Playbook Online at De Meerdijk Crematorium: ‘Three hours saved per day’
De Meerdijk is the largest crematorium in the Emmen area and handles around 1,200 to 1,300 cremations per year. In mid-2025, the crematorium started using Playbook Online from 302 Uitvaart, with excellent results: significant time savings, greater flexibility and easy operation on site.
‘In the past, funerals were often quite simple – coffee, biscuits and cake – but expectations are somewhat higher nowadays,’ explains Jacqueline Zomers of Crematorium De Meerdijk. In the spring of 2025, she decided to look for modern software support that could modernise the crematorium's services. This led her to Playbook Online from 302 Uitvaart.
‘The trend in the funeral sector is towards greater personalisation, with more demand for customisation. Playbook Online fits in perfectly with this.’ Since 1 July 2025, the crematorium has been running on the new software and all the funeral directors with whom De Meerdijk works are connected to it. ‘This has enabled us to adapt to the times we live in.’
Situation: creating PowerPoint presentations yourself with input from relatives
Until recently, De Meerdijk employees created accompanying presentations to show during funerals by hand. Bereaved families sent their input via the funeral director, and a crematorium employee got to work in PowerPoint. ‘It was incredibly labour-intensive,’ says Zomers. ‘We perform over 800 services a year, so you can imagine how much work that is.’
It wasn't just the amount of work that bothered Zomers: things regularly went wrong, such as when photo material was delivered. ‘We would receive a whole folder full of photos, but there would be all kinds of Christmas cards mixed in, for example. We would then contact the funeral director to ask if they really wanted those included. Almost always, it turned out to be a mistake.’
Nowadays, the expectations of bereaved families regarding funerals are higher.
Jacqueline Zomers, Crematorium De Meerdijk
Solution: next of kin are in control
Given her desire to work much more efficiently when organising funerals, Playbook Online soon proved to be a hit, says Zomers. Instead of De Meerdijk employees being inundated daily with photos, videos and audio files that need to be incorporated into a presentation, the bereaved can now do this themselves, in consultation with the funeral director.
‘That saves us two to three hours a day,’ Zomers calculates. However, she considers the positive impact on the bereaved to be just as important. ‘Previously, the bereaved were completely dependent on us: did we put the photos in the right order with the right music, had we understood the instructions correctly? Now the family is in charge: we have handed over the reins to them.’
That does not mean that crematorium staff no longer provide guidance and support, Zomers emphasises. ‘We still have a supervisory and supportive role, but no longer the full responsibility. We help if there are any questions and raise the alarm if, a few days before a funeral, we see that nothing has been compiled in the online portal.’
“Playbook Online saves us two to three hours per day.”
Results: working more efficiently and better control over good service
Zomers has also discovered that working with Playbook Online in the auditorium itself is excellent. She receives positive feedback from all crematorium employees. ‘The controls in the auditorium are simple and services run more smoothly than before.’
Zomers considers the option for relatives to play the entire service online beforehand to be of great added value. This allows the family to check for themselves whether the presentation meets all their wishes. ‘This prevents confusion during the funeral itself and guarantees a funeral that meets all expectations. This is very important, because you only say goodbye once.’
Zomers also has some advice for other crematoria and funeral homes considering using Playbook Online: ‘Just take the plunge. I originally come from the hospitality sector, where automation and modernisation have been the norm for years, partly from a commercial point of view.’ She notes that the funeral sector tends to be more cautious, but as far as she is concerned, this is unjustified. ‘You shouldn't be afraid of automation. There's no need to be afraid of the unknown.’
Anyone who is still unsure is very welcome to visit Emmen, Zomers concludes. ‘A colleague from another crematorium in the area recently asked if she could come and see how everything works here. Of course she was welcome to do so. I am happy to show her how we now work more efficiently and have more control over providing the best possible service.’
You should not be afraid to automate. Sometimes you just have to take the plunge.
