Leisure and sports: three reasons to move to the cloud

The UK’s leisure and sports sector is thriving. It’s believed, for example, that fitness facilities alone have an annual turnover approaching £2 billion pounds – and there’s much more to the sector than gyms and pools. The industry has certainly got a number of achievements under its belt: it’s managed to survive the raising of questions over whether or not consumers would have enough disposable income to continue spending on leisure, while it’s also adapted to changing recreation patterns to offer something fresh and exciting. But for a finance leader in the leisure and sports industry, there shouldn’t be any complacency – and adapting is essential, especially when it comes to new technologies like the cloud.

Posted 09/05/2019

Membership monitoring

Almost all leisure and sports organisations, whether they are for profit or not, depend in large part on subscriptions from members in order to function. One of the biggest threats to a leisure and sports organisation’s stability is therefore cancelled subscriptions – and for that reason, keeping a close eye on membership revenue is a smart idea. For a finance leader looking to analyse membership figures and assess whether or not the organisation is bringing in enough revenue, having a cloud-based CRM means that the effort and time-sapping nature of constant monitoring can be automated – and that models which forecast future membership and revenue levels can easily be run.

Geographical distribution

Staff at leisure and sports organisations are frequently distributed across a wide range of locations. Sports coaches may spend more time on the field than they do in the office, while the membership and finance teams of a leisure centre chain may be split up across sites. With cloud-based software packages, though, individuals within the organisation will be able to access data and services from wherever they happen to be at the time – meaning greater efficiency.

Client services

As is the case with any client-facing enterprise, leisure and sports organisations are not immune from the burdens of administration. Customers still have to fill out forms, for example, perhaps about health or Direct Debit information. But by moving these arduous client services processes to the cloud, everyone’s a winner. From your point of view, online self-service systems reduce the need for the staff or physical space for the supervision of form filling. You also gain a competitive advantage when it comes to customer retention as your clients will remember the convenience of your online sign-up process.

With over 40% of Britain’s businesses employing some sort of cloud software solution, it’s clear that the leisure and sports sector will fall behind the curve if cloud adoption doesn’t occur. By harnessing the benefits of cloud software, it’ll be possible for the industry to surge even further ahead. From enhancing the level of service provided to clients to ensuring that you’ll notice early if there are any fluctuations in membership levels, the advantages of shifting to the cloud are immense.

Find out more about the benefits of cloud accounting.