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Sports teams looking to broaden use of CRM

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While an increasing number of teams are using CRM tools to track customers and sales leads, an overwhelming majority remain dissatisfied with the ability to integrate their CRM systems with key software and data tools. That was the conclusion of Turnkey Intelligence’s annual Sports Data Systems Survey measuring technology among sports and collegiate teams analyzing CRM, ticketing and digital marketing.

“Our survey found that only 42 percent of respondents were satisfied with their CRM systems' abilities to integrate with other platforms,” said Haynes Hendrickson, president of Turnkey Intelligence. “The satisfaction for the same functionality with their ticketing platforms was even lower. While both CRM and ticketing companies continue to make advances in technology, they are not keeping pace with the business demands of respondents.”

Launched Jan. 6, the Sports Data Systems Survey included 280 respondents representing both professional sports and collegiate athletics and asked about use of CRM, ticketing and digital technology in the past 12 months. According to Hendrickson, collegiate athletics accounted for 28 percent of the responses, with the rest coming from Major League Baseball (nine percent), Major League Soccer (five percent), National Basketball Association (12 percent), National Football League (13 percent) and National Hockey League (12 percent).

The survey found that Microsoft’s own enterprise CRM tool Dynamics has overtaken Ticketmaster’s Archtics as the market leader, and 76 percent of respondents found CRM to be "Very or Extremely Valuable," an increase of five percent over the previous year. CRM’s systems scored high points for “Ease of Use,” and “Technical Capabilities,” but low marks for “Flexibility,” “Functionality” and “Ability to Integrate.”

The following chart looks at overall satisfaction with an organization's CRM system, part of the Sports Data Systems Survey.

CRM_chart.jpg

The survey results did show that these lagging areas were moving in the right direction, with areas like “Ability to Integrate” scoring five points higher than the previous year.

“I think we’re seeing a wider adoption of CRM tools and more service providers responding with integration solutions, but there is still a gulf of opportunities for companies that have this expertise,” Hendrickson said.

The survey also found that 60 percent of respondents said they did not plan to switch CRM systems, up 10 percent from last year, and that 53 percent of organizations have used their current CRM systems for at least three years.

Respondents selected both the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic as the most sophisticated teams when it came to utilizing CRM, while the National Basketball Association was selected as the most sophisticated league utilizing CRM. The main reason respondents said they selected Microsoft as CRM solutions leader was for its “Reputation,” followed by cost and support services.

The survey also asked respondents about their ticketing systems with half responding that they utilized the Ticketmaster platform. While 69 percent of respondents indicated overall satisfaction with their ticketing systems (down two percent from last year), a slight majority of 53 percent said they would consider switching platforms.

The following chart looks at functionality and features important with an organization's ticketing system, part of the Sports Data Systems Survey.

Ticketing.jpg

“The desire to switch systems was constant with last year,” said Hendrickson. “Respondents are increasingly looking for new functionalities and new ways to deliver a great fan experience.”

When asked which features were most important to their organization, the need for a paperless ticketing solution jumped by 13 percent. Respondents also indicated an increased demand for compatibility with other systems. For the first time, a majority of respondents indicated they were looking for systems with an open API, while another 41 percent expressed an interest in the ability to white-label their platforms. When asked about their satisfaction with their ticketing systems' abilities to integrate, 35 percent said they were satisfied, a finding consistent with the previous year.

Interviewed for this article: Haynes Hendrickson, (856) 685-1450


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