Geelong Cemeteries Trust (GCT) operates over 20 cemeteries in and around Geelong. With so many sites spread over such a large area, GCT was looking to streamline their operations. The Changing Plot  Formed in 1985 with the amalgamation of four sites, GCT grew to ten sites in the early 2000s. Now in 2019, they manage 20 sites, taking on new loc...

As Australians, we're searching for both our individual and national identities. By looking into our past, we discover the characters our national stories are built on; finding out how they lived, and what they achieved. The local Gordon Cemetery is a great place to start your discovery. Beyond the Graveyard  Depending on your outlook, a buria...

Ongoing education and training are essential for any business to remain competitive and capitalize on opportunities. While we may be stating the obvious, professional development often competes with other day-to-day priorities and may not get the attention it deserves. Yet keeping skills sharp and staying ahead of new trends, tools, technology, and...

Cemetery mapping is essential; for visitors, it allows easy access to the graves or memorials they are seeking, and for the cemetery or crematory it provides a clear list of their inventory (used and available) and helps manage operations. However, mapping a graveyard or any site can come with some challenges; the complexity of these can ...

Wellington, New Zealand – May 2019: "Recreation Aotearoa (representing the New Zealand Cemeteries and Crematoria Collective) has partnered with OpusXenta, the leading global provider of cemetery and crematoria management solutions, to further strengthen the capabilities of the Cemeteries and Crematoria industry in New Zealand. With a changing marke...

Memorialisation is being redefined – as the popularity of cremations continues to rise so do the options as to what can be done with the ash remains. The challenge that the cemetery faces is to ensure that the ashes are returned for memorialisation so that the cemetery can drive service and revenue opportunities. So what can your business do to inc...

Managing gardens and plants in cemeteries is a complex task often involving many different species and locations throughout the cemetery grounds. It requires a huge effort to keep track of information about these plants, their location, and the maintenance schedule. Imagine having a Gardener's Register to assist cemetery horticulturists, and your g...

November 2018 Local and international partners join Australian software company to accelerate international growth in providing technology solutions to the death care industry Sydney, Australia: OpusXenta, the leading cemetery and crematorium management software solutions provider to the Funeral and Death Care industry, announced the successful com...

Many cemeteries are facing reduced revenue due to the decreasing rates of burial in Australia and most other Western countries. Burials alone are often not providing enough revenue to maintain the cemetery grounds and infrastructure. But there are ways to diversify revenue streams by using cemeteries and their facilities for more than just funerals...

A recent article in America's Connecting Directors website identifies the rapid cultural change Millennials are making to the funeral and cemetery industry in a very short space of time. Justin Crowe's article 'In 17 Year, De-churching Millennials Will Rock the Funeral Industry…The Stats Are Shocking' looks at how few people identify themselves as ...

The Cemetery and Crematoria Act has a number of specific requirements for record keeping. The Act requires that records be kept in regard to : Deceased personsInterment detailsCremation detailHolder of rightsRights transfersNext of kin, andExhumations For the smaller cemetery, retaining such records is challenging as it is predominan...

How can you utilise your data to gain new insights into your cemetery or crematorium business? Are you getting the information you need to make better business decisions? Do you know your top selling products, sales revenue trends or where your customers are coming from?  The more information you have the better you can hone your businesses sa...

The dramatic increase in the digital age has seen all businesses need to adapt and change their processes to accommodate a new online audience. This is particularly true for cemeteries and crematoriums, with an increasing expectation they are online, available and meeting the needs of a new generation of millenniums wanting to do business different...

Is your cemetery or crematorium drowning in endless paperwork - what if you could streamline your business processes saving time, money and resources by using a Document Automation solution? Document Automation is particularly well suited to businesses where the sales cycle includes comprehensive documentation. Where quotations, proposals and contr...

We have all heard the joke about the cemetery being the dead center of town – but what if your local cemetery is actually the social center of your town? It may sound odd, but cemeteries, crematoriums, and memorial gardens are needing to engage in their communities in a new social way for several reasons.Firstly, by engaging with the local communit...

In our previous blog we talked about why the cemetery and crematoria industry needs to change to embrace the changing face of the customer and the digital world. In this "part 2" we will explore how this can be done by understanding what pieces of the puzzle need to be considered and which technology components provide the solutions.  The abov...

Adopting sales enablement tools is one of the ways cemetery businesses have stepped up to stay viable and compete more successfully for the digital future. A 2018 study by Bridge Group revealed that sales productivity ranks as the number one challenge for businesses. According to the poll, sales reps spend a shocking 64 percent of their time on non...

Marketing Automation for the Death Care Industry ​Since their early inception, cemeteries, crematoriums and funeral homes continued unruffled seeming to adapt to the ever-changing times. However, most experts and insiders have now recognized that there is still more to be done if the industry is to thrive in the digital age.  Why so? The adven...

Every aspect of life, be it business or otherwise, is right at the center of technology if not part of it. We are currently living in the digital age, where factors of society are directly affected and influenced by technology. This also includes the death care industry - specifically, cemeteries, crematoriums, funeral homes, memorial gardens and s...

Like many other industries, major players control huge parts of the cemetery, crematorium and funeral home industry. Many small businesses wonder how they can compete with the dominant businesses.  The good news is that small or independent businesses actually have several advantages over big, nationwide companies. If you want to survive and t...