Home advantage through digitalisation – How VfL Bochum 1848 enriches soccer events with digital apps and offers for its fans

What soccer fans want

Digital transformation is revolutionising the sports sector, presenting exciting opportunities to enhance fan experiences. Smart technologies have opened up new possibilities for significantly influencing how fans engage with their favourite sports clubs. Additionally, digitalisation offers the potential to streamline internal processes within clubs, providing valuable benefits to all stakeholders.

In light of their successful promotion to the first Bundesliga, VfL Bochum 1848 recognised the importance of playing a leading role in the digitalisation of soccer clubs in Germany. To accomplish this, the club made substantial investments in transforming its own organisation digitally. The primary objective was to cater to the desires and requirements of fans by delivering personalised content tailored to their preferences.

By partnering with SoftwareOne, VfL Bochum 1848 aimed to enhance the fan experience through various digital initiatives. These initiatives encompassed a complete digitisation of season ticket sales, including the use of digital signatures. The club also wanted to overhaul its website, ensuring it meets modern accessibility and navigation standards with the introduction of additional online fan service tools that can also be accessed via a mobile application.

Establishing a digital fan journey with Microsoft Azure

The first major achievement was the rapid implementation of the season ticket digitalisation. Fans now benefit from a new solution built on Microsoft Azure, completely replacing time-consuming manual processes. This means no more frustrating queues with long waiting times. Instead, fans enjoy a modern subscription-based ticketing system. The entire sales process has been fully automated within one single solution. This includes registration, seat selection, and user confirmation of ticket purchases via a digital signature using AdobeSign.

SoftwarOne executed the rehosting of Linux and Windows virtual machines in Azure, which preceded the implementation of the solution. The browser-based application is built on various Azure services, which ensure the club is provided with a highly available solution at all times:

• Azure App Services as well as Azure NET Apps are the foundation of the solution
• A SQL database is used at the backend for the secure administration of fan data
• Data security is ensured by Azure Key Vault
• Azure Monitor monitors performance to ensure that the web app is available even at peak times

The new browser-based application brings significant benefits not only to the fans but also to VfL Bochum 1848. Apart from improved customer service and significant productivity gains, the availability of data opens up entirely new opportunities for interacting and engaging with fans. Previously, it was impossible for the Bundesliga club to digitally connect with its season ticket holders, but now, sending out newsletters is just one of the new ways of keeping in touch with fans.

In addition to season ticket sales, the Bundesliga club's online presence underwent a complete modernisation. The new homepage, designed with responsive web design, ensures easy readability and usability on mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. The website now features a clear structure, modern layout, and improved navigation, providing easy access to all services, including ticket purchases and the club’s online shop, as well as latest news via social media. A new mobile app, implemented on the scalable Azure infrastructure, complements the digital offering and allows fans to access the new online services on the go.

To ensure the continuous performance of the club’s digital solutions, SoftwareOne provides ongoing support for both the applications and the Azure infrastructure. This guarantees that the digital services of VfL Bochum 1848 are available, accessible and functional at all times.