26 June 2008
The First Division Football Club, Swindon Town, has received
significant media coverage in recent weeks as a result of an
innovative season ticket campaign launched for the 2008/9
season.
The Club has pledged to reduce the cost of an adult season
ticket to just £229 if 6,000 supporters sign up for the deal and
with more than 3,000 tickets already sold, it looks increasingly
likely that fans will secure themselves a ‘once in a lifetime’
opportunity.
A new ticketing system developed by IRIS Software4Sport has been
installed to help cope with the demand.
Nick Watkins, Chief Executive takes up the story: “We were
waiting for the final piece of our web system to be delivered when
the supplier went into administration. With such a high profile
season ticket campaign planned and a target of 6,000 tickets to
sell, we just couldn’t risk our IT system letting us down.”
TALENT Sport was selected following a thorough appraisal of a
number of suppliers and was implemented in the tightest of time
scales, so that the Club would be ready to start selling tickets on
the 12th May.
Nick continued: “There were three main factors that attracted us
to TALENT Sport. We were impressed with the company’s experience
and its proven track record and we drew comfort from the background
of the investors involved. Because of our previous
experience, their financial backing was a major consideration.
Finally, the management team demonstrated real professionalism in
the way that they handled our questions. We were made to feel
extremely confident that we would receive the highest levels of
customer support.”
The fully integrated nature of the TALENT Sport system proved to
be the deciding factor as the Club plans to implement a CRM system
at a later date that will sit on the back of its Ticketing
solution.
Following a project kick off meeting that was held on April
23rd, a go-live date of May 19th was set to open ticket sales for
the new season. . Despite the briefest of time scales, the system
went live on May 12th, a full week ahead of the planned date and
without a single hitch.
Nick Watkins said: “Because we had made the decision to
implement TALENT Sport, we delayed starting the selling of
season tickets by a couple of weeks and despite some doubts about
whether the system could go live in such a short space of
time, we have proved that it is possible. The success of the
project is a great testament to the concerted efforts of the whole
team.”
Already the new ticketing system is providing a greater level of
control, especially in relation to the mapping of the stadium and
the car park, and fans are benefiting too, as they are able to
reserve their seat of choice.
Glenn Jackson, Managing Director of IRIS
Software4Sport, said: “The implementation project at Swindon
Town Football Club is proof of what can be achieved when everyone
works as a team. It has been one of our most exciting projects and
we wish the Club every success with their Season Ticket
campaign.”
TALENT Sport is used by numerous Premiership Clubs including
Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool, to manage ticketing, web
sales, CRM, automated telephone sales, corporate sales and
hospitality, membership, loyalty programmes, merchandising and mail
order, financials and reporting.
Ends
About IRIS
Software4Sport:
IRIS Software4Sport develops the only fully integrated management
system for sports club and venues that puts the customer at the
heart of the operation and provides a ‘holistic’ view of all
related transactions.
TALENT Sport is used by numerous blue-chip clients to manage
ticketing, web sales, CRM, automated telephone sales, corporate
sales and hospitality, membership, loyalty, merchandising and mail
order, financials and reporting.
Customers include the Premiership Clubs; Manchester City,
Everton, Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle and Sunderland, Clubs from the
England Championship and Coca Cola Leagues, numerous Rugby
Clubs, National and International Sports Arenas, Governing Bodies
and Membership Associations.
This complete and robust solution withstands the increasingly
challenging demands of web selling and ticketing and allows Clubs
to achieve a fast ROI, best demonstrated by customer
retention rates of 98%, which are recognised as some of the highest
in the software industry.
IRIS Software4Sport is part of the IRIS Software Group, the largest
privately owned software business in the UK delivering regulatory,
accounting and full service solutions to well over 60,000 UK
businesses with 75% of Premiereship Clubs using IRIS Solutions.
Revenues are well over £100m and the business employs 1000
staff.
