--- title: How Barrow AFC modernised matchday IT with commited and Acronis description: At Barrow AFC, a club with deep roots in English football and a growing commercial operation, outdated and fragmented IT systems were beginning to hold the organisation back. That changed when the club partnered with managed service provider (MSP) commited and adopted Acronis cyber protection solutions. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/how-barrow-afc-modernised-matchday-it-with-commited-and-acronis/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) # How Barrow AFC modernised matchday IT with commited and Acronis At Barrow AFC, a club with deep roots in English football and a growing commercial operation, outdated and fragmented IT systems were beginning to hold the organisation back. That changed when the club partnered with managed service provider (MSP) commited and adopted Acronis cyber protection solutions. [Try Now](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cloud/trial/) [![Image 2: Lee Pender](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/96b4b6d9ceee3c624b79f42543d1d633.png)](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/lee-pender/ "Lee Pender") [Lee Pender,](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/lee-pender/)Senior Content Marketing Manager 4 min read Last updated 16 July 2026 For football clubs operating outside the Premier League spotlight, every pound matters. Matchday operations, fan experience, commercial revenue and cyber security are all critical to keeping the club competitive both on and off the pitch. At Barrow AFC, a club with deep roots in English football and a growing commercial operation, outdated and fragmented IT systems were beginning to hold the organisation back. That changed when the club partnered with managed service provider (MSP) comm**it**ed and adopted Acronis cyber protection solutions. The result has been a complete transformation in how the club manages technology, from faster matchday transactions to centralised cyber security and backup protection. ## A club held back by fragmented technology Barrow AFC, a member of the National League, the fifth tier of English football, will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2026-2027. In 2024, a major issue the club identified was the state of its IT infrastructure. “Everything was everywhere,” says Frazer Stewart, Director, Barrow AFC. “I wanted a one-stop shop. Who do you go to for passwords, printing, cyber security, CCTV or the scoreboard? It was a car crash.” Technology services were spread across multiple vendors and providers, making troubleshooting difficult and creating operational inefficiencies throughout the club. Systems were slow, internet performance was poor and even basic matchday processes were affecting the fan experience. “Our turnover at half-time was suffering because transactions were taking too long,” Stewart explains. “The staff were getting abused because fans were frustrated asking, ‘What’s taking so long?’” For a club like Barrow, where secondary spending on food, drinks and merchandise is an important revenue stream, those delays directly affected commercial performance. ## Finding the right MSP partner As Stewart began the process of consolidating vendors and evaluating technology providers, he turned again to comm**it**ed, which had already started working with the club on telecommunications. “They were one of the companies I spoke to while trying to pull everything together,” Stewart says. “Every query was answered with, ‘We can do that.’” That responsiveness and breadth of expertise quickly stood out. comm**it**ed worked closely with the club to centralise IT operations and modernise infrastructure across both the stadium and a separate training facility. Today, the club operates with a far more connected and efficient environment that supports approximately 20–30 users across office staff, training ground personnel and matchday operations. ## Modernising matchday operations One of the most immediate improvements came through upgrading the club’s connectivity and point-of-sale systems. comm**it**ed implemented high-speed fibre connectivity and introduced tablet-based point-of-sale systems to improve concession and hospitality operations on matchdays. “We put cyber-fast fibre in and introduced tablets to do POS onsite,” says Will Gardner-Brennand, commercial director at comm**it**ed. “Technology was slowing them down as a club.” The impact was dramatic. “Our turnover quadrupled,” says Stewart. “Secondary spend is massive to a club like Barrow.” Beyond improving revenue generation, the new environment also simplified day-to-day support. “No task is too big, and no task is too small for comm**it**ed,” Stewart adds. “Every member of staff has their support line. It’s made my life so much easier. It’s brought us up to the 21st century.” ## How Acronis became part of the journey comm**it**ed’s relationship with Acronis began through a need to improve Microsoft 365 backup and reduce reliance on costly on-premises infrastructure. The MSP had also been evaluating how to simplify its own technology stack and reduce vendor sprawl. Acronis offered an immediate advantage. “We liked the flexibility Acronis has with billing,” Gardner-Brennand says. “There was no flexibility with the previous vendor.” The relationship deepened after comm**it**ed attended an Acronis event at the Silverstone racing circuit, where discussions around sports partnerships and the Acronis #TeamUp programme helped demonstrate the value of closer collaboration. comm**it**ed ultimately decided not only to participate in Acronis #TeamUp by working with Barrow but also to sponsor the club along with Acronis. “It sat in the back of my head,” Gardner-Brennand explains. “Then Rickie and I started talking about sponsorship opportunities and things developed from there.” Today, Acronis and comm**it**ed branding is visible at Barrow AFC’s away stand, and comm**it**ed will be the sponsor on the front of Barrow’s special edition 125th anniversary shirts for 2026-2027. ## Building a unified cyber protection strategy As comm**it**ed modernised Barrow AFC’s environment, Acronis solutions became central to the club’s cyber protection strategy. According to Gardner-Brennand, the club’s IT environment was relatively straightforward but lacked centralised management and protection. “Barrow is a pretty flat network,” he says. “There’s local data on laptops and Microsoft 365.” comm**it**ed deployed multiple Acronis solutions to consolidate cyber security, backup and endpoint management into a single integrated platform, including: * Endpoint protection and antivirus. * Microsoft 365 backup. * Security awareness training. * Centralised backup protection for local and cloud-based data. * SharePoint-based collaboration and data management support. “One product naturally leads into another,” Gardner-Brennand says. “We’d previously had a huge sporadic mass of products. Acronis has become our one-stop shop.” That consolidation has helped comm**it**ed reduce complexity while improving service delivery for Barrow AFC. ## Seamless protection with real business value For Stewart, one of the most important outcomes has been confidence that the club’s systems and data are protected without disrupting operations. “The transition was really smooth,” he says. “It happened seamlessly. No hiccups.” That protection has already proven valuable. “We have had to recover a bit of data,” Stewart notes. “Would we have had that possibility if we hadn’t entered into this deal? No.” As cyber threats continue to evolve, comm**it**ed sees the partnership with Acronis as an ongoing journey rather than a one-time deployment. “New threats will come in and at that point we’ll act accordingly,” Gardner-Brennand says. ## Preparing for the future With a stable IT foundation now in place, Barrow AFC and comm**it**ed are already looking ahead to future innovation. Gardner-Brennand expects emerging technologies such as pitch-side analytics and expanded operational data collection to play a larger role in football operations moving forward. [Cybersecurity](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/cybersecurity/) [M365 Backup & Recovery](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/m365-backup-recovery/) [M365 Security & Protection](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/m365-security-protection/) ## Written by ![Image 3: Lee Pender](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/96b4b6d9ceee3c624b79f42543d1d633.png) Lee Pender Senior Content Marketing Manager Lee was a journalist in the technology industry for 15 years, writing for and managing publications that served both IT and partner audiences. His experience as a corporate content creator includes tenures with an MSP and a provider of tax-compliance services. He writes about a variety of topics for Acronis, including cybersecurity trends, MSP management, emerging technologies and product updates. 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