Clarity Leisure
Integrated Point of Sale (POS) solution: Bracknell Forest Borough Council
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Bracknell Forest Borough Council operates a diverse range of leading leisure facilities, but felt that service delivery was being held back by an outdated IT infrastructure, comprising a plethora of independent systems. Clarity has installed an advanced and integrated leisure management and point of sale solution, incorporating innovations such as touchscreen ticketing, online booking, barcode functionality and smart card capabilities. The system revolutionises financial and operational performance, customer service, and management reporting and control.
Client
Bracknell Forest Borough Council (BFBC) delivers a wide range of services to the local community. Providing access to high quality leisure provision is seen as a priority, and the council offers an outstanding range of facilities. Provision includes a number of sports centres, water based sports and leisure facilities, and a major municipal golf centre acknowledged as one of the finest in the country, incorporating retail, hospitality, dining and conference facilities.
Brief
The brief from the BFBC leisure department included tackling a number of key challenges consecutively. Sites were operating on independent IT systems creating shortcomings from every perspective. Customers had to join and pay each centre they wanted to use, bookings could only be made by telephone or by visiting a centre, and staff struggling with poor systems and communications were unable to deliver the expected service levels. In short, the operations needed a common IT centre management solution that would also incorporate advanced point of sale functionality.
From a management perspective, an outdated, non-expandable IT network infrastructure caused daily frustration, and it was almost impossible to compare data on a like-for-like basis. The department felt that IT could contribute to a number of ambitious longer term service objectives, such as;
- meeting e-government interoperability framework targets by introducing online capabilities
- increasing staff efficiency in customer facing situations
- improving customer service and loyalty levels
- promoting cross-site usage
Solution
Clarity won the contract to introduce integrated leisure management and point of sale solutions. This was particularly necessary at the Downshire Golf Complex, where single terminals needed the capability to handle multiple transactions for accessories and merchandise sales as well as bookings, ticketing and membership enquiries.
The LeisureFlex and retail POS solution has been implemented by Clarity, integrating multiple sites, improving service levels and access for customers, and delivering step change in operations management. LeisureFlex is an advanced leisure management system which has proved highly successful in the local authority marketplace, whilst the retail POS system is well proven in commercial environments.
Simple, fast and flexible
A modular solution which can deal with all aspects of running a modern leisure facility, LeisureFlex offers excellent network capabilities and is particularly effective for large multi-centre operations. Clarity's renowned retail POS solution adds value to Bracknell's bar and conference facilities, driving up revenue and maximising management control.
The Clarity project team worked closely with BFBC, tailoring LeisureFlex to the relevant membership schemes, floor plans, pricing structures and preferred on-screen formats. The system now does everything from automating routine operational tasks to providing comprehensive management reporting, improving customer service and fuelling participation and loyalty.
Innovative features
Innovative design techniques such as touchscreen ticketing make LeisureFlex very easy to learn and use, whilst the online bookings facility simultaneously improves customer access and frees up staff for other duties. Front desk operations are transformed, with ticket issuing and booking processing completed in seconds.
Robust retail POS functionality gives Bracknell's leisure facilities a new level of control of everything from cash handling procedures and inventory control to supply chain management and promotional tools. Clarity has delivered new barcode functionality too, as well as integrating its system with the council's established 'Edge' smartcard scheme.
Outcomes
The integrated solution delivered by Clarity has revolutionised BFBC's leisure operation in terms of operational capabilities and efficiency, customer service, and management reporting and control.
At an operational level, one of the most striking features at Bracknell has been the speed and enthusiasm with which staff adopted the system. Daily tasks such as banking now take seconds instead of hours, whilst till systems are faster and easier to use.
The Customer experience has been improved in many ways, too. The need for staff to switch between tills to complete complex transactions has been eliminated, and smoother, better informed front of house service results. Newly introduced features such as the internet bookings facility are proving incredibly popular with customers, helping to reduce queues and creating further staff time savings.
For management, the benefits of the new system cannot be overstated. End-to-end business processes are aiding financial and service performance by enabling a single view of the business. Audit trails and better reporting procedures are in place, improving management control and realising wide ranging efficiencies. The speed of the system, availability of support, and overall positivity of the Clarity team have all featured in Bracknell Forest Borough Council's project feedback.
