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EDGBASTON CRICKET STADIUM relies on Wi-Fi to enhance fan experience

Edgbaston Stadium, the cricket stadium of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, also hosts Birmingham Bears matches and those of the England national team. With a seating capacity of 25,000 spectators and modern and modular rooms, the venue is a favorite place to organize a number of events: conferences, weddings or exhibitions.

“UCOPIA offers a level of professionalism and customization unmatched on the market.”
Sean Miller,
Digital Media Manager
Warwickshire County Cricket Club

THE CHALLENGE

Sean Miller, Digital Media Manager for Warwickshire County Cricket Club is responsible for creating media content for the Cricket and Events departments. He recognizes the importance of a relevant solution to manage their Wi-Fi network: “We live in a digital world and our customers need access to the Internet when they visit a place like Edgbaston. We must provide them with first-class customer service, especially as our ambition is to be a reference in the world of cricket. We must therefore anticipate trends and support our customers beyond their expectations. In other words, to offer them limitless experiences”.

“In one evening, our stadium can go from hosting a few hundred people to 25,000 fans, players and technical staff who can invest our arena”, continues Sean Miller. “Given the size of our stadium and the number of events taking place there, we have to balance the costs of free Wi-Fi against the return on investment we can expect. »

Asked about the stadium’s challenges in understanding customer requirements and Internet behaviors, Sean Miller said: “We want to know more about our customers’ expectations, the equipment used, the connection times , and most importantly understand how to take advantage of this information. We also need visibility on the origin of our users, whether they are present at a match, a conference, or any other event.

THE SOLUTION

This problem of analyzing the profile and behavior of users was part of a much more global approach. The Wi-Fi network, as a whole, needed to be redesigned because the connection was fickle and customers did not always have access to the network.

For the UCOPIA part, the stadium has several mobility controllers on the network, perfectly compatible with the wireless access points in place. This flexibility allows teams to easily define and manage hotspots and captive portals. “With its hosted services, UCOPIA provides us with an unparalleled level of flexibility, which proves to be a lever for cost control and time savings, and therefore a real advantage for our business”, observes Sean Miller. “Our customers can connect quickly and securely to our Wi-Fi network, after registering, or using their social network credentials. The connection is thus established in a few seconds and clicks. UCOPIA enables us to offer a premium and user-friendly service to our customers, thereby reinforcing Edgbaston’s status as a world-class sports venue.”

 

Sean Miller explains “UCOPIA has provided us with a professional platform, which guarantees a quality and long-lasting user experience. This platform is a source of trust and encourages ever greater use by users. Our ambition was to offer a free Wi-Fi service to our customers, and this objective has now been achieved with UCOPIA. The captive access portal is personalized in the colors of Edgbaston, thus relaying an image of trust to users who are already familiar with our brand. On our end, we understand our customers better, collect data legally and create a new source of revenue by bringing users promotional content”.

PROMOTING SERVICES & BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Sean Miller also uses the new UCOPIA web services platform for data analytics and marketing over Wi-Fi. “These features are our favorites. Wi-Fi-Analytics is a window into the behavior of our users and customers. We are keen to better understand our customers in order to support them and improve their experience with the information we have. We better understand our customers and establish relevant relationships and conversations with them. We can even identify those potentially interested in some of our future events.” The digital content manager also has a very favorable opinion of the Wi-Fi Marketing module: “The web injection tool is a real plus that we have been using since its launch. This function, beyond informing users, is a sales promotion lever for our services, tickets and subscriptions. We thus display advertisements for our products and those of third parties, whether exhibitors or commercial partners. »

 

“UCOPIA, via the Wi-Fi Marketing module, has enabled us to deploy new digital channels; making our Wi-Fi a self-financing business platform. In the end, we are the ones who benefit from free Wi-Fi!”

And Sean Miller to conclude on UCOPIA: “We have been won over by the operation of UCOPIA and by the developments in their Wi-Fi infrastructure for the past year that we have been working together. Given the quality of the solution and the support of their teams, we intend to develop our partnership over the long term. UCOPIA helps us deliver a first-class customer experience, well beyond our customers’ expectations. »