MCC Keeps Technology on the Ball with Help from Data#3 Maintenance Solution

A Data#3 Customer Story ABOUT MCC OBJECTIVE

Affectionately known as ‘the G’, the MCC’s With over 3.5 million fans Ground hosts many of attending the MCG annually, the ’s most popular sporting events. Melbourne Cricket Club (“MCC”) It is also home to events, functions, and needed full visibility of their highly the National Sports Museum. available networks to meet the intense demands of match-days.

APPROACH

Implement a long-term Cisco maintenance contract for maintenance and support services FUN FACT COMMENTS including ad-hoc support, out-of-hours support, and on-site support. “Communication is a By 2022, 80% of I&O key to success when organizations that working with a partner lack digital business in a demanding IT BENEFITS environment. We stay • Certainty of an Original Equipment Manufacturer strategies will risk cuts in touch with the Data#3 (OEM) backed contract with local expertise team frequently to ensure • A high-touch engagement model to ensure fast in budget, resulting in access to on-site support we don’t miss a thing. • Support for very high uptime demands outsourcing as a means I cannot speak highly • Maintenance and support saving more than # of delivering results. enough of the Data 3 $300k over three years team and the way they • Better visibility of assets, including all Gartner (2020), Gartner Predicts: Cost Optimization. [Online] https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/apac/infrastructure-operations-cloud-australia/ have engaged with us.” renewal information agenda/featured-topics/cost-optimization Rey Sumaru, General Manager of IT and Innovation, Melbourne Cricket Club

TECHNOLOGY Cisco Maintenance and Support Services The Background When tens of thousands of sports fans The transparency and ease of access arrive to cheer their team, the MCC must afforded by Data#3’s Hub platform allows Affectionately known as ‘the G’, the MCC’s be ready to greet them. Without its systems the MCC team complete visibility of its hosts many of working, the show, quite simply, could not environment and status. Australia’s most popular sporting events. go on. It is also home to events, functions, and “After a situation with little visibility, the National Sports Museum. “The consequence would be that we can now see what we are dealing broadcast partners could not televise with,” said Sumaru. Supporting everything from ticketing and matches, the media couldn’t file stories, security to visitor Wi-Fi, the highly available and we couldn’t get 70-80,000 people Included in the agreement was a balance network built by the MCC’s IT team inside,” said Sumaru. of service time to assist with ad-hoc support prioritises redundancy. Ongoing support for game days and out-of-hours support, was needed to ensure its Cisco systems “Our access controls all depend on the with on-site support quickly available around performed with utmost reliability. network. Without them we couldn’t scan the clock. tickets or use the scoreboards – the critical infrastructure is what allows you to “It is less stressful knowing we have The Challenge open the venue.” backend redundancies, and a partner willing to jump on board to help, whenever Facing high costs and limited visibility of we need them,” said Sumaru. the Cisco environment, the MCC was due IT Outcome to renew its Cisco support contract. With “They are very responsive.” just weeks until the Boxing Day Cricket Within two weeks, the MCC team Test, MCC General Manager of IT and received an extraordinary level of “Given the tight time-frame, the transition Innovation, Rey Sumaru, said it would # intelligence from Data 3 about its own to a new support partner had to occur very have been simple to renew with the environment. Information-gathering quickly, but it was a smooth process,” said MCC’s current provider. identified which equipment was due for Sumaru. renewal or approaching end-of-life. This “It is easy to stay with who you know, but allowed the MCC to plan and budget “Data#3 made the transition easy for us.” that isn’t always the answer,” said Sumaru. more effectively for future needs.

# “Our previous dealings with Data 3 “A partner who understands us is critical in had shown us the effort they make to our business,” said Sumaru. understand how our business works.” “We met with the Data#3 executives and That business places extreme demands on team, and that gave us a level of comfort the network, and failure is never an option. that they were the right fit.”

“It is critical to have right business partner The maintenance agreement includes - we don’t get a second chance to get it support for the entire network, back-office right,” said Sumaru. and stadium. Data#3 also provides tailored customer success activities, using its Hub platform to manage assets, lifecycle management, support arrangements, case-logging and incident management.

Melbourne Cricket Club — Data#3 Customer Story Business Outcome Conclusion

While initially the plan had been for a Ensuring ongoing availability of an shorter timescale, Data#3 was able to outstanding network is something that identify greater savings from Cisco by cannot be left to chance for the MCC locking in an associated financing model team, and Sumaru is happy that with under a long-term contract. It was a move Data#3 and Cisco, it is in safe hands. that will save the MCC $300,000 over three years. “They took time to understand our business, and often vendors don’t take “The budget certainty gives the MCC that time,” said Sumaru. ‘greater certainty’, but it is the assurance of ready, on-call support that is most His advice is to start researching available important, given the potential cost of failure.” said Sumaru. options early, to give plenty of time to make decisions. “Cisco were very engaged from day one, and it gave us a level of comfort “Don’t assume that your current partner that they knew what was in place. They is the best without checking the other are complemented perfectly by Data#3’s available options.” local expertise.” With support in place, and exceptional By gaining visibility of IT assets and related redundancy built in, the MCC can continue support coverage, the MCC has been able to offer the thrilling visitor experience it is to mitigate risk of failure and of licence famous for. non-compliance. “For a typical match, we cater for 70,000 “Without the right coverage, we could visitors to log on, and we get consistently have been exposed to unacceptable good feedback on how good our Wi-Fi is,” risk. Technology is a key platform for our said Sumaru. operations, and without it our stadium couldn’t operate. Communication is a “These days, technology is all part of the key to success when working with a show that the fans love at the MCG.” partner in a demanding IT environment,” said Sumaru, who values the relationship his team has established. N 1300 23 28 23 F “We stay in touch with the Data#3 team facebook.com/data3limited frequently to ensure we don’t miss a thing. T twitter.com/data3limited # I cannot speak highly enough of the Data 3 L linkedin.com/company/data3 team and the way they have engaged with us.” said Sumaru. Y youtube.com/user/data3limited

Melbourne Cricket Club — Data#3 Customer Story