A view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Seattle is a town that loves its professional sports teams and April means the beginning of baseball season when hopes run high…but disappointment is not far off. Maybe that sounds a bit like the expectations companies have when it comes to choosing and implementing a CRM system–the visions of success can all too soon be overtaken by a “slump.” It’s been interesting for me to track how many professional sports teams around the globe are starting to use CRM, and it’s not just pre-season hype…it’s fundamentally changing the game for spectators and the boardroom (even if not always changing the results of the score board!)
You will find Microsoft Dynamics CRM being used across the major sports leagues in the United States—NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB—as well as minor league teams and non-US sports clubs. The focus is on creating new ‘sticky’ experiences for the fans (and it’s not with the cotton candy). Teams have different programs whether for ticketing, merchandise, or newsletters, etc. Bridging the gap for customers helps streamline marketing and selling opportunities. But while optimizing and integrating systems is certainly a valuable component, some teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder are using the opportunity to enhance the personalization experience for fans. Or there’s also the Cincinnati Reds who are using CRM information and ticketing data to spot trends and create targeted offers.
This focus on the customer experience is what many companies are using to increase competitive differentiation and create business value. Forrester Research writes about customer experience discipline this in a recent piece on CRM trends in 2013. And in fact Avanade’s own recent research also reveals how the customer-centric business is improving sales and profits while enabling greater agility in responding to the market…something we’ve labeled Work Redesigned.
Baseball or basketball not your game? Well, then take the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) where Avanade recently helped deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM. With 102,000 members plus the responsibility for running the largest sporting stadium in Australia (the Melbourne Cricket Ground), tackling member management and the event experience was critical. Now MCC can better track what activities members participate in and drive more targeted communications.
Hmmm…now can someone bring me some peanuts and cracker jacks?! How have you changed the customer experience in your company?