Swindon telecoms consultancy Red Rose Technologies is celebrating a major win with Southampton Football Club after helping it revitalise the way it communicates with fans.
Red Rose founder Andrew Moules worked with The Saints to modernise its communications by introducing a cloud-based telephone system to make it easier for supporters to engage with the club.
Mr Moules, who founded Red Rose three years ago after more than 20 years in the industry, said: “I was over the moon when the club wanted to partner with me. It’s been a fantastic project to be involved with.”
The first contact with the club’s IT director came via a chance conversation on LinkedIn two years ago. “He read a Telecoms Buyers’ Guide I’d written during lockdown and invited me in,” said Mr Moules. “They wanted to work with me because I was independent and a small business that could offer the personal touch.”
He spent time in many departments at the club’s St Mary’s Stadium to understand their needs and challenges before reporting back to the IT director and his team on what kind of system would suit it best.
“They wanted to bring their fans closer to the club through their contact centre,” he said. “My role was to understand what they wanted to do, their budget and when they needed to deliver it by.”
He identified four potential suppliers and after outlining to them the club’s needs and budget he co-ordinated the procurement phase of the project. “It was easy for the club because after they demonstrated their systems the potential suppliers weren’t bombarding the IT director with follow-up calls because I was the point of contact and I acted as a buffer as if I was a member of the IT team.”
Once a supplier had been identified he helped drive down the price to ensure the club got the best value. “I’m in the middle and project managing really,” he said. “I’m challenging the client and challenging suppliers but making sure that when we get to a certain point we are all collaborating and all on the same wavelength.”
He said the new system, which went live in March, has brought the club’s communications into the 21st century. “It replaced two traditional systems that couldn’t talk to each other,” he said. “Now there are very few handsets on desks, resulting in a lot less plastic hardware and the staff can work from anywhere using software driven tools.”
He said the new system is faster, more resilient and, crucially, can relay more information back to the club. “It gives them more statistics, analytics and data-driven insights,” he said. “They can identify trends like busy times and training needs so that they can be more agile, more available to their fans and give a faster, better experience to fans when they contact the club.
“It’s an indication of how Southampton feel about their fans and also their staff.”
He will be working with the club to develop its communications further, developing contact points via platforms including chatbots and WhatsApp to meet the needs of future generations of fans.
Mr Moules, whose clients also include school academies and legal firms, said working with the club has been a positive experience.
“To have a client like Southampton Football Club to want to partner with me and trust my knowledge and experience has been fantastic and a real boost for my business too,” he said. “The club has a lovely family feel, everyone was keen to help and welcomed me on board. They were a dream of an account to work with.”
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