Digital Transformation at Perth Racecourse

Perth Races & Dunedin IT

Located in the parklands of Scone Palace in Perthshire, Perth Racecourse is known primarily as Scotland’s most northerly racecourse. However, it is also an events venue hosting in excess of 120 events each year from large conferences and weddings to smaller meetings and team building activities. The venue began working with Dunedin IT in late 2016 to upgrade its connectivity and ticketing facilities; Dunedin IT has since also taken over the venue’s IT contract.

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The Challenge

Paper Ticketing System per year
£ 0
Customer WiFi Access Points
0
Average Speed
0 Mbps

Perth Racecourse was regularly seeing crowds of up to 10,000 on race days and, in winter 2016, the team recognised that it needed to upgrade its ticketing facilities. At the time, the ticketing system was convoluted and costing close to £20,000 in materials and postage each year: pre-booked tickets were printed and mailed out to guests in the form of badges to wear. They also had to staff and manage on-site kiosks for day-of ticket purchases and printing at an additional expense.

The badge system meant ticket “collectors” were visually checking hard copies of tickets which risked people without tickets entering as part of a larger crowd. The venue also struggled to know exactly how many people were in each enclosure at a given time, which brought safety and security issues.

Additionally, the rural location of the racecourse with no Wi-Fi connection meant visitors to Perth Racecourse struggled to connect to the internet. The limited connection that was available was very slow, with an average speed of 4MB/s. This negatively impacted on the visitor experience, something the venue sought to change.

"When we were looking to make significant changes to our connectivity to support our ticketing system, we spoke with a few companies who could help. Dunedin IT quickly stood out as the company we wanted to work with. The team is approachable and honest, and explained things to us clearly without relying on any jargon"
Katy Webster
Marketing Manager, Perth Races

The Solution

Perth Racecourse and Dunedin IT worked together to identify the goals of the new ticketing operations, primarily to improve venue safety and reduce the cost of producing the tickets. The venue also wanted to improve the overall visitor experience by introducing free public Wi-Fi.

Dunedin IT helped the venue identify what it needed, and then developed and installed a full site fibre network to key entrance gates to support the scanning of e-tickets. This in turn removed all printing and postal costs, as well as staff time required to print and mail the badges.

The new system also allowed the venue to sell to the permitted capacity of each enclosure and know exactly how many people were in an enclosure at any time. This improved security and safety. The venue also used this insight to better manage facilities including knowing how many toilets and food stands to open in each location, which in turn improved the overall visitor experience. 

The free public Wi-Fi installed by Dunedin IT was designed to reach speeds of 100MB/s, a more than 2,000% increase from the previous connection speed, providing an improved experience for visitors. Dunedin IT also upgraded Wi-Fi at additional onsite buildings including The Lodge Hotel and the stables, and installed a fibre connection to the Perth Races office building to improve business productivity. In addition, a Dunedin IT engineer is always onsite on race days to ensure the technology runs smoothly and any issues are immediately addressed. 

“It was evident that they not only understood and supported our goals, but they also wanted to find us the right solution at the right price. We’ve since expanded our working relationship with them, and we look forward to them being our IT partner for some time to come.”
Katy Webster
Marketing Manager, Perth Races

The Results

Paper Ticketing System per year
£ 20000
Customer WiFi Access Points
0 +
Average Speed
0 Mbps
  • Venue saved approximately £20,000 in annual ticketing costs, which were redirected to technology and other expenses focused on the visitor experience.
  • Switch to e-ticketing system has allowed guests to enter the venue quicker, while the venue gains from improved attendance insight: the venue is able to scan 1,000 people in 10 minutes.
  • Improved facility management due to more knowledge of visitor numbers.
  • No impact on employee numbers, despite removal of the onsite ticketing kiosks; staff were retrained to help visitors access the e-ticketing system and scan QR codes for entry.
  • Onsite public internet connection was introduced with speeds of up to 100MB/s.
  • Significant increase in social media engagement by visitors on race days due to internet connection.
  • Improved business productivity by adding fibre to the Perth Races office building.

Contact a member of the team today

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