The cornerstone of future funeral services strategy

By Juan Rodríguez, CEO at Albia Funeral Services, Spain

For over 5,000 years any funeral professional would say that the most important thing in a funeral is the deceased and their family. This is also our determined aim, and will remain so. This article is not intended to alter or relegate this important principle, but rather it is but a reflection on the reality that we are all experiencing both now and will in the coming years, both funeral services providers and their clients.

Whenever I participate in any talk or teach a class, I always maintain that the future of our industry lays in our past, in preserving the farewell rites that each family and the deceased have decided on, respecting their beliefs and wishes without demeaning or trivializing these. The care taken of the initial delicate and personal mourning phase of those who must say goodbye to a loved one is certainly a major responsibility. In this sense, I think we can all be proud as our procedures, worker training and professional dedication and sensitivity all serve this end. But in this article I would like to approach this topic by first setting aside the usual analysis. The families who trust us have made an important decision that we must now follow up on and fulfill. But these families are also digital consumers who have also been experiencing an accelerated digital transformation. This is not a minor issue that can be resolved with small adaptations, such as modifying our website, developing an app or digitizing our hiring, etc. These reflections go beyond these. This is because if clients or contractors are both in the digital space, risks that other sectors have experienced must also be managed. That is, we must decide whether to intermediate or be intermediated.

Read full article in the spring issue of THANOS magazine - you can read online at pages 15-17

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