PlotBox, a death-care management solutions provider, recently welcomed visitors from across the world to its inaugural Global Tech Summit.
Held at its headquarters in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, the three day event was attended by international delegates representing death-care providers from across the United States, the Asia Pacific Region, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Following a message from Joe Kennedy, President Joseph Biden’s special envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs, PlotBox CEO Sean McAllister delivered opening remarks.
“This week is about partnership, it’s about sharing our knowledge, our expertise and our time, to listen and to learn how we can utilize technology to support our customers in the best way possible,” he said.
Throughout the summit, attendees engaged in discussions, workshops and interactive sessions, alongside global industry experts and academics.
Day one highlighted data strategy and cybersecurity and included a facilitated discussion on future trends in death care, concluding with a PlotBox product solution “inspiration session,” and an update on PlotBox’s genealogy grave search platform, Everafter.
On day two, delegates took part in an innovation-led, digital solution-themed design sprint session. This was followed by a tour of Belfast City Cemetery, and the opportunity to see Everafter in practice within the cemetery’s newly opened visitors centre; concluding with a Belfast Food Tour, providing the chance for the group to relax and unwind.
On the final day, Steve Gant, consultant adviser and managing director of the London Cremation Company Plc, provided a fascinating overview on the, “Past, Present and Future of the UK Cremation Model.” This was followed by the presentation of a number of case studies by PlotBox APAC General Manager, Martin Jackson, who highlighted innovations in sustainable burial practices being carried out by PlotBox customers in Australia and New Zealand.
To round out the event, delegates were treated to a tour of County Antrim’s beautiful North Coast, which included a visit to Northern Ireland’s iconic World Heritage Site, the Giant’s Causeway, as well as a tour of the Bushmills distillery, the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world.
Will Andrews, president of Anthem Partners, owners of 75 Funeral homes and cemeteries across the United States and Canada said, “Our biggest success since working with PlotBox has been beginning to standardize our processes and looking at how we can do things the same way across our portfolio. PlotBox really helps facilitate that by having a unified software structure that allows us to not have all these one-off ways of collecting data and information.” He added, “The summit has been great — just meeting people from all over the world and understanding what their challenges are. We get stuck in our own ways over in our part of the world, and when you are with a group like this, you start to think broader and outside of the box to find a lot of great ideas. It’s networking, but it’s also learning to help your business move forward.”
In his closing comments, McAllister thanked attendees for bringing so much of their own experience and insight into making the event such a success, reiterating the importance of partnership in creating a death-tech roadmap to help to support and secure the future of death-care services.
“We hope that this week will be the first of many of its kind, and the first small steps to building a truly global death-care community that embraces the values of partnership and innovation.”
To learn more visit: www.plotbox.io.
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