The importance of client relationship management (CRM) grows almost daily with sports teams, and for this week's MLB All-Star Game, the Chicago White Sox and Major League Baseball contracted with Chicago-based Business Automation Solutions to develop a software "module" that will create and manage the schedules of the 1,600 volunteers staffing the event.
The SportSMARTS Volunteer Tracking module will run on the White Sox's CRM application, FrontRange Solutions' GoldMine, which is used by many MLB teams.
Business Automation Solutions President Steven Pearl said the module's key feature is the simplicity of its interface, which will allow some of the volunteers to enter preferences and create schedules for all 1,600 volunteers without any training. "They can operate the system literally via a few check boxes," via computers at U.S. Cellular Field, Pearl said.
The module is now the property of Major League Baseball, Pearl said, and can be modified for subsequent all-star venues if the host team uses GoldMine. He would not state the cost of development, but said it was less than a ticket-sales module, which can run between $10,000 and $15,000.
— Noah Liberman
