When thinking of the daily activities of a club sports organization, the first things that come to mind are likely not in-line with reality. While one would logically assume days are filled with coaching and sport-specific drills, it is often the case that the opposite is true.
Club organizations are being relied upon today for much more than coaching. Recruiting guidance has become a main reason why families have selected club teams. In a survey conducted by SportsRecruits, over 65.93% of respondents noted that they chose their club team primarily for the coaching and level of recruiting expertise.
As organizations have grown, they have spent an increasing amount of time on administrative tasks – things like excel sheets, email chains and other means that have worked well to this point. Some even have a full-time staffer to handle all things recruiting.
However, consider this: A 2014 survey by Microsoft for National Small Business Week, looked at what role technology plays for small businesses – like club sports. 60 percent of small businesses attribute increased revenue to technology and another 60 percent feel technology allows them to compete with similar size and/or larger companies (1).
The thought process can be thought of simply: Why spend valuable time doing a complex math problem and ignore a calculator on the desk?
Often, a club is happy with how they are doing. Nothing is broken, so why fix it or change what works? Well, the short answer is that the value of time is being compromised.
Many technologies in the space do not change any processes or replace the valuable input of staffers. What they do is streamline those to allow the organization to function better. This means more time to increase value to families. Accepting the status quo is a dangerous proposition, because it allows competitors to gain an advantage.
A real question clubs should ask themselves is simple: Why waste time?
(1) Gregersen, Kirk. Survey Finds Technology Is Critical For Small Business Owners But Many Have Yet To Adopt Cloud Solutions.” 15 May 2014. Microsoft Office Blogs. http://blogs.office.com/2014/05/15/survey-finds-technology-is-critical-for-small-business-owners-but-many-have-yet-to-adopt-cloud-solutions/
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