This tool will make sports accommodations future-proof

#THIS ARTICLE IN DUTCH is written by Emma Meertens | translated by Liesbeth Wallien

Improving the viability and future-proofing of sports accommodations. It is with that in mind that KnowUr.Biz was developed, a software tool combining data streams to grant insight in the operation of sports facilities. We spoke with Mark Bennenbroek, one of the founders of KnowUr.Biz Nederland.

Mark Bennenbroek has been active in the world of sports accommodations for some twenty years. A friend who was working as a sports consultant introduced him to the industry. Bennenbroek had always been passionate about sports, and recreational sport in particular. In 2015 he and Sander ten Broek set up Treem, a consultancy and project management agency for sports accommodations. Bennenbroek: ‘We help organisations to cope with all issues regarding sport facilities. Right from formulating a vision – what kind of sports accommodation do you need – up to providing help with the design and support of management.’

KnowUr.Biz
In 2019 Treem led to the foundation of KnowUr.Biz Nederland. ‘Over the years we had built a large network, internationally even through sports federations. That is how we met our partner company KnowUr.Biz, whose roots lie in Finland. In this country most accommodations already work with KnowUr.Biz, in part because the Finnish authorities have made the use of the software a condition to qualify for subsidy.’

Before KnowUr.Biz Nederland was created, the accommodations counselled by Treem often found it difficult to access their own management data. ‘KnowUr.Biz made it possible to gather all information and make it easily accessible via a dashboard. We’re talking visitor numbers, sale of food and beverages, staffing and energy consumption. Most data is stored into different systems like the point-of-sale system or the booking system. If you want to promote those data to management data, it takes a lot of time, and sometimes the information is not accessible at all. Our system changes all that. What’s more, the information is available practically real-time.’

You can also link the system to the information available, also called the activity manager. ‘This module grants insight into who has to do what, and you can follow any progress.’ Another valuable functionality is that it is possible to link open source data to the system. ‘One example is the weather forecast. That is really relevant for outdoor pools.’ Once all the data are in one place, the system can make predictions, which will help the operators of accommodations. ‘As you can imagine, July will be different from April. If you don’t find out until December, your budgeting will lag behind and you will have just ten weeks or so left to salvage your budget for that year.’ Bennenbroek believes KnowUr.Biz’s strength lies in three aspects: the high speed of access to information, the combining of different sources and the possibility to look ahead.

Type of Sports Accommodations
Meanwhile over 500 sports accommodations are linked to KnowUrBiz, both in the Netherlands and in Finland. Most customers in the Netherlands are sports facilities operators responsible for several accommodations, like pools and indoor sports halls. But KnowUr.Biz is used in a broader context as well, like playgrounds. ‘It can be used to measure the effects of sports stimulation activities, for example. In short, we concern ourselves with the entire infrastructure of sports and exercise.’

When asked what these accommodations pay for working with KnowUr.Biz, Bennenbroek explains: ‘It depends on the type of accommodation and the volume of data streams linked. A basic package will cost no more than a couple of thousands Euros a year.’ Customers not only have access to the software proper, but can also ask for advice in different situations. An example: KnowUr.Biz saw that something was off with the energy gained from an accommodation’s solar panels: ‘The solar panel field they had installed did not generate anything, although the sun was shining. Turned out the inverter of the solar panels was broken.’ In some cases Bennenbroek provides support through his other company, Treem, but it all depends on the customer needs.

For years, Bennenbroek and KnowUr.Biz co-founder Sander ten Broek have been future-proofing sport facilities, but how about KnowUr.Biz’s future? The entrepreneurs plan on taking KnowUr.Biz to Germany and Flanders. Bennenbroek concludes: ‘With regards to data the motto is of course: “you can never be big enough”. The more data you have, the more valuable you are to users. Our current growth is based mostly on quality.’