Ipswich Town FC

Intro

Ipswich Town first deployed TEAMcard Access at their 29,673–seat home, Portman Road in 2005. Since then, the club has undergone some big changes off the pitch and a rollercoaster journey on it which saw them return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002.

In that time, Ipswich Town and TEAMcard have worked closely together to develop and improve the stadiums access system to meet the needs of the clubs growing ambition.

Gavin Preston, Head of Ticketing at Ipswich Town has shared his experiences working with TEAMcard and how the system and the people behind it feed into a successful long-term relationship with the club.

The Challenge

TEAMcard has been in place at Portman Road for more than 20 years and the club has seen every iteration of the ever-evolving TEAMcard Access system.

When Gavin joined the club, there we a number of decisions to be made across the board relating to IT and operational infrastructure where the team needed to establish a roadmap and set of systems that would match the club's ambitions of a return to the sharp end of the football pyramid.

Selecting partners and suppliers who would evolve and improve in line with the club’s trajectory was important, and maintaining the highest levels of efficiency and safety whilst continually improving the fan experience was top of the requirements list.

The Solution

Ipswich chose to remain with TEAMcard as their access control provider and extend the relationship to include a full suite of system upgrades across Portman Road.

“Exploring the wider capabilities of the TEAMcard system, investing into the F7 programme and upgrading the entire stadium at that point was always my preferred decision”

“One of the big factors in that decision was the fact that in the previous 15+ years there had never been an issue to shout about.The relationship we have with the business paired with the service TEAMcard provide was why we concluded that it was the best solution for us”

Pre-event checks
Gavin and the team at Ipswich use the built-in pre-event checking flow in theTEAMcard system to ensure their venue is fully prepared for a match day, which is both faster and more reliable than manual checking and testing methods.

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“The pre-event checks are massively useful and the fact we can get reminders on processes is great. As much as you know what you are doing from experience, having the system run the process step-buy-step ensures we have done everything we need to do”

Reader Status Screens

Ipswich also utilise the live reader status screen inTEAMcard’s back office, which delivers a clear, real-time view of every reader in the venue on a single screen.

“The ability to view and track the status of every reader in the stadium in one place is a great plus. A simple look can give us or our maintenance all of the information we need in advance rather than being purely reactive on a match day”                                                      

Notifications

The custom notification engine built into TEAMcard Access allows anyone working the match day at Portman Road to receive live, automated notifications about events in the system, directly to their mobile phone.

"I am often mobile on a match day, so we use the notification engine to give us the heads up for anything we need to know, from readers connectivity and battery life to knowing when certain people have entered, or even tried to enter the stadium”

“It's a feature we can see developing really quickly and we will be looking to expand how we use that feature further as time goes on”

Custom Dashboards

Ipswich also use the detailed live data dashboards to view real-time data from across the stadium. The custom dashboard creator extends the capability of the system to allow an unlimited number of custom views, tailored to each department or job role.

"From a control room point of view on a match day the venue views are extremely useful. The fact that we can monitor each entrance individually with detailed throughputs etc. Mean we can have a single clear view of everything happening across the stadium in a live environment”

“TEAMcard have taken that to another level with custom dashboards. Giving each individual the capability to have their own view with only the data they need is a big plus and a feature that we use for every fixture”

Custom F7 Screens

As part of the club's decision to retain and upgradeTEAMcard, Portman Road was fitted with a full complement of TEAMcard’s advancedF7 fixed readers, delivering unique scanning capability as well as unique commercial benefits.

“Feedback on the readers and the overall fan entry process has always been positive. It’s no surprise that having custom messaging on screens makes life easier for fans and because entry is always quick and smooth, we don't get any issues or complaints from fans”

“The flexibility to use the screens to brand areas of the stadium for different fixtures or events, even down to branding for club partners and sponsors means we can deliver more value from the system that simply allowing fans entry to the stadium”

Support
Throughout the relationship, Ipswich have been supported by TEAMcard’s dedicated client services team, including general issue management and troubleshooting, as well as live match day support and training.

“There is never a time or situation that doesn't work for the support team, and that always results in a quick solution to any questions or problems we might have”

“The way the team react to issues is a huge comfort for us. We had some challenges with our stadium network on a match day last year that effected the turnstiles. Not a fault of TEAMcard, but within two days the business had created and presented a solution for us that would allow us to retain operation if that issue ever did arise again”

“The fact they supported us by reacting, quickly looking into it for us and finding a solution was great. The way we are supported gives us a real trust and confidence in TEAMcard – and you can't ask for better than that”

Gavin also commented on the open feedback loop betweenTEAMcard and the club.

“Ultimately, we always feel our feedback is listened to and taken into consideration when new features are created. It's always been clear that TEAMcard want to listen to us and hear our ideas, and we can see how they are applied when we need new features releasing”

The Result

Ipswich are now in their 20th year with TEAMcard, and are working closely with the business to maximise the club’s use of the current system, as well as proactively contributing to the product roadmap to further develop core features for the future.

“Looking ahead, we are now working on utilising more of the TEAMcard system and activating NFC on the readers, which will really move things to another level for our supporters”

“We are going to continue to elevate things around the stadium with better in and out procedures for our supporters, as well as improving how we position things like those fixed readers to really maximise their capabilities both operationally and commercially”

“We are already looking forward to the next User Day in November to see where the product is going and to feed in to how that looks for us as a club so we can continue to deliver the best experiences for supporters at Portman Road”

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