Traveling to a sporting event? A concert? Imagine how much easier your experience would be if you could use one platform to book your event tickets, flights, accommodation, and more. No more shopping around to plan your trip; you find everything in one place and simply look forward to the event.
This is exactly the all-in-one solution offered by FORTIUS.io, the latest joint venture of Tokyo-based global sport business network Dentsu Sports International and DAIMANI.
Founded in 2018 to make the event experience as easy and enjoyable as possible for its customers, DAIMANI is already a global player in the hospitality event industry. The Zürich-based digital marketplace sells hospitality packages for The Wimbledon Championships, Formula 1, and the entire German Football Bundesliga among other major sporting events, not to mention big music acts like Coldplay, Justin Bieber, and Elton John.
“My hope for all our guests and customers…is to enjoy the Cadence Club [VIP hospitality zone] without having to worry about technology,” DAIMANI and FORTIUS.io CEO Max Mueller said. “The technology is just in the background.”
That crucial background is based on SAP cloud technology, which enabled FORTIUS.io to optimize the customer experience for its guests at the World Athletics Championships 2022. DAIMANI held the rights as the exclusive hospitality provider, and its guests enjoyed the all-in-one solution for the first time.
Hit the Ground Running
During the 10-day World Athletics Championships, approximately 1,500 DAIMANI customers from around the world streamed through the company’s Cadence Club, which was adjacent to the venue. DAIMANI’s customers were able to enjoy food and drinks before and after each day’s competitions, meet track and field champions such as long jump world record holder Mike Powell, and enjoy other perks.
“Booking a trip like this could take hours for us. Normally we dig in [and] do a lot of research,” DAIMANI client Kenneth Schwarz said in a video. “This made it so simple. We were able to find a hotel, get the tickets, get the airfare, get it all arranged – and didn’t have to worry about anything.”
That’s because FORTIUS.io is a one-stop platform where corporate and individual customers can purchase tickets to sporting and cultural events while booking hotels, airline tickets, and other services. After purchasing, they can still change their accommodation and flight or secure transportation to their hotel, venue, airport, or restaurant.
“SAP enables us, as a midsize company, to really play globally and compete,” Mueller said. “And now, of course, we are quickly able to scale up because the foundation is there. We are using SAP S/4HANA…We have the best.”
Scaling Up to Race on the World Stage
“Because we’re headquartered in Europe, I think that’s a different challenge that SAP helped us solve,” said Elisa Graham, who ran DAIMANI’s Partnerships and Operations onsite in Eugene, Oregon. “It’s the first World Athletics Championships held in the United States and getting people to fly over here, to book hotels, to find hotels – it was a challenge for a lot of customers.”
Providing a single platform for booking tickets, hotels, and airfare – all at the same time – helped customers overcome that challenge, Graham said. And for employees, SAP helped DAIMANI customer service answer questions around the clock – and around the world – by directing staff to the right teams in the right time zones.
“SAP has improved our workflow and daily life in many ways,” Graham said. “We’re on top of everything using all SAP technology.”
The “everything” Graham refers to includes pricing, availability, and other factors that can change faster than a sprinter with a tailwind. DAIMANI leaps over these and other hurdles while ensuring security and privacy for its customers around the world, in the language and currency of their choice.
Meeting Your Customers Wherever They Are
“It’s always easy to make it in one country, or have continental solutions. But to really have one global payment solution, where we connect global customers with global events, different currencies, and different payment methods?” CEO Mueller said. “It sounds very easy on paper, but in practice it’s not as easy.”
Remember, DAIMANI’s customers are willing to fly internationally for concerts and other live events. So being able to shop and purchase wherever you are – in your local language and with your local currency – can create a much smoother experience.
What’s more, customers can choose one of more than 30 payment methods via more than 70 currencies. These are all firsts in the VIP hospitality industry, and they can only be implemented through FORTIUS.io and the supporting SAP solution, according to DAIMANI.
But pulling together so many languages, payment methods, and currencies is tougher than pole vaulting with a pool cue – unless you’re running the right tech.
Sprinting Toward Security and Scalability in the Cloud
“From the beginning, we selected only cloud solutions…and it was a right decision to have everything in the cloud,” Mueller said, noting that DAIMANI doesn’t worry about maintaining physical servers, conducting routine updates, or providing cybersecurity for its Web site and data. “SAP is doing this for us.”
SAP’s security, stability, and scalability have been tremendous assets, as SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) and SAP Commerce Cloud offer secure ways for users to connect. And they always run smoothly, regardless of data volumes, according to Mueller. Plus, SAP’s technology and reputation help DAIMANI bring together large events and rights-holders around the world by allaying their concerns, such as cybersecurity and due diligence, the company stated.
“SAP helped us enable this in a short period of time,” Mueller said. “We found a perfect foundation with SAP – with a few customizations on top – to scale globally very quickly.”
In fact, this flexible platform has been key to DAIMANI’s success, as it seamlessly connects all the company’s internal systems with a tremendously diverse external ecosystem, according to Mueller. All of this enables fantastic growth for DAIMANI and its partners.
It’s a Team Sport
“SAP Business Technology Platform is at the heart of our architecture,” Mueller said. “It connects us internally – all of our SAP systems – and externally to a very fragmented ecosystem.”
Fragmented in that DAIMANI partners run events around the world, using different tools, ticketing providers, and procurement systems, according to Mueller. And some DAIMANI clients use newer technologies, while others still run legacy systems.
During the World Athletics Championships, event staff helped athletes get to their competition areas safely and on time, without disrupting ongoing events or getting lost. Similarly, SAP BTP orchestration services help DAIMANI run its complex operations smoothly.
“The beauty with SAP BTP – what we do – is that we connect everything,” Mueller said.
A Discrete Victory Lap for Backend Tech
“You should forget about technology,” Mueller said, whether you’re booking tickets, changing your itinerary, or even inviting corporate clients. “In the end, you should enjoy the event.”
Indeed, after DAIMANI customers Schwarz and Dena Pullar had booked their tickets for the World Athletics Championships, DAIMANI and FORTIUS.io took care of the rest, according to Pullar. Their mobile devices alerted them to everything from itinerary to admission.
“My phone automatically showed me the tickets we had available the day of the event, so all I had to do was pull them up on my phone and show them to people at the gate,” Pullar said. “It was so easy…I never thought about the technology.”
Follow Derek on Twitter: @DKlobucher
