Essendon Football Club Boosts Membership Benefits with Professional Advantage
Announcement posted by Professional Advantage 19 May 2009
Commissions development of customer relationship management system to help manage over 260,000 members and contacts
Sydney, 19 May 2009
The Essendon Football Club (FC) has selected Professional Advantage Pty Ltd, an Australian business technology and services specialist, to develop and deploy a new customer relationship management (CRM) system which will help to provide more targeted services to the Club's 260,000 members and contacts. Development of the CRM application is based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and forms the second half of a two-year technology project that has already seen Professional Advantage deploy the Microsoft Dynamics GP financial system and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System at the Club.
The CRM will integrate with the retail and financial systems along with existing ticketing and event applications to provide a holistic view of how Essendon fans and friends interact with the Club - from the beginning to the end of each individual relationship. This information will form the platform to engage with its community of supporters to enhance their experience with the club. In addition members will be able to access and manage their membership data via the Essendon FC website - essendonfc.com.au
The CRM application is expected to go live in time for the 1 November launch of the new membership year.
Andrew Watson, Chief Information Officer at Essendon Football Club, indicated the whole project is about putting in a platform that will enable the club to more easily understand and analyse our business, and that opens the way for collaboration with business partners, sponsors and members. Their membership system is central to everything the Club does, so there's a lot of focus on ensuring that this new system is 100 percent right.
Essendon FC is the only club within the Australian Football League to maintain its own stand alone website – essendonfc.com.au. The Club retained 100% control of its website’s content and design as it saw it as the most cost effective way of engaging with its one million supporters across Australia and has enabled a proactive approach to the development of new member services. essendonfc.com.au attracts upwards of 15,000 unique browsers per week in-season and generates revenue in excess of $1.5 million annually.
“Essendon has taken a particularly far-sighted view of its information systems,” says Derek Rippingale, Managing Director at Professional Advantage. “The steps they have taken in retail and financial management are already supporting improved inventory, purchasing and reporting. This next phase will help to identify what is occurring with each member throughout their relationship with the Club.”
About Essendon FC
Essendon Football Club was formed in 1872 and has won 16 AFL / VFL premierships more than any other AFL club. It has also been home to some of the biggest names the game has seen – players such as Dick Reynolds, Bill Hutchison, John Coleman and James Hird.
The Club has a membership base in excess of 42,000 members, a database in excess of 260,000 contacts and one million supporters across the country. It’s annual revenue has grown significantly in recent times and now exceeds $35 million and with net assets of almost $19 million, making the Club one of the most financially stable in the competition.
About Professional Advantage
Professional Advantage focuses on providing technology and services that enable high-performance workplaces and organisations. Professional Advantage was established in 1989 and today employs more than 250 people in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, London and Fargo, USA. The company is the largest provider of leading brand global business management systems, such as financial management, ERP, CRM, retail, business intelligence, business process management and portal solutions to midsize organisations in Australia, supporting over 800 clients nationally. Its multi product offering is complemented by its development, systems integration, consulting, training, and support services. Professional Advantage is the winner of many business and vendor awards, including, Infor SunSystems Award for Outstanding Performance in Australia & New Zealand 2008 and Microsoft Inner Circle and President’s Club Member 2008.
The Essendon Football Club (FC) has selected Professional Advantage Pty Ltd, an Australian business technology and services specialist, to develop and deploy a new customer relationship management (CRM) system which will help to provide more targeted services to the Club's 260,000 members and contacts. Development of the CRM application is based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and forms the second half of a two-year technology project that has already seen Professional Advantage deploy the Microsoft Dynamics GP financial system and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System at the Club.
The CRM will integrate with the retail and financial systems along with existing ticketing and event applications to provide a holistic view of how Essendon fans and friends interact with the Club - from the beginning to the end of each individual relationship. This information will form the platform to engage with its community of supporters to enhance their experience with the club. In addition members will be able to access and manage their membership data via the Essendon FC website - essendonfc.com.au
The CRM application is expected to go live in time for the 1 November launch of the new membership year.
Andrew Watson, Chief Information Officer at Essendon Football Club, indicated the whole project is about putting in a platform that will enable the club to more easily understand and analyse our business, and that opens the way for collaboration with business partners, sponsors and members. Their membership system is central to everything the Club does, so there's a lot of focus on ensuring that this new system is 100 percent right.
Essendon FC is the only club within the Australian Football League to maintain its own stand alone website – essendonfc.com.au. The Club retained 100% control of its website’s content and design as it saw it as the most cost effective way of engaging with its one million supporters across Australia and has enabled a proactive approach to the development of new member services. essendonfc.com.au attracts upwards of 15,000 unique browsers per week in-season and generates revenue in excess of $1.5 million annually.
“Essendon has taken a particularly far-sighted view of its information systems,” says Derek Rippingale, Managing Director at Professional Advantage. “The steps they have taken in retail and financial management are already supporting improved inventory, purchasing and reporting. This next phase will help to identify what is occurring with each member throughout their relationship with the Club.”
About Essendon FC
Essendon Football Club was formed in 1872 and has won 16 AFL / VFL premierships more than any other AFL club. It has also been home to some of the biggest names the game has seen – players such as Dick Reynolds, Bill Hutchison, John Coleman and James Hird.
The Club has a membership base in excess of 42,000 members, a database in excess of 260,000 contacts and one million supporters across the country. It’s annual revenue has grown significantly in recent times and now exceeds $35 million and with net assets of almost $19 million, making the Club one of the most financially stable in the competition.
About Professional Advantage
Professional Advantage focuses on providing technology and services that enable high-performance workplaces and organisations. Professional Advantage was established in 1989 and today employs more than 250 people in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, London and Fargo, USA. The company is the largest provider of leading brand global business management systems, such as financial management, ERP, CRM, retail, business intelligence, business process management and portal solutions to midsize organisations in Australia, supporting over 800 clients nationally. Its multi product offering is complemented by its development, systems integration, consulting, training, and support services. Professional Advantage is the winner of many business and vendor awards, including, Infor SunSystems Award for Outstanding Performance in Australia & New Zealand 2008 and Microsoft Inner Circle and President’s Club Member 2008.
ENDS