Case Study

British Cycling

British Cycling

Driving transformational change for a National Governing Body

Background

In 2022, British Cycling understood that it had reached a crossroads. It could either undergo a period of dynamic change or continue on the same trajectory that had led to a 5% year-on-year reduction in memberships since the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, 2014. At the same time -and as with most other National Governing Bodies – British Cycling was seeking to create a point of difference to stand out in an otherwise cluttered and depressed sponsorship market.

A review of the existing Commercial Strategy highlighted a need for British Cycling to adopt a new relationship with its data, technology and digital landscape if it were to rise to the challenge of growing commercial opportunities, participation and relevance for the sport.

Therefore the newly-installed leadership group knew it had to act if the national governing body for cycling in Britain was to fulfil its objective of “bringing the joy of cycling to everyone.”

In January 2024, PTI was appointed to use its expertise and experience in Data & Digital Transformation to provide guidance on how British Cycling should create a future-proofed digital ecosystem with which to achieve its overall objectives.

Responsibilities included

  • Conducting a thorough review of British Cycling’s existing technological ecosystem and business practices
  • Auditing all customer touchpoints, identifying a “best-practice” environment of interdependent workstreams for internal and external customers and stakeholders
  • Identifying technologies which could help the organisation unlock the potential of 1+ million customer records held on British Cycling’s databases
  • Identifying processes and procedures to streamline the organisation’s administrative practices, internally as well as on location
  • Creating a Technologies Roadmap and framework of implementation which would reduce impact upon business-as-usual activities whilst delivering the dynamic change which would drive British Cycling forward

Results

PTI delivered a set of vendor-agnostic recommendations that addressed but also went beyond the technologies brief, addressing the human and cultural needs of the organisation, ensuring that technology is seen as an enabler, rather than the answer in isolation.

  • Recognition that British Cycling needs to develop an integrated, closed-loop modular ecosystem which  enriches customer data with each engagement
  • Indicating a need to move towards a people-centric CRM philosophy, rather than being technologies-led, allowing British Cycling to learn more and become more relevant to about its audiences
  • Developing a considered Modular Technologies Roadmap which focuses initially revenue-generating elements, enabling the full Data & Digital Transformation project to become self-financing
  • Emphasising the need for British Cycling streamline the customer journey, adopting integrated technologies and the Single Customer View
  • Highlighting the importance of improved data governance and development of reporting, analytics and insights to generate a data-driven decision-making culture
  • Single-point of reference Permissions Centre, with full GDPR provision and appropriate communications provisions
  • Positioning British Cycling – both internally and externally – as an innovator seeking to create greater value for all its stakeholders through embracing technology

”As a National Governing Body, we are always conscious that we are walking a fine line between high ambition and financial responsibility. PTI’s “buy-once and buy-well” approach to our situation has helped us to navigate this in a considered way, meaning that we are in control of the what would otherwise be a challenging transition process, without affecting business as usual.
PTI’s approach throughout the process showed a real understanding our requirements and a sensible, pragmatic pathway to achieving them.

Stephen BrownDirector of Change, British Cycling