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Making the club work smarter , not harder
Now that Henley RUFC has got the latest membership and EPoS technology from MHS Group , membership secretary Martin Bidlake-Corser has already begun to transform the way the members can benefit from their relationship with the club in ways that were unimaginable only a few months ago .
Having streamlined the way the club manages itself , Henley RUFC ’ s members not only have branded membership and bar cards which they use to run a bar account , but they can now top up their club cards online via their smartphones . How many rugby club members can do that ?!
Exploiting new technology to make things easier
With around 660 members and just two salaried employees for their bar and catering facilities , the members who lend their time to manage Henley RUFC on a voluntary basis have long known that technology was going to make things easier to manage their increasingly complex and regulated club .
Only a matter of months ago however , as Martin Bidlake- Corser explained , “ Everything was being run with bits of paper . We had two stand-alone cash tills , our run of 700 or so membership cards all had to be printed , filled in by hand and laminated , our membership database software didn ’ t ‘ talk ’ to our website , and frankly , it was all becoming far too time consuming and laborious . Just to make matters worse of course , by doing things manually any ‘ management information ’ risked being plagued with errors .”
“ More to the point , while we were struggling with all the paperwork , there were all sorts of things the club couldn ’ t do until it had the right kind of technology .
“ For example , if a new Mini or Junior member joined , and we have around 420 of them going through our hands in any one year , I wanted the system to automatically tell the coaches of the relevant teams . With members ’ contact details changing constantly , I wanted them to be able to update the club ’ s records themselves , rather than the club to have to ask them if things had changed .”
Finding the right partner : MHS Group
Martin ’ s initial problem was finding the right software developer , and after an unsuccessful trial with one company , Martin spoke with Richmond ( Athletic Association ) about their membership and EPOS technology from MHS Group .
Their recommendations soon resulted in Henley ’ s installation of the same software , but as Martin soon found out , they ’ d got far more than they bargained for , as he explained : “ With any software , especially now with all the potential new opportunities that online and mobile technology can bring , we wanted a technology partner that could not only provide us with the systems we needed now , but the capability of helping us develop new ideas as well .
“ With my IT background , what I really liked about MHS Group was that when we asked about having something new that didn ’ t come as standard , they never say ‘ No , we can ’ t .’, they say , ‘ Let ’ s see what we can do .’ If it ’ s an idea they think will benefit their other customers , they ’ ll do it . That ’ s led to our members being able to top up their bar cards online via their smartphones , wherever they are and at whatever time it happens to be .”
Fully integrated membership , EPoS and card technology does so much more
This was all the more important for Henley RUFC as it was also refurbishing its clubhouse in time for the new 2016- 2017 season . “ The new MHS Group technology combines our membership database with the EPoS system , so that with the swipe and proximity readable cards all the privileges of our three membership categories , eg . a Gold membership , can now be recognised automatically .” says Martin .
This starts from the point where they enter the club on match days , and extends to the bar and the way they can now book
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