KAA Gent and FixForm are keeping the Ghelamco Arena in pristine condition
KAA Gent and FixForm are keeping the Ghelamco Arena in pristine condition with the aid of employees and 2000+ business clients.
Thanks to a partnership between KAA Gent and FixForm, the Ghelamco Arena is in top-notch condition. Employees and business clients are able to report a problem via hundreds of QR-codes in the stadium. KAA Gent is the first Belgian football club who introduces this innovation.
A football stadium is not just your average building. The immensely large infrastructure is being maintained by a small team. The Ghelamco Arena counts more than 20.000seats, more than a thousand doors; which mostly consist out of fire doors,dozens of sanitary areas en passageways where thousands of fans are entering and leaving.
It has been a logistic puzzle for many years” says Dirk Piens, Director of Infrastructure and Match Organisation, and Christophe Dely, Head of IT. “The challenge was not only to solve the problems, but mainly to map them out efficiently, and to follow up the problems.”
But the future looks bright, because KAA Gent has teamed up with a Flemish scale-up FixForm to handle these situations in a whole new way!
FixForm created a platform where the communication about chores has been streamlined. The operational team can now take action more swiftly where needed. For example,when the toilet breaks down in the first half, they can decide to fix this problem as soon as possible, or reroute the fans to another toilet. Avoiding frustrations and decent communication are key.
The employees and business client are the key stakeholders in this process: from now on they can report problems on the fly themselves. This is done by scanning one of the 400 QR-codes that are visible in the stadium. “Via our low-barrier platform, the can send photos and a short description whenever they see a broken seat, or a sanitary problem”, says Thomas Vanhumbeeck, founder of FixForm.
On a easy to use platform, the facility team notices immediately where the problem is located, and they can decide how important it is to take swift action. The employees can communicate through the application whenever they are at work. Vanhumbeeck:“Everyone is talking about smart buildings, but most people don’t realize the best sensors are already in house: the people who are present in the building. By using photo driven communication, the employees are much faster in understanding a specific problem.”
A positive experience
When multiple fans see the same problem, the message appears that the facility team is on it.KAA Gent can also send feedback to everyone who leaves behind their credentials, also to give a small token of appreciation to the person who notified the problem. Not only it increases the level of engagement, but changes the frustration of the fan to a positive experience. “Our Ghelamco Arena has been called the largest pub in Ghent on match days”, says Dirk Piens. “That’s why is crucial for us that the stadium is in the best condition possible. Our 2000+ business clients are not only present during the matches, but they are also using our infrastructure during the week, and that’s why the innovative platform of FixForm is of extreme importance.”
The new system is being rolled out as we speak. In the meantime, the platform is being highlighted on the screens, to inform the fans about the usage of the QR-codes,and to stimulate the usage. The project is also being expanded in a later stage to the training facilities and the changing rooms. External service providers can also easily be notified when certain problems need to be outsourced.
