Venues have become much more than just a place for a football match on a Sunday. They are in use now more than ever, for concerts, functions, sporting events and training.
However, it is not every day that there is a concert or a match, leaving an empty venue sitting their awaiting its next big event. This also has meant no revenue for a club or the owners of the stadium.
Many stadiums and venues have increased their attractiveness to the public with the introduction of other activities, restaurants, and entertainment within their premises. This also can have the added effect of diversifying the public attention toward the club, with football fans going to restaurants, mini-golf courses, and other entertainment venues before or after a match, and potential walk-ins at football matches from those who attend the new entertainment venues.
However, this can bring about new challenges to a club, with innovation needing to be seamlessly integrated into a football fans experience at the club, as businesses and football clubs strive for excellence. Particularly with the ability for many games, especially in Australia, to be watched either at home or at a local pub or club, the onus is on venues and football clubs to deliver a succinct and entertaining experience for fans, to keep them coming back week on week.
The increase in reliability on technology services to engage and improve the fans experience at a football match can be costly, difficult to navigate and clustered. Many clubs tend to be on the back foot, chasing efficiency to keep up with their demand, and not proactively setting up for success in the future.
Many clubs are integrating managed service providers, such as PTI Digital, to oversee and assist in maintaining and supporting a venue’s technical operations. PTI Digitals team of IT experts house a range of skills which allow for efficient administration, security, and networking services, all of which are vital in the diversification of a venue attractions. PTI Digital also reduce costs of a venue or club, by removing the need to recruit new IT staff, or training staff with a narrow operating window, only to take care of a handful of tasks. Clubs and venues have constant access to PTI Digitals team of well-versed IT experts, who can assist in tackling challenges across a variety of areas.
PTI Digital has imposed itself within the UK sport market, with a deep understanding of sports event operations, and currently has six active managed services operations at major UK sporting venues – including Norwich Football Club, Crystal Palace, London Stadium, and London Olympic Park. PTI focuses on quality of efficiency and cost saving, with the ability to remove the need for a CTO for many of the venues that PTI oversees.
Flexibility for individual clients of PTI is also a major principle, with different infrastructure, cultures, and economic viability all taken into consideration. PTI also ensures to add a human touch to their services, allowing clients to easily digest information on their end, and do not need everything translated from a PTI expert. This is crucial for board meetings and other executive discussions, in which discussions can be held in house, with access to the bank of knowledge which PTI Digital provides to their clients. This will allow more informed decisions for future expansion plans, refurbishments, and other stadium and venue alterations.
PTI Digital’s approach for clients is simple. There is a necessity to identify a long-term goal, which PTI Digital can help extract from a club, in which to focus resources for the future successes of the club. PTI also conduct a club analysis, to identify weak points, resources, and areas in which the club is performing well at from a brand point. PTI Digital will also analyse the difference between the vision of the club and where they are situated, allowing for a practical roadmap to be set in place, and ensuring flawless execution over a long-term period.
PTI Digital’s transformation pyramid investigates the role in which technology can and is encouraged to play in an organisation’s future strategy and planning. PTI’s clients can delve into the wealth of data, and digital and commercial operations initiatives, in order to kickstart new revenue pathways, which will drive future success for a football club or venue.
