IT Audit and Web Development
Client Overview
“The web solutions created by MDB have resulted in a 50% increase in sales for our company and over 4 million hits to our website.”
Rachel Pullan, Operations Manager, internationalSPORTgroup Ltd.
Through its network of business divisions, internationalSPORTgroup (ISG) is a promoter of world-class sporting events. ISG’s main areas of business include ticket sales, distributing printed media and managing web-based media, representing leading sports men and women worldwide. Additional services including management consultancy on marketing associated functions:
- Sponsorship evaluation and implementation
- Merchandising
- Strategic business planning Sales
- Event management
- Hospitality
Requirements
The central component of all of ISG’s activity is the development of an interactive community of sports men and women who are contacted through iSPORTgroup’s postal, e-mail and SMS database, which is currently hosted by MDB.
ISG’s website www.isportgroup.com, required development to:
1. Deliver incremental profit opportunities
2. Simplify business complexity
3. Reduce business operational costs through improved efficiencies and better working practices
4. Regularly market to their growing list of customers and sports professionals
5. Develop in-house systems to send e-shots, edit the website and gain more control of updates
ISG required the following services from MDB:
- Secure, reliable email system
- Website re-design
- Content management system
- E-commerce system
- Blackberry synchronisation
- Online entry to sports events
- Online marketing tools
Issues
iSPORTgroup had an unreliable email system. Their website wasn’t generating an income and they required one central solution for activities such as entering sporting competitions, purchasing tickets and sending e-shots.
iSPORTgroup required more control of their internal systems, reducing the reliance and cost of an outside agency for tasks such as web updates, order processing and e-newsletter creation and distribution.
Solution
The solution needed to improve ISG’s:
- Communication issues
- Web presence
- In-house control and ability to work independently
- Control over e-marketing
Details
Website
ISG required a website re-design to simplify their current web presence and navigation structure. The website needed to generate a new revenue stream through an e-commerce solution.
The new design improved the user experience by simplifying the navigation and increasing section visibility. It maintained ISG’s brand identity but became more visually appealing with action buttons to entice the user into the site.
The e-commerce and content management system allowed ISG to manage their site and update the content in-house – helping to increase their search engine results. 75% of users to the site currently come from Google.
E-shots
MDB created a system whereby iSPORTgroup could edit and send the e-shots in-house. As e-shots were sent frequently, this capability was extremely important.
E-commerce
As part of their business strategy iSPORTgroup required a stronger return on investment from their online presence. An online shop was created to sell event membership, merchandise, sports equipment and magazines. With a content management system behind the e-commerce section, iSPORTgroup had full control of the purchasing system, with no external development costs for any updates or content / images changes.
Email
MDB set up Microsoft Exchange and synchronised Outlook with company Blackberry’s. Communication vastly improved with business updates sent instantly and centralisation of data. Employees were able to work on the move which enhanced customer service and responsiveness. Eliminating data duplication decreased ISG’s workload and improved data accuracy.
Web enablement and mobile solutions
By synchronising iSPORTgroup’s Blackberry’s with Outlook the communication flow has vastly improved, resulting in:
- Faster client response times
- Elimination of duplicate date input
- Synchronisation with Outlook Calendar
- Centralisation of data
Benefits
Since its launch less than a year ago, the website has generated over 4.5 million hits, almost 83,000 unique visitors and more than doubled ISG’s sales.
ISG have little or no external IT costs, with complete system control remaining in-house. With reduced reliance on an external organisation, e-marketing and web updates could be conducted more frequently.
Data centralisation resulted in a secure, online portal for accessing and storing documents and company information.
Kentico CMS, ASP.net, Web Services, SQL Server
http://www.isportgroup.com