Sports franchises continue to search for ways to increase efficiency with the daily operations of their organization. Information Technology staffs are continually growing for all organizations and Bill Schlough, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer of the San Francisco Giants, dedicated some of his time to speak with us on how the Giants’ front office communication and technology has evolved throughout his 18 seasons with the team.
For an engaging fan experience at AT&T park, the key has been to fully invest in stadium wifi. Wifi is one of the technological advances that allowed the Giants to keep their 454 game sellout streak intact. A recent example Schlough touched upon was the Giants’ conflicts with its regular season schedule and the Golden State Warriors’ epic season and run to the NBA Finals.
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In the past, it was difficult for teams to manage keeping their fans engaged and coming to the games when other franchises in the same cities conflicted with their schedule. For the Giants, they had to handle the Golden State Warriors’ scheduled games as they continued to compete on the diamond each game of the season. “In the old days, every time we had a conflict with the Warriors it would have been devastating for our business,” stated Schlough. “This year, The Warriors being in the playoffs was a boon for our business because our ballpark is a giant sports bar and you can come and watch baseball and sit in your seat thanks to our wifi network and follow the Warriors game.”
The Giants have to communicate with hundreds of employees and players within its organization and they needed a solution to make communication simpler and faster. Software that was able to fulfill this goal for them was Teamworks, which helped with streamlining communication, travel and player and personnel information.
In June, the Giants and Teamworks reached an agreement to begin the use of the Teamworks platform. The Giants believe the software has great potential to improve efficiency with the team on and off the field. Schlough offered high praise for its efficacy, “With a tool like this where everybody’s kind of using the same app and it’s super simple to communicate and other things, it really streamlines that process and it also allows us to hit players with a certain communication you can hit him through multiple channels and one thanks to Teamworks. You can hit him through the app, you can also send him a text and so it’s a nice streamlined communication tool.”
Schlough prides his information technology team on thinking of the surrounding community. “We are dedicated to enriching our community through innovation and excellence on and off the field.” For the future, Schlough knows innovation will continue to rise and stresses how the Giants are always open to adapting to change. This has helped the Giants continue to excel on and off the field with all parts of its operations. Schlough shared his perspective on change in the sports sphere, “The Giants are the type of organization that really embraces change and innovation from the top and it’s kind of part of our DNA.”
The Giants want to stay up to date with all the ideas and opportunities that can help the organization run smoother. This will continue to improve the team’s efficiency and help the Giants continue to compete as one of the best teams in baseball. The Giants understand technology will continue to evolve. It is the job of the information technology teams to stay on top of the changes in communication within organizations and Schlough and his team will continue to focus on for the future.