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NECRO Expo trade fair Kielce

NECRO Expo trade fair Kielce

Memcare attended the NECRO expo trade fair in Kielce, Poland over a few days 14-16 June presenting Memcare Partner & Memcare Notify.

We had the opportunity to meet industry professionals, as well as potential and existing clients. The fair turned out to be a success with a lot of both Polish and international visitors, and we had interesting conversations on the future of the funeral industry. Our Commercial Director in Poland - Mateusz Gajewicz - held a lecture on digital transformation in the funeral industry and demonstrated the latest development in Memcare's solutions for the audience.

We would like to thank all those that visited the E27 stand during the fair, and for the interest in Funeral Home Management Software, Memcare Partner and the notification solution Memcare Notify.

If you are interested in our products, or the digital transformation of the funeral industry, Contact CEO Lars Martinsen lars@memcare.com or Commercial Director in Poland Mateusz Gajewicz mateusz@memcare.com to learn more.

Memcare presenting at Targi Funeral Expo Warszawa

Memcare presenting at Targi Funeral Expo Warszawa

Memcare's commercial team attended Targi Funeral Expo in Warsaw on 31 May to 2 June with its own stand and held lectures about digital transformation within the funeral industry.

Our team spoke with several Polish funeral directors about new digital solutions, both for the bereaved and for funeral homes – and the polish funeral industry is definitely interested in the future.

The company's Commercial Director in Poland, Mateusz Gajewicz, was pleased with the weekend's fair in Warsaw:

- It is good to see that more and more funeral directors in Poland see the great opportunities and competitive advantage a funeral home gets by using solutions provided by Memcare. It is particularly great to get confirmation that Polish funeral homes already recognize the Memcare brand and that we now already have funeral homes clients in Poland and are in dialogue with potential new across the whole country. Great for funeral homes, but also for Polish relatives and families, who deserve digital, modern solutions.

Memcare moves to larger offices and plans expansion

Memcare moves to larger offices and plans expansion

Memcare is rapidly expanding with high growth in both the number of funeral home clients and staff employed - we more than double the size of our development office, which is now located in Zelazna 59 in Warszawa (just a few hundred meeters from our previous location.

In 2019 we are predicting to have 35+ employees in our offices at Lysaker (Oslo) and Warsaw. Memcare is also starting establishment of Asia office(s), where the Memcare will hire even more new talents. To meet the growth and attract new talents Memcare is centrally located, close to public transportation.

Memcare main office

Memcare main office

As we were growing out of our existing office in Norway, we are happy to inform you that we are moving to a new location in Strandveien 50, Lysaker as of February.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new offices and new meeting facilities in Lysaker. In 2019 we are predicting to have 35+ employees in our offices at Lysaker (Oslo) and Warsaw (where we will also soon move to a new, larger office).

Jakub Dąbrowski joins as new Tech Lead

Jakub Dąbrowski joins as new Tech Lead

We are pleased that Jakub Dąbrowski has chosen to join Memcare as our Tech Lead with responsibility for product development. With long relevant experience, he and CTO Håkon Årøen will lead together the technology division of Memcare.

Jakub Dąbrowski studied at Warsaw University of Technology and has in recent years worked with several IT companies, both in design and development of projects. Jakub will, in addition to leading the tech team daily, also take part in project management and integration processes for larger funeral homes in Europe.

- We are satisfied and happy to welcome Jakub Dąbrowski to the Memcare team. It is important for us to strengthen the team with a leader who knows the importance of delivering high quality solutions for funeral homes. At the same time, Jakub, understands and manages to see how important our solutions are to our clients. He also values good customer experience, says CEO Lars Martinsen.

Does your funeral home need new IT solutions?

Does your funeral home need new IT solutions?

Here are 5 signs that indicate a serious need for digitization and new IT solutions for your funeral home.

It is a challenge for many funeral homes to stay up to date and informed on the latest IT solutions. Many funeral directors will say they have IT systems “that work”, even though employees, customers and relatives may have a different opinion.

Many IT systems are becoming old-fashioned and difficult to replace.Becoming trapped with an old and outdated solution can be very dangerous for your funeral business.

Modern technology can provide great competitive advantages through automation, streamlining, simplification and enhanced overview.
Good solutions help you have more effective processes, so you can focus on running the funeral business. They should be a business driver for growth, better results, and satisfied clients and employees.

There are still, unfortunately, many examples in the industry of funeral homes that still use old-fashioned and ineffective solutions. Are you one of them?

Signs that your funeral home needs new IT solutions:

  1. Your current IT solution is not cloud based. You need to have special software running locally or physically in your office to do your work.
  2. You use Excel sheets and word templates for everything from staff planning to customer registrations.
  3. Your funeral home office is full of papers and documents.
  4. Clients and relatives are complaining that response time is too long.
  5. Clients and relatives must physically go to your funeral home office, or call to do even the smallest tasks.

If you answered yes to at least one of the questions, we recommend that you continue reading.

Cloud-based solutions

Your funeral home should have a cloud-based system which can be accessed via a web browser on any device (PC/tablet/mobile) connected to the internet. It is also possible to directly interact with customers.

A cloud-based system does not require installation, and you do not need to consider either data retention (own servers), updates or upgrades. Instead of purchasing software licenses, you pay for the access to the software, and you may pay regular prices per month per user.

It's about getting IT delivered to your funeral home as a service, dynamic and flexible.

To help you be one step ahead, Memcare offers a complete cloud-based system for your funeral home. Memcare solutions are easy to set up, with low costs - probably even less than what you pay today - and makes it easier to get more satisfied customers and earn more.

The Solution

Memcare Partner is a complete innovative cloud-based (SaaS) IT solution tailored for funeral homes and funeral directors. Memcare Partner is the only IT solution funeral homes need for their daily operations. The solution manages everything from customer registration, orders, publishing of obituaries, online store and flower sales, application manuals, billing, administration and staff planning, and much more.

Memcare Partner also includes the solution, Memcare Notify, which is a cutting-edge solution for relatives who have lost a loved one to help them notify family and friends immediately. Relatives can easily organize the funeral, create and share a memorial page and take care of the deceased's left behind online presence using Memcare.

Our solutions are GDPR compliant and provide an open API that easily integrates with external services/systems. With Memcare Partner and Memcare Notify we offer your funeral home one of the funeral industry's most innovative and powerful IT solutions.

With Memcare, our customers choose the modules and how they want the solution tailored to suit the funeral home needs.

Interested in hearing more about how we can help your funeral home?

Visit memcare.com or send an email directly to me, lars@memcare, and you will hear from me right away.

Reinventing How You Notify Your Family and Friends When You Lose a Loved One

Reinventing How You Notify Your Family and Friends When You Lose a Loved One

A UN report estimated that 258 million people live in a country other than their country of birth. Two-thirds of the world’s population has access to a mobile phone. The internet has made distances shorter and the world smaller. Traditional newspaper obituaries are challenged by new solutions.

In many parts of the world, it is still common to publish obituaries in the newspaper after the loss of a loved one.

Easier access to computers and an increased utilization of smartphones provides instant communication with anyone, anywhere. With more than half of the world's 7.6 billion population having internet access, it is about time to change how we communicate the loss of a loved one.

People Spread Across the Globe

In 2017, according to a UN report, India was the largest country of origin of international migrants at 17 million, followed by Mexico at 13 million. There are now an estimated 258 million people living in a country other than their country of birth — an increase of 49 percent since 2000.

In recent decades, the world has become more globalized with increased international trade and free movement of capital across borders. There are an estimated 56 million expatriates worldwide. Today's children and youth grow up in a global society characterized by high mobility and increased diversity. It is common to have a broad network of friends that ranges from school, family, colleagues, business partners, and acquaintances, who come from all over the world.

Having families, friends, and acquaintances living around the world creates some challenges when we lose one of our loved ones. Newspapers have a limited scope and obituaries being the go-to-solution for publication is one of many reasons that family and friends are not notified quickly enough after loss of a loved one.

“Placing an obituary in the newspaper when a loved one dies is a time-honored tradition in many countries. The reality is that newspapers continue to have a declining readership and precipitous drops in circulation. Obituaries can also be quite expensive”.

In communities where the funeral takes place as quickly as possible, traditional obituaries are not fast enough and relatives will normally call only the closest family members and let “word of mouth” take care of the rest, with no way to track and know who has been informed and who has not.

Sharing the news on social media such as Facebook is an option, but it is easy to lose control of how things are shared in open social media. Online memorial pages are increasing in popularity, but you still have to inform people in a timely manner.

Memcare is Solving a Big Problem

When we created Memcare, we spoke with families and relatives who had lost a loved one, hospitals, religious communities and managers and owners of several funeral homes in both our home country of Norway and internationally. We asked questions like, how is it done today? How could it be done better?

The result of the feedback and a comprehensive development process was Memcare.

“Memcare has become a better alternative to ineffective and expensive newspaper obituaries, which solves a big problem for relatives and families all around the world”.

See How Memcare Works (watch the video)

 

Let's Have a Chat About Memcare Over a Cup of Coffee

In order to stay current, you need to continuously improve and provide up-to-date services. We collaborate with funeral homes around the world, offering cost-effective and leading technology products and services.

Visit Memcare.com today for more information or contact me (Lars Martinsen, CEO) directly at lars@memcare.com.

3 Tech Solutions Helping Your Funeral Home Handle the Digitization Age

3 Tech Solutions Helping Your Funeral Home Handle the Digitization Age

New technology makes it possible to do things in completely new ways – ways that are better, faster, cheaper, and more customer friendly. Today's customers pose entirely different requirements than just a few years ago and have challenged the entire funeral industry.

There is a huge wave of digitization happening in many industries, including the funeral industry. Technological change is faster than ever before, and new technology is gaining an ever-increasing market penetration. “Everyone” is turning digital with buzzwords like AI (artificial intelligence) and IoT (internet of Things), and with new digital infrastructure, big data, automation and new products, there is a technological revolution happening.

Alongside changes in technology come dramatic changes in business models. We are talking about a complete digital transformation, which makes it possible to do things in completely new ways. New solutions are much better, cheaper, faster, more customer friendly, and more efficient than ever before.

In the publication "The changing landscape of disruptive technologies", KPMG gives a perspective on new global technology trends. KPMG has interviewed nearly 100 senior executives in global technology companies as part of the CEO Outlook 2017. They say that their main strategic priorities in the future are faster market penetration (30%), business digitization (24%), deployment of disruptive technology (23%), and drive innovation (23%).

The average life expectancy of companies on the US index S&P 500 has changed significantly over the last century. In 1935, companies had a lifespan of 90 years. In 1955, this was halved to 45 years, and in 1992 it was reduced to 22 years. Today, life is under 15 years.

“Things happen so fast now, it seems everyday something new and innovative is being presented. The funeral homes in danger are those that are unable to adapt to the new conditions.”

Today's Customers Require More

In today's digital world, we use the internet to solve problems or face challenges in many different ways. At the same time, the internet and new technology provide exposure to common experiences across borders. Digitization also changes how customers will relate to funeral homes.

Technology-oriented customers require better and more personal solutions. This results in funeral homes having to come up with new business models, becoming far more flexible in their operations, offering new and innovative products and services, and delivering a personal and engaging customer experience. The digital approach involves more than just giving customers a good experience when they contact your funeral home or homepage, it really permeates everything the business is doing.

Your funeral home should offer good digital solutions to give current and future customers a successful customer experience.

3 Tech Solutions Required for Funeral Homes to Meet Current and Future Customers

  1. Digital notification solutions that help your clients notify family and friends immediately when a loved one passes away (newspaper obituaries are too slow and expensive)
  2. Digital Memorial page, a place where family and friends can honor and remember those who have passed away. Available on all kinds of devices.
  3. Social Media deactivation, helping dependents close the deceased's social media profiles, email accounts, bank accounts, and more.

The digital transformation is never finished. In order to stay up to date, you need to continuously improve and provide new services. Memcare offers cost-effective and leading technology products and services tailored to your funeral home. We are constantly developing in order to ensure we offer the best services for our customers, relatives, and their families. By choosing the right technology partner, your funeral home can quickly deliver the customer experience today's customers expect and deserve.

Become a Memcare Partner?

Memcare will launch its services in the United States and Europe in 2018. Memcare offers funeral homes more satisfied customers by delivering the best solution in the market, increasing their revenue with Memcare's creative solutions and cutting costs through efficient and tailor-made solutions. Memcare has no set-up fees or complicated agreements.

Contact CEO Lars Martinsen lars@memcare.com or fill in this form and we will contact you shortly.

This Funeral Trend Changes How People Are Notified After the Loss of a Loved One

This Funeral Trend Changes How People Are Notified After the Loss of a Loved One

Newspaper obituaries, phone calls, text messages, e-mail and social media have been the way to go when notifying friends and family after the loss of a loved one - until now.

In many countries, it is still common to publish obituaries in the newspaper. In communities where the funeral takes place as quickly as possible, traditional obituaries are not fast enough and relatives will normally call only the closest family members and let “word of mouth” take care of the rest. Sharing the news on social media such as Facebook is also an option, but many relatives feel that unfortunately they lose control here.

Online memorial pages have begun to become more common in some countries, but you still have to inform people in a timely manner.

The challenge with today's solutions is that family and friends are not notified quickly enough to attend the funeral and it is hard to know who has been notified and who has not.

New solutions in the funeral market set out to solve this in a more accurate, efficient and smarter way. Smarter solutions help relatives save money, stress and spend more time on what is important to them during the grieving process.

Memcare provides a unique notification service making it easy to immediately notify family, friends, and colleagues, and automatically keep track of who has been informed, and keep control of who has access to the information.

Watch: How Does Memcare Work?

Become a Memcare Partner?

Memcare will launch its services in the United States and Europe in 2018. Memcare offers funeral homes more satisfied customers by delivering the best solution in the market, increasing their revenue with Memcare's creative solutions and cutting costs through efficient and tailor-made solutions. Memcare has no set-up fees or complicated agreements.

Contact CEO Lars Martinsen lars@memcare.com or fill in this form and we will contact you shortly.