Customer Story

Tennis Australia rises to the challenge with Optus solutions

Customer story snapshotCustomer : Tennis Australia

Industry : Sports and entertainment

OverviewTennis Australia is the governing body for one of the best-loved sports in the world. The organisation is responsible for promoting tennis participation, supporting player development and conducting domestic and international tournaments on behalf of Australia, including the legendary Australian Open, Emirates AO Series and Davis Cup.

Tennis Australia also manages a range of major tennis venues across the country. Optus has been supporting Tennis Australia since 2001, and in 2005 became an Official Partner of the Australian Open, the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific. Today, Optus is an integral part of this globally renowned event.

Top performance on every level

.

Customer Story

ChallengeThe challenge presented to Optus each year is two-fold:

1. Provide year-round, day-to-day solutions to help Tennis Australia connect more people to tennis in the most efficient and easiest way possible.

2. Provide the ability to deliver an enhanced, world-class experience for fans and stakeholders of the Australian Open.

Year-round performance

On a day-to-day basis, Tennis Australia needs to reach thousands of people across the country – and the world – to connect them to tennis in a variety of ways. There is a growing necessity to work in a mobile, agile, and secure way regardless of device or location, and to improve internal communication and collaboration. This requires a comprehensive network foundation, ICT and Cloud solutions to aid and advance the organisation in its regular processes.

When purchasing software, hardware or infrastructure, all organisations need to consider how capacity requirements will adapt to match business growth. It is essential for a company to be able to increase the capacity of ICT rapidly, without jeopardising current data.

The Australian Open

The Australian Open is a major annual sporting event each January and has been a hallmark of the global sporting calendar since 1905.

The 2016 event attracted record crowds of over 720,000 people during a two-week period, plus more than 448 journalists, 164 photographers, and 785 broadcast personnel. In addition to the tournament, Tennis Australia has now expanded the experience to include the AO Festival at the nearby Birrarung Marr, which is set to become one of Melbourne’s biggest free festivals in only its second year, featuring live music and fantastic food offerings.

Each year, Tennis Australia builds the Australian Open precinct at Melbourne Park. A large number of resources are shipped in before the event and shipped out afterwards, requiring earlier preparation, budget control and careful planning.

The tournament requires a scalable, top performing network solution, purpose-built to handle and enhance the specific requirements and challenges of the event.

SolutionYear-round ICT and Cloud solutions

To assist Tennis Australia in making valuable connections on a daily basis, Optus provides versatile ICT and Cloud solutions to all Tennis Australia state-based franchises.

The Optus Cloud team deliver a flexible and reliable Microsoft Office 365 Cloud-based solution that enables Tennis Australia to scale ICT whenever required, in order to cope with future business expansion, large events such as the Australian Open, and better support grassroots Tennis Associations throughout the country.

PowerON IaaS provides a reliable and scalable extension to the Tennis Australia Infrastructure, while the Office 365 suite provides single sign-on (SSO) capabilities. These daily services are part of a long term, evolving solution, with a view to shift to Optus’ Azure public Cloud system as the business expands.

Scaling up for the Australian Open

As network demands rise to significant levels during the two weeks of Australian Open 2017, Optus’ key goal is to ensure fans, sponsors and officials have a smooth, uninterrupted experience that enhances participation in every way.

To get ready for the big tournament each year, Optus and Tennis Australia conduct tests on the fixed network to ensure adequate accessibility, review speed, test applications and make the necessary adjustments for maximum success.

For the two weeks of the Australian Open, Optus ramps up its service to Tennis Australia to include:

• Free public Wi-Fi to AO patrons

• Free Wi-Fi service for all players, coaches, media, partners and sponsors

• Free public Wi-Fi to public areas outside the ticketed area such as Birrarung Marr to include even more people in the excitement

• Additional fixed and mobile networks, purpose-built for the AO

• ICT solutions enabling Tennis Australia to automate processes, enable applications, improve productivity and broadcast live event information

• Network service and support teams to ensure the best performance possible

• Mobile Wi-Fi capabilities in all tournament vehicles ensuring players and stakeholders are continually connected going to and from the tournament

• Wi-Fi services for AO Photo and Media within Media Centre and Courtside delivering high speed connectivity to agencies

On top of the fixed network, Optus Mobile Networks is providing Tennis Australia with additional infrastructure in order to meet the increased pressures on data availability, speed and reliability.

To ensure the service can handle whatever the tournament throws at it, Optus’ premiere internet suite, Evolve, has been set up in consultation with Tennis Australia, including a 1000M symmetrical fibre connection for the Rod Laver Arena and AAMI Park Stadium. To provide perspective on the scale of this solution, the average internet connection is typically a decimal fraction of this.

In addition, Cell on Wheels resources are deployed in key locations to assist the mobile network in coping with increased demands that large amounts of fans in a small geographic area bring.

Finally, Optus has combined Wi-Fi and data analytics for Tennis Australia in an exciting new way. Tennis Australia can now collect data gleaned from Wi-Fi infrastructure and social media, and render the information into a central dashboard, opening up a whole new range of possibilities.

"I work very closely with Optus to share our vision, our pain points, where we want to be, and we also look at emerging technology. We work together and collaborate to deliver solutions that enable business success.”

.

Primoz Trcek, Chief Information Officer, Tennis Australia

Customer Story

© 2017 Singtel Optus Pty Limited. GMO_N0595 0117 KIT

See how Optus can help your business. Call 1800 555 937 to speak to an Account Manager.

OutcomeMaking new connections every day

The delivery of year-round ICT and Cloud solutions improves Tennis Australia’s daily business experience, and allows the organisation to improve agility, collaboration and productivity on a day-to-day basis. This creates more opportunities to achieve business goals and connect more people to tennis directly and through state and territory Member Associations, clubs, government and other stakeholders that they deal with.

• Tennis Australia is now able to provide reliable business continuity through the assurance of data protection

• Greater communication and collaboration capability increases the company’s daily productivity and efficiency

• Employees can now securely conduct business outside of headquarters via Office 360, an essential tool for Tennis Australia’s geographically diverse and remote venues

• Users need only sign in once on a single device in order to access internal systems, regardless of location, delivering easier access to content and greater agility

The Office 365 deployment provides Tennis Australia with secure email, system, and document access. Optus also aids the organisation in getting closer to customers through an updated CRM.

The Optus Cloud team arms Tennis Australia business users with Cloud capabilities never enjoyed before, adding value for the various Tennis Associations the organisation deals with throughout the country, allowing them to scale their business as and when required. Optus provides Tennis Australia with the means to achieve its goals more efficiently through a Cloud solution enabling new mobile capabilities, greater communication, collaboration power, and agile scalability.

Top performance at the Australian Open

Tennis Australia uses the full suite of Optus’ Evolve Internet products, which act as the backbone of the tournament and enable Tennis Australia to automate processes, enable applications, improve productivity and broadcast live event information. This results in an uninterrupted service and enhanced customer experience. The extended free public Wi-Fi coverage connects people outside the venue and encourages greater participation and entertainment around the event, at the Birrarung Marr AO Festival, and on social media. With 250,374 attending the AO festival in 2016, Tennis Australia is connecting more and more people to tennis in increasingly effective, innovative ways.

Data analytics are crucial for engaging fans, guiding players and coaches, and providing an improved, more personalised experience for all. By combining the power of WiFi and data analytics to create a central dashboard, Optus provides Tennis Australia with an array of useful information, including heat maps, customer dwell times, flow, density, and demographics, all in the one place – yielding valuable business insights for both Tennis Australia and its sponsors.

By working collaboratively, Tennis Australia and Optus can better understand the customer journey throughout the tournament, detect pain points and identify which products and services can make a difference. Tennis Australia is now in a position to identify opportunities for productivity gains, address security concerns, and review or validate precinct setup – all making for an unrivalled, world-class experience.