For a number of years, GameDay has been working with long-standing, valued customers Basketball New Zealand (NZ). 

Basketball New Zealand is the national body for the sport of basketball in New Zealand. Their role is to develop, grow and promote basketball and participants of the game.

In New Zealand, basketball is played from youth level right through to the elite game – namely the country’s national men’s and women’s teams, the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns.

Basketball NZ use GameDay’s market-leading product suite at a national level, providing it to all of their 35 affiliated associations.

They are able to adopt GameDay technology for a number of processes, including database registration, competition and event management.

We spoke with Basketball NZ Facilities and Insights Lead Daniel Dawick to learn more about their GameDay experience, what they see as the benefits of using the platform and their hopes for the years ahead.

“We have a voice now”

Working together for a number of years, we have been able to understand Basketball NZ’s needs to a greater extent, and work together on solutions which help their organisation, and those they work with, to take steps in the right direction.

So, what benefits have Basketball NZ found from working with GameDay?

“I feel like we have a voice now. In the past, there wasn’t any sort of New Zealand presence [in our sport] – it was quite Australia based,” Dawick said.

“Having that ongoing support, and the ability to influence change as well, has been good. If there’s any sort of bespoke development that we need, it’s something that GameDay considers doing for us.”

As with many organisations, one of the challenges often faced is encouraging their stakeholders to embrace such a shift towards a more technology-focused approach.

Discussing how their 35 affiliated associations have responded, Dawick added: “One of our biggest challenges is around data at the moment. That’s key for us as an organisation, making sure we collect accurate participation data.

“We don’t have all of our associations on board. Some are still using old spreadsheets and some are still just very reluctant to use technology.

“Over the past few years with the help of GameDay, it’s made the process a lot easier. We have the support available to onboard an association.”

Positive steps forward

It has not been a wholly straightforward process for Basketball NZ, especially considering the sheer number of individuals and associations who are being asked to get onboard with a new way of thinking, and method of working.

Willingness to embrace new forms of technology – and steer away from more traditional organisational methods – can be a gradual process, but Basketball NZ are starting to reap the rewards.

“At the moment, it’s probably the best it’s been in terms of uptake, which is great,” Dawick said.

“People are sort of starting to see what the benefits are of using technology and using an online provider that provides those services – online payments, registrations and cost management – as opposed to using paper.

“Some of our members have been able to veer away from the archaic days and into the digital world, which is great.

“Once they actually start using it, they can see what the system does, what it can provide, and how it can streamline their internal processes.

“I think that’s when they’re a bit more inclined to start using it.”

In recent months, Dawick and Basketball NZ have been able to conduct a survey with all key basketball associations in the country.

This has provided valuable comments which will continue to enable a more streamlined onboarding process.

“Some of the feedback was based around the training side of things and how we could improve our training around the GameDay system,” he said.

“Suggestions were around more face-to-face training, having more access to online webinars, and things like that so it’s easy to access resources for associations, as opposed to having to jump on a call all the time.

“The GameDay team here in New Zealand and Auckland, they’ve been fantastic to work with. They’re on hand to help our associations.

“As you can imagine, 35 associations means lots of issues and lots of support requests, but they’ve been awesome!”

A look to the future

What might the future hold for Basketball NZ and GameDay?

“In a perfect world, every association that we have will be using one consistent provider,” Dawick said.

“Everyone will be using it to take registrations, almost like a single source of truth. We’d have every participant – player, manager, referee – registered in one single system.

“That’s the goal, and that’s what we’ve been working on for the last four or five years. For us as the national sports organisation here in New Zealand, we want to provide that service for our members.

“We provide services for them that ultimately streamline their business, streamline what they do, and make things easier, as opposed to creating more administration for them.”

Why should you get involved?

Basketball NZ took the jump and opted to embrace the power of digital.

They are already seeing positive results from such a decision, and now they are encouraging other sports organisations to do likewise.

Reading this, you may wonder whether shifting to technology is a step your organisation should take – and Dawick believes there are easy steps to take which could help influence your decision.

“Talk to other members that are currently using the system,” he added.

“Use a different association as a case study, ask them questions, how they found that transition, the onboarding. Once they give that sort of positive feedback from someone else that uses it well, they’re a bit more inclined to jump on board, not as reluctant.

“Technology is a scary thing, isn’t it?

“Lots of associations that are hesitant to change, so once you take that leap of faith, I think you’re gonna see some benefits.”

Photos courtesy of Basketball NZ