By Dylan Nells A Funeral Director with over 30 years of experience delivering services for families and communities was asked what he thought about computer systems in the Funeral Industry, and this is his reply. Let me share a story.  Our special treat used to be a meal and stay over at our favorite restaurant in the Lake District. Every meal...

Stephen Carter  Regional Sales Associate, USA Tell us about your death care profession journey and what led you to join OpusXenta?  I haven't had a lot of time in the death care profession. I was pulled to it by my own curiosity for an industry that doesn't get discussed much but is something everyone needs. What do you feel has attr...

Stress is inevitable. It's been a common theme throughout the course of the pandemic and is certainly felt by those in the funeral and death care industry. Nancy Weil, a leading authority on the relationship between humor and grief, offers advice for funeral directors in her recent webinar with OpusXenta. Nancy is the Membership Director for the Or...

You You - the most important person in your life. Shannah Kennedy made this abundantly clear in her 'In Conversation with' webinar this last quarter about The Importance of Caring for Self in an Industry All About Caring for Others. (Make sure to grab your copy of the recording if you missed it.) As caregivers and community supporters, and managers...

How Technology and Digitally Native Consumers are Driving Changes in the Cremation Sector  Cremations are increasingly becoming the preferred option when it comes to funeral planning in the UK, with over 78% of people now choosing this method over a traditional burial. The changing dynamic of modern culture, a step away from more religious pra...

Event planner, counselor, florist, entrepreneur… what role doesn't a funeral director play? As this past year has taught us, funeral professionals are an invaluable and essential part of our public health infrastructure and society. While their tireless, physically, and emotionally punishing work often goes unnoticed, funeral directors and morticia...

Imagine taking a subject most people don't want to talk about—death—and pairing it with a subject many people know little about—climate change. That's the conundrum facing the death care profession as this century advances. The health of the planet is top of mind, but so too is the solvency of funeral homes, crematoriums, and cemeteries amid this g...

The world has changed. We work from home, attend school from home, shop from home, and stream movies at home. Online activities have increased in quantity and popularity. "For all of us everywhere, what we did and the way we did it just twelve months ago is going to look… significantly different today," says John Haley, Customer Success & Acqui...

On 17th February, The FBCA, (Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities) and OpusXenta held the first webinar in our environmental series highlighting the environmental impact of the bereavement services sector. We opened the conversation and looked at what changes that funeral directors, crematoria and cemeteries alike can all make to protect ...

As the need for cremations is rising, it's more important than ever to optimize your crematory to improve your support for the community. According to the National Funeral Directors Association 2020 Cremation and Burial Report, it's expected that COVID-19 will be responsible for another 200,000 deaths throughout 2021, but crematories have limited a...

Papers getting lost on desks. Updates being overlooked. Mistakes made due to poor handwriting. All are unacceptable in the cemetery business. And yet, unfortunately, they can happen. Reducing those errors, however, is possible by using technology. Implementing digital transformation tools for your grounds and service management (GSM) team could be ...

Safety, convenience, and affordability: almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, these timeless values have translated into crucial necessities. Throughout the last year, we have seen fundamental shifts in consumer behavior that have changed the way customers and businesses interact. Many of these changes will likely continue to be with us long af...

Change. Like death and taxes, it's a constant. There are variety junkies (like myself) who crave change and those who will move mountains to avoid it. How many times have you heard someone say something like… "but I've always done it this way – it works fine as it is!"? ("Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours." – Richard Bach.)...

Many business owners approach the Internet and its options with a touch of uncertainty. We've all heard of "the cloud," but what exactly is it, and why should you trust your important business data to a place that you can't see or touch? If you are in need of a safe, secure, and highly accessible location for your cemetery or funeral home's data, t...

Essential. Vital. Connected.  While those words have always held true for the funeral industry, clearly, they were all a bit more challenging to realize in 2020. But the new year presents new opportunities to remain essential, vital, and connected and, in the process, energize your business. The pandemic has made us react to what happened. But...

Michelle Imam Bakhsh  Regional Sales Associate, North West, USA Tell us about your death care profession journey and what led you to join OpusXenta?  My journey in the profession started right after High School – I wasn't certain which direction I wanted to go with my studies. A local funeral director allowed me to job shadow him, and aft...

We recently held a webinar with Samuel Holleran and Fraser Allison, who are both involved in multiple research projects focusing on Death Care and community relationships with death at the University of Melbourne. This webinar, along with several other webinars OpusXenta have recently hosted, can be found here if you are interested in listening to ...

Tony Lorge OpusXenta CEO 1. How did you start providing solutions for the death care industry?  It all really came about by chance. I have been involved in providing business software solutions for many years across many sectors across the globe, and out of the blue, we got a call from a cemetery in Melbourne, Australia, seeking help with thei...

What is Aftercare and why is it a powerful business building tool?  The Death Care industry as a whole has three key components:  Pre-need prepares for at-need, which facilitates aftercare, which feeds pre-need. To break the flow with a weak or absent plan for aftercare can cost valuable sales. It disconnects the relationship you have alr...

Have you attended any of our "In Conversation With…" webinars? If you haven't yet had the chance, we encourage you to keep an eye on our website's "Events" page as we have some intriguing topics and guests scheduled for the year ahead. Over the course of 2020, John Haley from OpusXenta had some fascinating conversations with a range of guests invol...