Item: Caterease
Rating: 8
Author: Nick Faulkenberg

Overall Satisfaction with Caterease

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Caterease is used across our whole organization. We are a banquet facility and we use it to organize all of our events. Our sales team uses it to track all contacts made with the client. They also use it to make comments about the event for our operations team. Our operations team uses it for all the details of our events. It helps us to easily track, adjust, and communicate across all departments. It also allows us to integrate Microsoft Access, which we use a lot as well.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Saves in real time. This allows us to see updates to events in real time. This allows us to work seamlessly across departments if, for example, someone goes on vacation, we can easily see the comments and adjustments that were made.
Integration - we use Microsoft Access a lot. Caterease allows us to pull data directly from Caterease to be uses in our Access Queries.
Diagramming - Caterease now works with a preferred diagramming company called Placez. Currently, we use different software however are in the process of transitioning to Placez. This will allow us to have almost all facets of the business within or with access to Caterease data.

Cons

Designing queries can be tedious and time consuming. After they are created, they are useful to see specific details, but the process in creating them seems as if though it could be streamlined.
Payments - While it's easy to track payments, it would be nice if Caterease added software to take payments as well. This would help in streamlining the business to just using Caterease instead of having to use other software.
Interface - while easy to use and navigate, there are too many windows that can be opened and adjusted. I don't know how they could fix this, but it just seems to be a cluttered interface.

Return on Investment

With the integration with software such as Access and Placez, it has required less "man hours" to do each task. This saves on labor.
Streamlining - in having to use less programs, more specifically, paying for less programs, it has given us a ROI by allowing us to have a centralized software (Caterease) to manage our events.
Payments - it would be nice if Caterease offered a way to take payments that was included in the price, instead we use a different software that charges per transaction.

Alternatives Considered

We haven't used any alternatives to Caterease. So far, Caterease has been more than adequate for what we need it for, even though there are things we would like to see improved or added to the software.

Support Rating

I have not had to use the support in my over 3 years of using Caterease. This is why I gave it a 9 rating because even though I haven't had to interact with support, the fact that I haven't had to use support speaks volumes to how good the software is and how it is user friendly.

Key Insights

Do you think Caterease delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Caterease's feature set?

Yes

Did Caterease live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Caterease go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Caterease again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Cvent Social Tables, Microsoft Access, Google Hangouts

Likelihood to Recommend

Integration with Microsoft Access - We use Access for a lot of different Queries, such as for our bar back to know the specifics of each bar. Caterease allows Access to pull data directly so all we have to do is run the report instead of entering all the information manually. Same with diagramming, having software like Placez that pulls from Caterease allows for such things as table and chair counts to be pulled directly from Caterease instead of having to place each individual table.

Comments

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Easy to Use