Issue #11
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COMMENT COMMENT
Speeding Up
of a cloud telephony-based system. You can find a wonderful array of stadiums in various points of their digitalisation journeys on pages 19 to 26, and hear from those tasked with leading the implementation of various technical installations and integrations. Purchasing for Purpose with Nimans, Jabra and D-Link on page 27 is a great insight into why anyone selling to or buying for an SMB should consider buying a business- level grade product. The market is flooded with products that are not designed for the purpose in which they purport to be, and SMB’s precious budgets should be maximised with the right devices and equipment. In this month’s issue our Stock in the Channel analysts give us a glimpse into Q2 data for the super category that is Meeting Cameras on pages 40 and 41, cameras enabling up to hop into meeting rooms at the push of a button as opposed to being stuck on the M25. And our beloved Stockies – I really urge you to speedily nominate, and if you’re reading this column after 14 September then visit the Stockies website stockies.co.uk and vote for your favourite product, vendor, distributor, personality or reseller.
Many of us will feel the pace of business quickening, especially if we’ve just returned from our usually slow-paced annual summer breaks. This issue of UC Advanced is all about speed – whether it’s connectivity in stadiums looking for solutions to increase bandwidth for transferring 8K videos, contact centres integrating omnichannel experiences or the end user considering the purchase of a business-grade access point, we are always looking for the seamless customer experience (CX), and hence discussions around Wi-Fi 7 are imminent in the coming year, and can be found on page 38 in this issue. If you are looking for a device to speed up your work life, then I highly recommend the Philips SuperWide Thunderbolt 4 Monitor, featured on page 34, which wins our Editor’s Choice Award this month. I use one, and it has changed my work rate. In my work life, I switch between emails, documents, search engines, social media at least a hundred times a day, and now I have my work all-in- one screen, at whatever layout and size I wish, without constantly clicking the taskbar to bring up different applications or switch to another monitor – it saves my eyes from focusing on small print and it saves my time. We kick off the second part of our Contact Centre (CC) series on page 14 with a panel of experts from Zoom, NFON and Content Guru considering what’s hot and what’s not in the world of CC’s, and certainly the use of AI and predictive analytics is hotter than the current English sun. Another of our feature stories this month is Stadium Connectivity which includes an inside perspective from Southampton Football Club’s IT Director Huw Fielding, who sat down with 8x8’s Managing Director, EMEA Jamie Snaddon at CX South 2024 to talk about his experiences in daily work life, and in particular the fairly recent implementation
Trish Stevens Guest Editor
CALLING ALL BRANDS
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CONTENTS
UCC News You should know p6 Contact Centres What’s hot and what’s not? p14 Stadium CX Game On! Tech Tackles Stadiums p19 SMB Devices Purchasing for Purpose p27 Product Review Philips 32:9 Superwide Thunderbolt™ 4 Monitor p34 Connectivity The Need for WiFi7 Speed p38 Eagle Eye – BI Entry Level Meeting Cameras p40 VR Training Bridging the Knowledge Gap p44 Connectivity & Comms Sona Business making an impact p48 Sustainability Sustainable companies in 2024 p50 People All change p52
All too often small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) buy UC&C products that are not designed for business needs...
Three major trends have been happening in the world of stadiums and arenas...
p19
p27
p14
p44
One of the perennial challenges for sales teams is selling products that they may not be familiar with...
What are the current trends in contact centres, the business problems they’re solving, the common adoption barriers, and potential improvements
04
Sona Business has forged a strong reputation in Europe over the past decade and is looking to make a big impact.
Editorial Guest Editor Trish Stevens Dan Parton 07941 979 845 dan@ucadvanced.com Head of Sales Martin Jenner-Hall 07824 552 116 martin@ucadvanced.com Publishing Director Justin Penn 07816 573 186 justin@ucadvanced.com
p48
p34
The Philips 32:9 SuperWide Thunderbolt™ 4 monitor has completely transformed my workspace, delivering unparalleled performance and versatility...
Written permission from the publisher is required before any part of UC Advanced can be reproduced. © 2024 In the Channel Media Ltd.
Ben Allcock, B2B Sales Director at TP-Link explores how speed advancements can future-proof operations
p38
p50
Published by: In the Channel Media Ltd Company registration number: 14363401 Registered office address 14-18 Heddon Street,
The top European Telecommunications and IT, Tech and Software companies, as ranked by TIME and Statista for 2024.
Mayfair, London, United Kingdom, W1B 4DA In conjunction with:
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UCC NEWS
Goal! Green IP Scores with AFCB
LtoR Evolve IP (EMEA) MD Paul Harrison, AFCB’s Commercial Director Rob Mitchell and Matthew Brown, Business Development Executive Green IP
You will see our brand featured on digital boards around the stadium, offering us visibility and engagement with both fans attending the games and those watching from home around the world.” Rob Mitchell, Commercial Director of AFC Bournemouth, shared his delight at the new deal: “It’s great to have another local company supporting our regional partner programme and we look forward to a long association with Green IP.” Green IP rebranded and re-launched from TXI Communications a few years ago. Brown emphasised how the company is different to many other providers, building an environmental ethos from the ‘ground up’, including a fleet of electric vehicles. It also wants to simplify the communications landscape and cut through technological jargon. He continued, “Green IP is growing rapidly working with bigger and bigger clients at home and abroad. We’ve expanded our staff and have a new Sales Director role.” In further goal-scoring fashion, Green IP was recently recognised for its environmental efforts by securing the Sustainability Partner of the Year award from global collaboration service partner Evolve IP.
Poole-based Green IP, an internet-based comms and telephony company, has become an Executive Regional Partner of AFC Bournemouth for the coming season. Green IP will benefit from pitch side and ground advertising as well as corporate match day sponsorship. Green IP Business Development Executive, Matthew Brown, says the deal represents an exciting new chapter for the fast-growing company which has now developed an international presence including the US. “This opportunity allows Green IP to reach new heights, connecting our brand with the passionate fan base of AFC Bournemouth.
Boom’s new ‘Box Of Tricks’ Boom Collaboration has launched a new multi-connectivity hub: the Boom ZYGO, which offers one cable connection, multiple 4K screen and camera connectivity plus the ability to charge individual devices. The compact docking station has been
high performance collaboration. Fellow founder Holli Hulett emphasised:
“Gone are the days of a big clunky piece of conferencing hardware sat gathering dust in the corner of a boardroom
developed to address growing demand for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and plug- and-play conferencing trends, as well as in-room PC deployments. Boom Co-Founder Fredrik Hörnkvist enthused, “It’s the ultimate hub for seamless meeting connectivity and in many ways the missing link for simple and streamlined conferencing deployments, with a wealth of connectivity. Furthermore the ZYGO gives the user complete control rather than being locked into a specific system with a narrow set of options.” The Boom ZYGO boasts extensive device capacity of 2x USB-C 10G ports and 4x USB-A 5G ports. A 1GbE LAN port ensures fast internet connection. The ZYGO comes with a mounting kit and ensures wherever people are working they have quick and instant access to
because no one knew how to use it. The market is definitely maturing now with some organisations having to replace their previous equipment bought during the mad rush of Covid. USB connectivity is the way forward for many and is becoming widespread across our product portfolio.”
Boom ZYGO
Holli Hulett, Fredrik Hörnkvist co-Founders
boom.co
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UCC NEWS
Zoom smart name tags
Recently Zoom announced the open beta of smart name tags, a new feature designed to enhance inclusivity and engagement in hybrid meetings. Available now in Zoom Rooms, smart name tags leverage artificial intelligence to apply name tags to people in a Zoom Room, making it easier for virtual
participants to know who is in the room and create a more connected and seamless meeting experience. Admins can enable this feature via settings and individuals can choose to opt-in for automatic recognition during meetings or manually add their name tags, allowing their name tag to be displayed automatically in the video feed. These tags can also be edited if needed. Smart name tags can help to ensure every participant in a Zoom Room is easily identifiable, enhancing the overall meeting experience, making virtual communication more personal and inclusive. This feature helps remote and in-person attendees feel more connected, breaking down the barriers that often exist in hybrid meetings.
Nimans, a leading provider of telecommunications and technology Nimans Unveils State-of-the-Art Facilities opportunity to test and evaluate solutions in real-time.
solutions, has announced the launch of its cutting-edge presentation and demonstration facilities designed to enhance customer experiences and drive sales growth.
“Our new facilities represent a significant investment in our customers’ success,” said Steve McIntyre, Marketing Director at Nimans. “By offering these immersive experiences, we’re not just showcasing technology – we’re demonstrating our commitment to our partners’ growth and innovation.” Nimans reports that in-person demonstrations conducted in these new facilities have led to a remarkable conversion rate of over 80% for sales opportunities. This statistic underscores the effectiveness of hands-on experiences in the decision-making process for complex technology solutions. For more information about Nimans’ new facilities or to schedule a visit, please contact your Nimans account manager.
Steve McIntyre Marketing Director
nimans.net
The newly unveiled presentation suite, capable of hosting up to 85 people, offers an ideal space for sales meetings, customer presentations, and interactive workshops. This versatile environment allows Nimans and its partners to showcase products and solutions on a grand scale, facilitating engaging discussions and fostering stronger business relationships. Complementing the presentation suite is Nimans’ state-of- the-art demonstration suite. This hands- on environment enables customers to experience the latest video conferencing equipment firsthand, providing a unique
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UCC NEWS
Giacom on the ball with The Big Goal
Giacom has announced the renewal of its headline sponsorship of The Big Goal for the upcoming year, reaffirming its commitment to tackling youth homelessness and fostering community integration through the power of football. Launched at St. George’s Park in October 2023, The Big Goal is a channel initiative that aims to empower at least 1,600 young people (the number of holes in a full-size football net) facing homelessness by providing them with access to the nationally acclaimed Street Soccer Academy programme, run by the Street Soccer Foundation, in partnership with professional football clubs across the country. These Academies offer valuable training, mentorship, and pathways into education or employment, equipping participants with the skills they need to successfully reintegrate into society. Since its inception, The Big Goal has achieved remarkable success in its first year, funding the delivery of 44 Street Soccer Academies, directly benefiting over 400 young individuals, providing them with
life-changing opportunities. Giacom itself has sponsored five Academies near its offices, deepening its ties with local communities while supporting its broader Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals. “We are incredibly pleased to continue our partnership with Giacom,” said Keith Mabbutt, Founder and CEO of the Street Soccer Foundation. “Giacom’s involvement has been instrumental in helping us deliver on our mission to combat youth homelessness and create lasting opportunities for young people across the country. As the new Premier League season kicks off, this announcement marks a significant milestone in our shared journey to create positive social change.” Giacom CEO, Terry O’Brien, added, “The Big Goal is a prime example of how, together, we can affect positive change and become a force for good in our communities. As the headline sponsor, we are immensely proud of how the Channel has united in support of this cause, bringing positive changes to communities and young lives nationwide.”
Terry O’Brien CEO
giacom.com
Zendesk offers Outcome-Based Pricing Zendesk believe soon as much as 80% of customer interactions will be automated and have recently implemented outcome-based pricing for AI agents, a move designed to ensure its pricing models reflect the true value of what AI provides to a business. “As the industry moves toward more transparent, results-oriented business models, we are proud to lead the way with a solution that ensures companies can confidently invest in AI,” said Nikhil Sane, SVP GTM Strategy and Pricing at Zendesk. Zendesk pricing is now directly tied to the outcomes delivered by AI agents, meaning customers will only incur costs for issues that are resolved autonomously by AI. The model ensures that businesses invest in successful outcomes, aligning costs directly with the value received, ensuring businesses pay only for the real results delivered by AI agents. Zendesk includes AI agent capabilities for all Zendesk Suite and Support plans, with a starter usage level at no additional cost.
Midwich TechXPO 2024 Midwich Tech XPO is back, and this year it is being held at Ascot Racecourse on 23 and 24 October. Grab your chance to discover all of the Midwich UK brands in one location and get access to the entire portfolio. Use the opportunity to find out more information on Niman’s Security offering, not only stored in their 50,000-sqft warehouse but across the Midwich Group, and discover a carefully curated selection of top-tier business headsets from leading vendors, showcasing Niman’s expertise in UC&C. Beyond headsets, Niman’s knowledge spans a wide range of UC technologies – make sure you book a catch-up with them!
Nikhil Sane SVP GTM Strategy and Pricing
zendesk.co.uk
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UCC NEWS
Evolve IP’s Partner Programme Cloud collaboration provider Evolve IP is set to unveil an enhanced partner programme, designed to accelerate reseller growth and forge deeper customer relationships during a webinar on 18 September 2024.
number of incentives to support their growth. As their relationship grows, the recognition and incentives grow too to support them even further. Based on their positive feedback we have developed an improved version with even more benefits. It’s clear they are finding it very useful with a competitive element to gain more benefits. The webinar is an ideal opportunity for us to go into more detail and outline more information and the extra elements about how our partners can take advantage.” To get the most out of the Evolve IP partner programme, resellers can register for the 45 minute webinar here .
Sales enablement, marketing resources, training academy access and improved levels of account management support are some of the many areas being showcased. Evolve IP’s UK Sales Director, Jamie Hughes commented, “The Partner Programme was officially launched this Spring and has been very well received so far. All our resellers are automatically enrolled and benefit from a
Jamie Hughes UK Sales Director
evolveip.net
Pragma launches 2 new products
Pragma, acquired by Gamma earlier this year, recently launched Sidekick and WhatsApp for CONNECT. Both products are available as extensions of CONNECT for iPECS Cloud. Sidekick is an AI- powered call assistant that takes slow, labour- intensive jobs and completes them for users. Sidekick also produces smart, digestible summaries and analysis to help businesses make better decisions. Key features include call transcription, call summary, sentiment analysis and automated CRM logging (as an optional extra). WhatsApp for CONNECT offers WhatsApp integration within the CONNECT interface and it has no limit on licences, with your whole team enabled to receive and respond to messages. As a simple, interactive website widget, WhatsApp for CONNECT offers an efficient customer support tool with customised auto-response message templates. Pragma’s Managing Director
Will Morey commented: “The channel is an increasingly competitive environment and we know it really helps if you can stand out. Sidekick and WhatsApp for CONNECT provide another opportunity for our partners, all while transforming how businesses deal with time consuming everyday tasks. It’s a win for a partners and a win for their customers.”
Will Morey Managing Director
wearepragma.co.uk
Sidekick Meeting Summary UI
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Cover Story
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AD DPS
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CONTACT CENTRES
What’s hot and What’s not?
UC Advanced caught up with three experts in the Contact Centre arena, Laura Ball , CX AI Lead at Zoom; Myles Leach, UK Managing Director at NFON UK and Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO at Content Guru and asked them what are the current trends in contact centres, the business problems they’re solving, the common adoption barriers, and the potential improvements that could be made to the current Contact Centres in the market?
Current contact centre trends Laura Ball, Zoom’s CX AI Lead responded, “Current trends in the contact center space emphasise artificial intelligence (AI) integration, the ongoing shift to cloud-based solutions and omnichannel communication. A recent survey from Zoom found that more than half of business leaders (71%) and 51% of employees spend time each week completing time-consuming tasks, including providing status updates to colleagues and customers. The solution? Leveraging AI-driven tools like smart assistants and chatbots to save time and enhance customer service. Additionally, there is a growing emphasis on predictive analytics and real-time insights to personalise the customer experience, ensuring that interactions are tailored and efficient. The same survey found that 75% of leaders whose teams use AI collaborate better and make better decisions. Businesses are also focused on reducing the strain on IT departments by adopting cloud-based solutions that are easy to deploy and manage. The need to support remote and hybrid work environments has accelerated the adoption of cloud contact centres that enable teams to
work from anywhere while maintaining high service standards. An omnichannel offering is becoming the standard for many customer- focused businesses, allowing consumers to connect with agents through their preferred methods – whether that’s voice, chat, SMS or video. These trends are empowering businesses to provide faster and more efficient customer support while meeting the evolving needs of tech-savvy consumers.” Martin Taylor, Content Guru’s Deputy CEO replied, “We are continuing to see a lot of organisations looking to integrate new channels into the contact centre environment to provide enhanced omni-channel experiences. Although voice is still a very popular channel, organisations are rapidly looking to support additional social and digital channels. Each channel serves a different purpose, with multiple channels being used interchangeably by the same service users. This is imperative as it provides the ability to see a 360-degree view of customer journeys, and exact customer profiles can be seen at a glance. The trend is moving towards the connection of social and digital channels and eliminating siloed solutions that constituted
Laura Ball CX AI Lead
www.zoom.us
What’s hot? The integration of omni- channel experiences, the use of AI and predictive analytics and the shift to cloud-based solutions.
What’s future hot? Personalised digital experiences that rival the personal touch of a phone call and providing accessible features for visually impaired users.
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past attempts to integrate channels. The next “trend” will be to try and create a digital experience that rivals the personal touch of a phone call. Accessibility will come to the forefront with impending regulation changes
across North America and Europe, with financial penalties of non-compliance by 2025 for organisations that are unable to provide accessible features for visually impaired users.” n
Problem solving with the help of Contact Centres The decision for a business to invest in a Contact Centre or any upgrades and updates on an existing solution are varied, and our expert panel gave some insights into the reasons why businesses are seeking contact centres to maximise productivity and customer satisfaction. Myles Leach, NFON UK’s Managing Director responded, “Today businesses face
segments based on a customer’s profile or data attributes. Reducing operational costs and enhancing agency efficiency will also be top of the list for many businesses – which can also be achieved by consolidating their contact centre systems and collaboration tools into one system, powered by AI. Martin Taylor replied, “An agent can spend over 50% of their time carrying out admin tasks, such as making call notes and summarising interactions. Until now, admin- heavy tasks were seen as just another part of the role but generative AI now has the ability to carry out a lot of the heavy lifting. Adopting modern, cloud-based solutions that unlock the benefits of generative AI is key to overcoming productivity issues. In addition to improving productivity, agents are able to focus on supporting customers, increasing CX sentiment and helping to reduce costly churn and training time.” n
the challenge of customer retention due to easy provider switching. Retention has emerged as a critical issue as recent surveys indicate as much as 82% of customers cease business with companies due to poor service. To thrive amid competition and enhance customer experiences, organisations prioritise customer satisfaction and leverage professional contact centre solutions for communication management. Amidst high customer expectations, companies must prioritise prompt resolution without prolonged holds or multiple call transfers. Contact centre operators require round-the-clock availability, regardless of remote or home- based customer service setups. Advanced contact centre solutions not only provide impeccable voice quality and reliability but also ensure compliance and safeguard data security. This comprehensive approach empowers businesses to meet evolving customer demands and maintain long-term relationships.” Laura Ball added, “Businesses are looking to solve several challenges with contact center solutions, but the main issue centres around improving customer satisfaction. Any customer- focused business needs to prioritise creating a seamless, personalised customer experience across multiple channels, while managing the complexity of these interactions on a unified platform. Adopting AI and the insights the technology can glean into customers is crucial. Natural language processing intelligently detects what each user truly needs and provides the best possible answer, while creating customised flows and messages for unique
Companies must prioritise prompt resolution without prolonged holds or multiple call transfers.
What’s hot? Customer retention,
agent efficiency, round- the-clock availability and unified platforms.
What’s not? Low customer satisfaction scores, rising operational costs, multiple call transfers.
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CONTACT CENTRES
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Common barriers to adoption Laura Bal l commented, “Adopting contact centers can be hindered by several common barriers, including the complexity of migrating from legacy systems and integrating new contact centre solutions with existing workflows, concerns over data security and privacy, and ensuring agents feel supported during the adoption process. To mitigate data privacy concerns, businesses should ensure that they are only engaging with solutions that comply with data privacy regulations and ethical guidelines. Transparency is also key. Policies for data usage and storage should be clearly communicated with customers and employees to foster trust. There is also a learning curve for employees adapting to new tools and processes. To ensure agent satisfaction and wellbeing, businesses must adopt an agent-centric approach and should consider providing a series of training programmes and resources to ensure they feel fully supported. Finally, ensuring consistent, high-quality customer experiences across multiple channels, particularly in hybrid work environments, can pose significant challenges. Investigating what is and isn’t working in hybrid and remote models is key here. Businesses should regularly check in with their agents, and leverage tools like Zoom Workforce Management to help forecast and predict agents’ concerns to help keep them happy, and ultimately drive positive customer interactions.” Myles Leach continued, “One significant barrier is the legacy investment in existing systems, which can create a “sunk cost” mentality and reluctance to switch. And
another barrier arises from the perceived functionality of current phone systems. If existing systems seem to be working adequately, businesses may question the need for change. Expense justification is another critical aspect. New contact centre solutions require financial investment. To overcome this, it’s crucial to demonstrate a clear return on investment (ROI) by quantifying the benefits of the new technology, such as improved customer satisfaction, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.” Martin Taylor echoed similar views, “For organisations, the financial justification for moving to the cloud must be compelling, especially considering the significant costs of maintaining legacy systems. Substantial productivity gains from AI can also make cloud migrations self-funding within a short period of time. Geopolitical and economic uncertainties have also historically slowed investment, though this trend is slowly easing. Large enterprises are particularly hesitant about migrating, as the process can be complex, the organisations themselves are less flexible than smaller SMEs, and they worry about jeopardising mission- critical workloads. There are also security concerns, although modern cloud contact centres offer superior security features compared to on-premises systems. Adopting a solution designed to navigate disparate and complicated IT environments can help prevent delays which could complicate future updates. As the cloud is now generally accepted as a prerequisite for AI, barriers are being swept away in the fear of being left behind.” n
Martin Taylor Co-founder & Deputy CEO
contentguru.com
Substantial productivity gains from AI can also make cloud migrations self-funding within a short period of time.
What’s hot?
What’s not? Legacy systems
Data security, data privacy and ROI (Return on Investment)
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CONTACT CENTRES
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Harnessing the effectiveness of current solutions Putting our panel of experts on the spot, we asked what improvements could be made to enhance the effectiveness of contact centre solutions, and they did not disappoint with a range of responses that all businesses with contact centre solutions could, and perhaps should, be considering or implementing. Myles Leach from NFON UK said, “To enhance the effectiveness of current solutions, companies should consider incorporating a range of supplementary services.
provide high levels of scalability and reliability and a wealth of integrations into multiple underlying systems of record, enabling a crucial 360-degree view of customer interactions. As a result, CCaaS enables an organisation’s entire IT infrastructure to be leveraged more efficiently than ever before.” Laura Ball from Zoom ended with her thoughts, “To enhance the effectiveness of contact centre solutions, improvements can focus on better integration with existing systems, more intuitive user interfaces and increased AI capabilities for personalised customer interactions. There’s also room for development in analytics, providing deeper insights into customer behavior and agent performance, which can be used to improve the service being offered. Enhancing security features and offering more robust support for remote and hybrid work environments will also be crucial. Finally, simplifying the deployment process and offering more scalable, flexible options can help businesses of all sizes adopt and benefit from advanced contact centre solutions.” n Temperature check Current trends in contact centres are the integration of AI, the shift to cloud- based solutions, and the importance of omnichannel communication to enhance customer service and agent efficiency. Successful businesses are prioritising customer satisfaction, leveraging predictive analytics and ensuring round-the-clock support to meet high customer expectations and improve retention. However, common adoption barriers include migrating from legacy systems, data security concerns, and the financial justification of new investments. Some investments, such as enhancing security features are essential, whilst others are a discussion around company planning for the future and addressing current issues in areas such as hybrid and remote working. In summary, help your CC agents keep their cool , keep your customers warm and engaged and your prospective customers list hot .
Customisation and integration services would empower customers to tailor solutions to their specific requirements and ensure seamless integration with existing systems. By providing comprehensive training and support services, businesses can enable clients to fully utilise their technology investment through training programs designed for agents, supervisors, and administrators. Implementing analytics and reporting services could offer valuable insights derived from customer interactions, assisting clients in refining their strategies and enhancing customer experiences. Security and compliance audits serve to ensure data protection and adherence to industry regulations, fostering trust and confidence in clients’ operations. Proactive maintenance and monitoring services guarantee continuous performance and prompt issue resolution. Lastly, strategic consulting for process optimisation and technology updates can help clients stay ahead of industry trends and maintain a competitive edge.” Martin Taylor from Content Guru suggested, “To harness upcoming trends in the contact centre, including AI, and the rise of Internet of Things (IoT) devices acting as digital customers, it is imperative to move to the cloud. The Contact Centre as a Solution (CCaaS) model can overcome fundamental challenges presented by legacy, on-premises solutions by providing rich omni-channel features to suit growing customer demands without requiring expensive and time- consuming hardware updates and getting a springboard to AI. CCaaS solutions also What’s hot? Customisation, system(s) integrations, advanced reporting, improved security and compliance.
Myles Leach Managing Director
nfon.com
To enhance the effectiveness of contact centre solutions, improvements can focus on better integration with existing systems, more intuitive user interfaces and increased AI capabilities ...
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STADIUM CX
Tech Tackles Stadiums: Game On! Three major trends have been happening in the world of stadiums and arenas as far as we at UC Advanced can see: major sponsorships and associations with tech companies, extended purposes for use other than sports, and the uplevelling of the technology, and with that an improved customer experience (CX).
Sponsorships closing the digital divide
Open for Business Stadium uses are not just for sports, from religious gatherings to corporate hospitality, museums and exhibitions, stadiums are staying open 7 days a week. Stadiums are big business, factor in the cost of the tickets, the catering, the merchandise and some stadiums in the Premier League can take as much as £3million on key match days. That’s on a good day in the Premier League, but start factoring in the costs of electricity, grounds maintenance and staff fees and you can start to understand why stadiums diversify into weddings, festivals, exhibitions, conferences and so much more. With over 160 stadiums and arenas in the UK, there is bound to be one near you. Historically equipping stadiums In 1946 the first live televised football match was broadcast by the BBC from Underhill Stadium in Barnet. Since then, stadiums have evolved their transmission capabilities with satellite transmitters, HD cameras and editing suites. Stadium lighting too has gone on a journey with bodies like FIFA and UEFA requiring evenly illuminated fields from stadium lights, and hence floodlighting, scoreboards, and advertising LED boards are now essential during a game. The Dell stadium, previously used by Southampton FC until 2001, was the first in England to have permanent floodlights installed, used for an exhibition match in 1950 against Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. UC Advanced caught up with the current IT Director at Southampton FC, Huw Fielding, when 8x8 held their CX South 2024 conference in St Mary’s stadium.
The major sponsorships and associations with tech companies are widely publicised; think HP and Wrexham at Racecourse Ground, HP and Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, HPE Aruba and Everton FC at Goodison Park, soon to be Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium to name only a few. Yes, the sponsorships have been there for some time, but when HP became the first brand in Real Madrid’s 121-year history to have its logo appear on the sleeves of the club’s men’s and women’s first teams it speaks volumes of the levels of investment and depths of partnerships being forged. Along with the sponsorships come an investment and commitment for digital transformation of club spaces, elevating fan experiences and club operations.
Huw Fielding IT Director
southamptonfc.com
Stadiums are big business... ...some
stadiums in the Premier League can
take as much as £3million on key match days.
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STADIUM CX
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Every Day is Different Huw gave a “Firepit Chat” with Jamie
CX tools for a broad range of customers
Snaddon, 8x8’s Managing Director, EMEA. Huw’s been in IT for 15 years, been with Southampton FC club for 8 years, and been in the IT director role for 18 months. Interestingly, Huw commented that his role has certainly evolved from one of a ‘traditional’ IT role to, in his words, more of a “CSP, MSP kind of thing”. Other than the fact that Huw is probably living the dream of quite a few people combining IT and a football club, what is fascinating is what he gets up to on a daily basis, the levels of technology going into the operations, and the stadium in particular. One day Huw could be dealing with the Premier League to co-ordinate how much data they need to come into the stadium, confronting how to improve 4K and 8K video storage for football analysts so that they can record and simultaneously access the data remotely, and on another day looking after the infrastructure that serves the clubs’ customers. Huw viewed his customers as “the 400 or so people that work for the club, but also the 30,000 fans that turn up every other week, and then everyone that’s wider, so the quarter of a million people in Southampton, and the overseas fans.” Huw continued, “We deal with everything from the website to ticketing, and that whole journey of how you get to the stadium. But also the new experience once you’re in the stadium as well. That’s something that not only us, but a lot of football clubs are looking at changing and improving. So there are lots of changes that we’ve made. In the last year or so we’ve put some new scoreboards up that are much bigger. We’ve got Wi-Fi out into the bowl and into all of our suites. We’re going to continue that journey and expand that out further.” With a team of six, there is certainly a lot on everyone’s plates, with more responsibilities each year.
With Huw’s roadmap in mind, the questions turned to the CX tools that Huw currently has at his disposal and the stages of installation and activation. At the moment it’s digital ticketing, a cloud telephony-based system, an improved customer contact centre and seamless experiences for customers between audio and visual, and presumbly a long wish list. Huw elaborated, “One of the biggest ones that’s going to be coming in this summer is digital ticketing. This is quite common, concert tickets have been e-tickets for a long time now. Football’s a little bit behind the curve there, although some clubs have got there. We’ll be releasing e-tickets as our single source of tickets going forwards. Now, that involves deploying a new app, making sure that all of our ticketing systems can talk to the app and all of our turnstiles can talk to the app, both on football match days, which is obviously the primary thing that everyone expects, but also for any other event days, for concerts that we host here. We need to make sure that whether it’s Ticketmaster or up the road locals, we can make sure we get the right people in the door. So that hopefully is going to be one of the great experience changes and also saves us printing off the best part of 20,000 tickets per match, which is great as well... Location-enabled tickets so your ticket’s not real until you turn up, all these sorts of things are great ways to make sure that they’re genuine.” Choosing a cloud telephony-based system Huw continues, “The decision to switch away was a no-brainer. We had a really old legacy on-prem system that still served our SDN and all sorts, so we had to get rid of that. We looked for a good cloud telephony-based system and one of our key requirements was the ability for our different teams to manage themselves. The self-service and manageability of the platform allowing everyone and their line managers to deal with their own requirements on an ad hoc basis was essential and that’s been proven so worthy as well. If we look at the last few months, we’ve had Take That, two nights sold out, and that sold out pretty quick. Obviously a Wembley final that we sold out for. That’s a lot of phone calls, there’s a lot of tickets being sold, there’s a lot of interaction with our fan experience staff. People asking
Jamie Snaddon Managing Director, EMEA
8x8.com
At the moment it’s digital ticketing, a cloud telephony- based system, an improved customer contact centre and seamless experiences for customers between audio and visual, and a long wish list.
Keepie Uppie Huw’s biggest challenge was time
management, with his view being, “the reality is that you can’t do everything, and you can’t do everything at once. You’ve got to prioritise what you need. And for me, having a really good team behind me is paramount. We’ve got a tremendous roadmap of work to do, both in and outside the stadium. All to give the fans the best experience they can when they come here. And then, obviously, everyone that comes here every day for other reasons.”
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questions, where can I park, what’s available, all these sorts of things, and we want to make sure that’s available constantly. It’s really a challenge, but that’s why the platform has worked so well for us.”
to be able to talk to each other really quickly, understand who’s available, who’s not, so they’re not dropping calls on people blind and those sorts of things, to make sure that they can do that. I think there’s about 30-odd people that use that experience in total and get the most out of it as well.”
Self Sufficiency 1: Cold Transferring 0
Moving the tech up with the league tables
Huw was asked whether self-sufficiency for his team was the most noticeable difference in implementing the new system, and he summed up the advantages of a good cloud telephony-based system pretty neatly, “I’d say that’s probably one of the most obvious, from an outside perspective, from a usability point of view, the platform itself, it works, right? You log in, you can have nice VoIP headsets and all these sorts of things that work far nicer than our traditional sort of setup. But even then, just proper call routing and parking and the ability to talk to people, not cold transferring before, those sorts of things. Again, as a fan or a customer or whatever part in that journey, the experience is seamless then. It’s just a better experience. And usually dealt with a little bit quicker because you’re not worrying about what’s going on.” Additionally, the internal customers – the contact centre staff in hospitality, the fan experience team, ticket office team, our administration and reception teams across both sites as well, because our training ground is included as part of that. They need
Jamie asked Huw what tools and technologies Huw was considering for the future. On the radar for Huw is maximising the contact centre, exploring further the use of AI and chatbots to drive intuitive and accurate responses to the clubs’ customers, thus aspiring to higher service and customer satisfaction levels. Additionally, a flawless tech experience every day the stadium is open, not just match days. Huw is considering a new IPTV solution to manage the TV content and the signage content so that, “From the second you walk in the door, you feel like that event is made for you, not a generic space. It’s a space that’s made for the people that want it and need it.” For events like wedding receptions and dinner parties Huw is determined to utilise and improve the technology in music, sound and visuals that play such a key part in the customers’ experiences, offering a personalisation of experience. Huw’s roadmap has a vision for additional suites in the coming year too, so here at UC Advanced we are
Drew Crisp Senior Vice President of Digital
liverpoolfc.com
To be able to talk to each other really quickly, understand who’s available, who’s not, so they’re not dropping calls...
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pretty sure of two things – every day will be different for Huw, and he is a very busy man.
Pinpointing peaks and making data-driven decisions
Historic Stadiums tackle High-Speed Wi-Fi
Using ExtremeAnalytics, the club has access to real-time data around fan preferences and experiences such as foot traffic, popular concessions areas and app usage across the stadium and it is now possible to personalise and customise fan experiences throughout the stadium. It can also pinpoint peak moments during games when fans are most digitally engaged and where they most often congregate in the stadium, helping the club make data-driven decisions such as identifying areas in the venue that may require additional staff, opportunities for future marketing partnerships and prioritising content to boost fan engagement. LFC’s wireless network is managed entirely through ExtremeCloud™ IQ, enabling stadium staff to monitor and control Wi-Fi capacity and performance, and adjust the settings and parameters of wireless devices such as access points. The operations team has a complete view of the stadium network through a single, centralised dashboard, enabling them to optimise performance in real-time to deliver a seamless experience for fans and staff connected to the network. Liverpool FC fans will never “walk alone” and their connectivity will never falter. Norman Rice, Chief Commercial Officer, at Extreme Networks commented, “Partnering with one of the world’s most celebrated football clubs to deliver wireless connectivity that transforms both matchday and fan experiences has been inspiring. Creating a modern experience while still preserving a historical
Another stadium recently elevating its CX is Anfield, home of Liverpool FC. Anfield deployed high-speed Wi-Fi to drive engaging digital fan experiences and streamline stadium operations with Extreme Networks, and Extreme’s deployment partner for the project was Verizon Business. Drew Crisp, Senior Vice President of Digital, at Liverpool FC, explained, “Anfield
Norman Rice Chief Commercial Officer
is an enduring symbol in UK football history and has stood for 139 years,
hosting countless historical moments and legendary matches. With Extreme Wi-Fi, we’ve brought the stadium into the digital age, seamlessly blending our rich history with modern innovation. This partnership not only empowers us to deliver innovative digital experiences but also provides us with valuable insights to continually enrich fans’ matchday experiences. Extreme was a true partner throughout the entire process as they are the gold standard when it comes to providing seamless connectivity in high- density, iconic venues.” With hundreds of thousands of LFC fans who come through the turnstiles each year, new digital experiences like mobile ticket scanning, cashless payments and mobile concessions are just some aspects of the fan’s CX and the network’s design for high-density outdoor environments helps ensure that even during sold-out games, with all 61,000 seats filled, the connectivity remains robust and fast.
extremenetworks.com
Massimo Peselli Chief Revenue Officer for Global Enterprise and Public Sector
verizon.com/business
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ucadvanced.com
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STADIUM CX
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landmark is an area where Extreme continues to excel. Our collaboration with Liverpool Football Club goes beyond simply improving connectivity; it’s about shaping the future of one of the world’s most beloved sports organizations, and we’re honored to be at the forefront of this transformative journey.” Verizon Business Chief Revenue Officer for Global Enterprise and Public Sector, Massimo Peselli, echoed Rice’s sentiment, “The opportunity to be part of the ongoing legacy of a storied football club such as Liverpool FC is an honor. Joining together with Extreme Networks, we are further transforming the in-stadium connectivity experience for this immensely passionate fanbase. Venues like this are the ultimate proving ground for tech – an industry we view as an epicenter of innovation.” Extreme Networks delivers high- performance network solutions to stadiums across Europe, including Borussia Dortmund, Olympiastadion Berlin and stadiums within ESSMA, bringing more joy to the fan experience and the football clubs’ staff and outside broadcasting teams. Expecting exceptional experiences Another partner of Extreme Networks is Westcon-Comstor. Martin Flensburg, VP, Business Operations, Global Supply Chain Solutions and Services at Westcon-Comstor commented: “The modern-day sports fan expects an exceptional experience rooted in connectivity. High-speed Wi-Fi connectivity and Wi-Fi analytics enable seamless experiences including mobile ticketing, cashless transactions, in-seat concessions ordering, real-time sports betting, and
improved stadium app performance, driving fan engagement while boosting revenue generation for venues. Strong network infrastructures improve ticketing, security, and staff collaboration and provide data- driven insights for better resource allocation and operational planning. That’s why we’re excited to be working with Extreme Networks, which is spearheading the rise of the connected stadium, to revolutionise the matchday experience for sports fans across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). As the first distributor in the region to be officially recognised as a delivery and solutions partner for stadiums looking to leverage Extreme’s market-leading solutions, we are accelerating adoption of Extreme’s solutions – creating new growth opportunities for channel partners while adding value through our own services. Meanwhile our experienced services team will install and deploy the infrastructure to meet each venue’s specific requirements. Extreme Networks is an innovator in this space, shaking up the status quo and helping customers find new ways to drive better outcomes. We’re excited to be partnering with them as they continue to expand their presence across EMEA.” Connected stadium strategies Gone are the days when stadium visits meant spotty Wi-Fi and long queues for most major UK stadiums. On the other side of Stanley Park is “home of the Blues” Everton FC’s current grounds, Goodison Park. Go two miles down the road and you’ll find Everton’s upcoming 52,888-capacity stadium, promising to be a benchmark in modern sports venues, thanks to the comprehensive networking solutions of HPE Aruba Networking – a unit of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Everton Football Club has partnered with HPE Aruba Networking to develop a secure and intelligent networking infrastructure for its upcoming new waterfront stadium. The comprehensive solution will include switches, access points, Wi-Fi, wired network management and security software. The technology will enable Everton FC to create a connected stadium strategy and offer an engaging fan experience using digital technologies. The state-of-the-art infrastructure is expected to be in place when the new stadium opens for the 2025/26
Martin Flensburg VP, Business Operations, Global Supply Chain Solutions and Services
westconcomstor.com
season and the new stadium should be nothing short of a technological marvel.
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