Automation: The Industrial Revolution of the Secondary Ticket Market

By Scott Barrows, CEO, Symbioticks

The secondary ticket market has entered its most competitive period in history. An increased number of brokers are listing more inventory than ever on the ticketing networks and primary sellers are aiming to capture secondary market profits via variable pricing.  It is clearly essential for brokers to embrace the tools that are available in order to maximize efficiency, reduce overhead, and increase their chances of success.

Automation is the key component to increasing the efficiency and cost effectiveness of a broker’s operation and thankfully third party vendors have brought automation tools to the secondary market.   These tools were previously enjoyed by large brokerages that invested large sums into in-house development teams and enjoyed a competitive advantage over “the little guys”.   Auto holds, auto processing, auto ticket download, auto pricing, and auto PO creation  have arrived and new iterations and improvements are being released to the broker public on a constant basis by a growing number of independent development companies.

When deciding which technologies are worth investing in, it is important for a broker to have a firm grasp on their current operating expenses. Questions worth knowing the answers to include “How much of your monthly overhead costs go to processing orders?”, “How much would additional profit would you gain if your net returns went up 1%?”, “How many man hours are consumed by pricing?  PO entering?”, and “What is preventing our company from growing?  Or being more efficient?”  Knowing your operations from both a human and analytical basis is crucial when considering investments in an automation tool.  $10,000 might seem too costly, until you frame it in the context of your current cost structure, it may very well be that a $10,000 investment creates $30,000 per year in overhead cost savings. 

 
Three individuals that are at the forefront of this revolution are Sam Sherman of Broker Genius, Billy Becher of 24/7 Broker, and Dominic Laico of Autoprocessor.com.  All three are continuously developing new automated software solutions for the broker community.  When asked, all three expressed similar views regarding the present and future of automation in our industry.

Sam Sherman of Broker Genius believes one key to the continued success of automation development are competitors working together to create more efficiency and to ultimately build better products for sellers.  Dominic Laico of Autoprocessor.com believes that adoptions of formal APIs by the POS providers and exchanges will help create more stable products for everyone.  Billy Becher of 24/7 Broker also feels that opening up APIs will be critical for the industry to evolve.  He also feels strongly that the exchanges need to continue to work together with developers to achieve true real-time systems.

When asked about their vision of what is to come, both Laico and Becher stated end-to-end automated solutions that encompass all aspects of an order's life cycle are what they see next. Whatever the future does end up providing, there is no question that there is an abundance of valuable tools available today for brokers to utilize and maximize their efficiency.

To learn more and stay up to date on all available technologies and tools in the secondary market, you can go to http://www.symbioticks.com for a free membership. There are currently 50 industry specific tools ranging from automation, marketing, exchanges, POS, credit card fraud protection, and more to learn about. In addition with your free Symbioticks membership you will also be notified of any new technology release, along with exclusive free trials and pricing.