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Stadiums are more than sports venues: they’re expertly run hospitality destinations. To get fans off the couch and into their seats, the entire customer experience – from ticket purchase through navigating out of a packed parking lot – is shaped by the interactions fans have with the people manning concession stands, gift stores and stadium aisles.
Stadium operators who want to create a positive fan experience must equip their hospitality workers with the necessary tools to perform their jobs effectively and efficiently. IT leaders in the stadium business use unified communications & collaboration (UC&C) to keep a smile on hospitality workers’ faces—and that smile gets passed on to fans.
The role of UC&C in stadiums: A day in the life of a fan
Imagine you’re a season ticket holder. You’re taking your daughter to an upcoming game and have a question, so you call the stadium’s contact center at a peak time. Thanks to CRM integration, the phone system knows you’re a VIP and your call is immediately routed to an available agent.
On the agent’s screen, your information pops up. They instantly know who you are, your ticket-holder status and how often you attend games. Using this information, the agent has a personalized conversation with you, even noting that the game you’re going to happens to fall on your birthday. With your questions answered quickly and promptly, your game day plans are set.
The day of the game arrives. You enter the stadium and immediately head to the gift shop to treat yourself to a new star’s jersey, but your size isn’t available. Not a problem. A retail associate makes a quick call to the stock room and locates one that will fit perfectly. Within minutes, it’s in your hands.
As you make your way to your seats, you grab a quick snack. When the cashier realizes the credit card machine is down, she instantly texts the IT staff and gets immediate support to resolve the issue. During the game, your daughter uses the restroom, but finds the nearest one has had a run on paper towels. She tells the nearest attendant, who uses her phone to alert the building staff to resolve the issue.
As she exits the restroom, your daughter takes a wrong turn and doesn’t see you. You begin to worry and speak to the nearest security guard. You show them a picture of your daughter, which the guard shares via mass notification with all his colleagues. With everyone on alert, your daughter is found. You feel an overwhelming sense of relief.
After the game ends and you make your way out of the stadium, the particular exit you’re heading toward has a line that’s not moving. It turns out an incident is blocking the gate. The gate attendant uses their phone to alert other personnel, who redirect you to a different way out.
If it hadn’t been for UC&C, the day could have been a nightmare. But when staff across all areas can communicate with each other, they can resolve issues quickly. Employees stay calm and confident because their communications system immediately connects them with the right person, no matter what the issue. A simple and reliable system makes it easy for hospitality workers to get the job done.
IT leaders have already turned to UC&C for powerful connections
Several stadiums are leading this adoption of UC&C to keep hospitality workers across all areas of operations connected.
The San Diego Padres™ turned to unified communications for a scalable system, allowing them adapt to the demands of hosting the MLB™ All-Star Game. Contact center agents have immediate access to personalized information thanks to CRM integration, while call data analytics provide valuable measures of call performance and identify areas that need improvement. UC was “instrumental in hosting the MLB™ All-Star Game because we can easily expand our communications across the ballpark in seconds and guarantee a seamless experience,” says Ray Chan, the team’s Vice President of Information Technology.
The Boston Red Sox™ use UC&C to deliver a more personalized fan experience while affording employees full mobile support. “One of my responsibilities is getting out of the office and visiting with patrons during games,” says Mike Cometa, Red Sox account executive. “Calls to our main desk can be rerouted to our mobile phone so we can attend to customers in a timely fashion.”
Ottawa Senators Hockey Club™ keeps calls running smoothly between VIP suites, the kitchen and other operational areas. A flexible UC system allowed them to scale and transition from a 250-person office environment to a 20,000-person sold-out event.
Stadiums provide services across many areas, including retail, hospitality, field services, concessions and security. A unified communications and collaboration system maintains the connection between these functions, keeping staff happy, productive – and smiling.
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When the game is on the line – both in the United States and in London – MLB™ trusts Mitel, its official business technology & communications partner, to make the right call.
