the fact that you need to make.

Joel Wright: sorry about that my phone dropped off there we go.

I believe, where I left off in movement to this, you know these questions.
each of you are probably.

coming across you know your leader, the everyone's mind at your organization of man, we gotta change and how's that going to impact us.

And truthfully there is a silver lining because you have a lot of options for for what to do here, you know change can be good, and we think this is a time that you can be creative.

You can take the time to define the perfect scenario for your organization, so do a SWOT analysis and understand you know take inventory know what you currently have.

And also know what exactly do you want, you know what exactly would put your cemetery in the best position to succeed.

And so, this is a time to reflect and see you know what is out there and in a dream world how would technology interact with with my my organization and help improve it.

So with that you know if you're in this place, and if you join today's webinar we kind of assume that you are.

I think we have another poll here lauren So if you want to go ahead and launch that and see.

Just from from the group, you know where are we right now, and you know, even if you want to put your name and information, obviously we want to create a Community with sanitary ins here we're just here as education.

and support, so if you want to share your name and an email with other folks here, you can do that in the Q amp a but are you looking for a new software provider is is the question here.

we'll give it a few minutes and see what everybody says.

Is my audio is still bad.

JMT Consulting: It sounds good, on my end but i'm not sure.

Joel Wright: Okay, all right.

Thanks amy good to hear some.

feedback and my phone just dropped, for whatever reason, it just hung up on me so i'm not sure what happened there but glad it's back up and running So are we getting some responses.

JMT Consulting: yeah well and the polling.

Joel Wright: Great.

So, quite a few of you are looking for a new solution, a couple aren’t.

Which is good, you know overwhelmingly we're finding you know if you're in this position and European SF grade, ultimately, you can definitely do that.

But you know just speaking about what exists technology trends change and higher operation is using technology can also.

leverage, you know what is the right solution for you and so kind of going through these slides and talking about things that are happening in the market that we're saying.

we'd be remiss without saying, basically, what our solution is and what it could provide.

And I think a few folks on this call, we have spoken to in the past and we understand kind of what you're looking for and more or less what our solution can provide and truthfully our solution is very scalable.

And in fact we're creating a solution that is more for the smaller market that that is going to be very effective for them as well, but.

As far as what our solution can do is really embrace technology within your organization, because it encompasses all aspects of it.

If you were to focus on just what your operation is from a departmental perspective, you would find you have finance you have sales, you have administration, you have client services, you have grounds.

You have a lot of different people that are doing different tasks at your cemetery and how is technology going to help do their job better and and truthfully we feel like the axiom solution kind of covers all of those bases, because it includes.

A single source of truth for.

Basically understanding what inventory, you have available, be able to see a visual of that inventory through a mapping solution.

put together work orders in a format that your crowns team, or whoever could go on ahead and login for the day and see what they have to do.

manage your cemetery records do away with dependencies on paper processes create you know great reporting, for your board for whomever at your organization, we want to see a report.

And just see something that can truthfully create that digital backing.

For your cemeteries because heaven forbid something was to happen at your organization, if you have a lot of paper processes, like a.

tornado which we just saw north of Dallas two days ago, or a flood which one of our clients had with hurricane sandy and paper is extremely risky and so, even if it's just going from paper to something that is digital, we have a solution for that so.

In a better visual.

Look at it and seeing everything that axiom can provide.

It truthfully it's modular but it truthfully encompasses all aspects of the cemetery so your operations.

We even have a funeral home module if you happen to have a funeral home that you manage and operate, we have the expertise on our side.

of knowing you know, based on our clients and what they're doing knowing basically best processes.

for managing specific things we have finance so truthfully it is compatible with all aspects of your organization.

And so to dive a little bit deeper and the core fundamentals of the system are as a mapping tool is something that we're extremely excited about, because it is.

The the number one GIs mapping solution in the world, with everything that's happened in 2020 with coven.

All of the you know case tracking and where the hotspots are we're all done using s3 and it's it's used with some of the biggest organizations in the world and it's built within our system.

So, to be able to map your cemetery and see exactly you know where specific locations are understand what's entered already maybe what's been you know, paid for, but not entered supreme need.

Knowing what's available all of those things can be done with with axiom and the best part about it, is it our map is intuitive enough to be able to understand what records are there to support it.

So, as you update say a record let's go on ahead and create a new order in the map the coding on a specific location for that new order will.

in real time change so if you have multiple family sales people that are looking at your cemetery and figuring out okay.

what's available well one just sold that in real time will be updated so you're not selling the same plot twice so truthfully a mapping solution that is completely integrated within the record management.

I spoke, briefly, we have a funeral home module I won't go too in depth here, but if you own a funeral home and you also own a cemetery a single source of truth is amazing, because you could actually track the lifecycle of that individual.

From basically going through the funeral home to the cemetery and you have a single source of truth to see all of those different touching points and how they interact with your organization so it's a single solution.

Again kind of maintaining that single record and with that we have the cemetery management system which is, you can see, is very modular.

clients people leads opportunities quotes a lot of our clients, you know that maybe a little bit smaller and less.

Sophisticated don't necessarily use all of these fields but truthfully a key tennis scale with you and you could utilize what pieces of it, you want finance being able to sell a plot and have that match with your balance sheet with your accounts receivable is extremely important, so.

Again here's all the modules we have inventory control just knowing what inventory, you have out there.

If you have acquisitions or purchase order processes that you need to develop and all of these are taking into consideration that it's all done in the system there's no need for paper.

So you know, a new order through the mail merge and axiom cms could be completed without having a printed off and get a sign.

That order then can be saved, to the record in the invoice could be created in finance without any paper crossing people's hands, so it is truly integrated and paperless.

Additionally, there's visitor experiences so if you know you have visitors who come into your cemetery and are interested in either going to.

You know, a service it's at your location, then you could have a kiosk in which they can find services for the day or they could just find a loved one.

And so, a lot of different tools to really empower your staff to make sure that visitors that are having the best experience possible.

So i'm just going to go through here to see search services so what's going on at your cemetery for a day walk the grave technology, since.

As it is GIs based it has GPS coordinates and so we have an integration with Google maps, so you could just click on a grave site and be able to walk to it.

So a lot of different tools here, and you know, like we said if you're being asked to change, ultimately, we just we want to be here as a resource and be somebody that you can ask questions understand what's out there and go through that.

You know, go through that decision process of making sure that, whichever solution you're gonna you know, make the decision to move with is going to be the best solution for your organization moving forward so.

With that I think i've ran through all the slides here and open to answering any questions that any of you may have.

I don't forget that you can submit any questions, through our.

Q&A and we would love to answer them and it looks like we did have one come in through the chat asking how is the data entered that's my biggest problem with our present system.

yeah well that's a great question and we would be happy to show that to you can I can set up a very quick demonstration of our system and show you exactly how it's enter.

You know a lot of what we do for any new client is coming on board is.

understand what your what sort of input documents you're utilizing today and mimic that basically in a web format.

To where you're basically inputting the same information, but in a digital forms you're typing it rather than writing it.

And it stores that way but yeah we could show you basically the way the system works in a short demonstration that we would love to show you, you know all the different aspects of it yeah.

I think that leads to a great next question, then, what are the next steps after following this webinar.

We will follow up with the recording.

As well as the slides from today, and again, you know we're here to support you and would love to set up an individual conversation, and you know, in that we just want to understand more or less what you're doing today.

You know how long the system has been in place.

How you're using the system, what sort of situation are you in what sort of.

Decision requirements need to be into be taken into consideration, and then, once we understand those things we we will.

share our screen and go through a brief walkthrough of axiom and basically show you what it looks like and ask for your feedback and whether or not you think it could be a good fit.

And if it's not we have no hard feelings whatsoever, but at least you got to see what it looks like and if it is, and I will continue on from there and and you know go through a pricing proposal and whatnot and and see where it leads.

Okay, and our next one, we have is is there crematory module.

There is absolutely we have several clients that have a you know their own crematory and so there's workflows and.

Different views on on how.

You can manage that so absolutely we have a pretty sophisticated component that manages cremations and we'd be happy to show you how that looks.

Great now next question we have is what does the mapping look like for mausoleums is it a grid or it doesn't conform to the building shave.

huh.

yeah cuz that's really looking at 2d versus 3D right and.

It is, it is a grid, but yet you could pull up the owners.

we'd, be it would take 10 Minutes to show you roughly what it looks like we have a DEMO that has a mausoleum pre mapped and so he could show you what the walls look like.

We could get specific with the dimensions of let's say your vaults and the mausoleum and be able to you know have it showing accurately, but it it's a 2d image so it's hard to.

Unless you have something that is like almost like a image of your of your model Liam.

We might be able to do something there, but right now in our DEMO environment for most of our clients, the grid has been suitable, but if you're looking for something else we're basically taking.

Digital map and overlaying it onto something so if we had images of your Mongolian we could maybe look at doing something like that, where we could basically.

Do the overlay on actual images of your wall.

Okay, we had another question come through.

JMT Consulting: Here, and where is the system, based as a web based server based or both.

Joel Wright: yeah great question and it's both so.

Before cloud computing axiom existed, and so there was only server back then, and so we're still able to.

Allow somebody to own their own data on their own server but really you know cloud seems to be the way of everything, and we also have a cloud solution as well and that you know basically does away with the it maintenance and management of your own server so.

Depending on what a client's looking for, we could we could go down that path and figure out what's best.

JMT Consulting: Great looks like that's all the questions we had.

come through joel kent anything that y'all would like to add?

Joel Wright: You know.

Kent Elkins: Just like to.

thank everyone for joining and.

We would love to show you guys this solution.

Joel Wright: Definitely yeah I would just say the same and and for the 40% of you that are celebrating today enjoy it and have a great day, and the other 60% get back to work.

Thank you everyone for joining us today.

JMT Consulting: We will be doing.

And so we look forward.

To speaking with y'all.

Kent Elkins: bye everyone.

Have a great day guys, thank you.

JMT Consulting: Thank you, thank.

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