Valencia CF: “Digital Is Not A Department, But A Way Of Doing Things”

Valencia CF’s Mestalla stadium was an exciting place to visit during the 2018-19 season, with the club celebrating its 100th anniversary with a victory in the Copa del Rey, making it to the Europa League semi-final and fourth-place finish in LaLiga Santander.

While the drama was unfolding on the pitch, Los Ches were busy behind the scenes completing one of the most innovative technology installations in the club’s history.

The digital transformation of Valencia CF, which is focused on providing direct relationship with the fan and an unmatched entertainment experience, shows the club’s ambition to stay at the forefront of the game for many years to come.

According to Keishi Matsuyama, Digital Transformation Director at Valencia CF, the secret to a successful technology project is not to focus on technology.

“Digital is not a department, it’s a way of doing things,” he said. “What we have been able to do is change the club’s whole approach to economics, processes, communications and markets, because we saw that our fans behaviour had changed.”

Matsuyama, with a background in the global finance industry, began by analysing some of the world’s most successful businesses, particularly from the media and entertainment industry, demonstrating how data was being used to build new services and drastically increase performance.

From this, it was quickly agreed that the club would update its systems to enable data capture from across all departments, from how fans shopped, when they arrived at the stadium and where they were accessing content. The results of this insight quickly changed how the club approached its communications.

“We are people managers, not engineers,” said Matsuyama. “By using data, everyone at the club saw that we could be more relevant in how we were speaking to the customer, allowing us to be more successful. Digital is simply the medium through which we do that.”

You can read the whole story in Global Fútbol.