Southampton
Football Club supporters of a certain age say that the city came to a halt in
1976 when Saints famously defeated Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Nearly half a century later, nothing comes to a halt anymore, including the flow
of data and threat of a cyberattack.
That’s why Southampton
FC teamed up with local MSP Tailor Made Technologies and Acronis for data backup and
cybersecurity. Data is critical to the club, just as it is to any modern sports
organisation. Southampton FC tracks not just what’s happening on the pitch, but
also important business metrics off the pitch.
“From a
football perspective, data narrates and informs all of our big decisions,” says
Huw Fielding, Director of IT for Southampton FC. “Outside of football, we
operate a very busy enterprise covering many areas of business.”
Management of player data at an elite level
Southampton
FC earned promotion to the Premier League in 2024 with a tense 1-0 win over
Leeds United in the Championship playoff final. The club relies on data to run
its football operation, Fielding says, including using critical information to
decide which players to buy and sell.
Southampton
FC also use data to manage fitness and recovery journeys for players and
conduct performance analysis. The club uses information on player fitness not
only to help players manage and recover from injuries but also to prevent
players from suffering them.
“Data
provides detailed information about our players, which can help inform injury
recovery schedules,” Fielding says. “We use information we collect about
players to help us predict the likelihood of an injury reoccurring and to
prevent injuries from occurring from overexertion in the first place.”
Modern
sports run on data, and football is a prime example. Players wear devices that
can track their vital signs, including heart rate, during training and games. Player
metrics on both health and performance are critical for the club’s manager and
coaches, who make critical decisions around which players to start for a match,
when to substitute a player during a game and who should replace him.
“It quickly became clear that the Acronis services would benefit us in the short term but also in the longer term. Having Tailor Made Technologies included in the partnership gives us a managed service, structured onboarding and ongoing technical support that reduces the resource commitment from ourselves!"
Using numbers to keep the fans happy
Of course,
running a football club involves a lot more than managing the playing staff. Southampton
FC’s stadium, St. Mary’s, isn’t just a football ground; it’s an entertainment
venue. Every other week, more than 32,000 supporters attend a match there. A
big part of the club’s job is keeping those fans happy regardless of the result
of the match.
“We're
always looking to improve our match day offerings,” Fielding says. “We constantly
review data to see where the biggest queues are for kiosks and how we can
effectively reduce wait times and improve overall fan experience. We also analyse
the performance of our retail store and event spaces, which we’re constantly
trying to improve.”
The critical importance of data integrity
Data is, of
course, critical in many kinds of organisations. But a data breach would be particularly
damaging and embarrassing for a football club with a global profile and a major
presence in the U.K.
“When you
have constant events and a brand name that is frequently in the media, there is
very little margin for error,” Fielding says.
Failure to
recover from a breach or disaster could negatively affect not only the club’s
revenues and relationship with fans, but also its performance on the pitch. In
a dynamic sport, data protection and integrity are essential.
“All of the
areas we track are constantly changing,” says Fielding. “We can't make
effective decisions with out-of-date information. We therefore have to ensure
our data integrity. Only the relevant personnel can have access to the correct
data at any time, whilst making sure it's always accessible.”
A positive relationship: Southampton FC, Tailor Made Technologies and Acronis
Southampton
FC rely on local MSP Tailor Made Technologies to back up and protect the club’s
data using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud. According to Fielding, this positive relationship
“provides us with double the resources of a traditional supplier-customer
scenario.” We have Tailor Made
Technologies as local experts in the field supporting and helping our implementation,
and we also have backing from Acronis. That combination takes away the stress
and headaches of traditional security service implementations.”
The
partnership grew out of a relationship between Acronis and Southampton FC to
include Tailor Made Technologies, and it has delivered as the club hoped it
would.
“It quickly
became clear that the Acronis services would benefit us in the short term but
also in the longer term,” Fielding says. “Having Tailor Made Technologies
included in the partnership gives us a managed service, structured onboarding
and ongoing technical support that reduces the resource commitment from
ourselves! This is an ideal scenario and suits our use case perfectly.”
About Tailor Made Technologies
Experts in
managed technology, Tailor Made Technologies (TMT) specialise in Managed IT,
Cyber Security, and Communication solutions. On a mission to help small and
medium-sized enterprises leverage managed technology to achieve their business
goals.
Partnership-focused
with a deep and deliberate understanding of customers’ strategic goals, our
in-house teams tailor our services to suit every client’s unique requirements
and drive business growth.
Through
comprehensive offerings, broad technical knowledge and excellent customer
service, we ensure your business-critical IT and communications systems work
seamlessly in the background, unleashing you to achieve your targets.
Founded in
2018 when Peach Technologies and Taylor Made Computer Solutions (TMCS) — two of
the largest service providers in the South — joined forces. By combining Peach
Technologies’ expert telecommunications knowledge, TMCS’ outstanding track
record as an MSP and our founders’ dedication to providing superior customer
experiences, we dive deep into our clients’ technology to add value and solve
problems proactively.
Learn more
at: tmtech.co.uk
About Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud delivers an all-in-one, integrated
backup and cybersecurity platform for MSPs. With Acronis Cyber Protect
Cloud, MSPs can easily scale cyber protection services from a single, natively
integrated platform.
The
solution enables MSPs to deliver integrated backup, disaster recovery,
cybersecurity and endpoint management at scale, while preserving profit margins
and streamlining business operations with powerful automation capabilities and
broad integrations.