Jacksonville Jaguars
The fan-favorite NFL team uses RingCentral Rooms for video conferencing and RingCentral’s built-in SMS texting for improved communication with colleagues, customers, and partners.
Engagement ↑
thanks to reps’ ability to text clients
from any device
from any device
< 1 week
to migrate all 300+ employees
to RingCentral
to RingCentral
Because our old phone system didn’t have the call-center features that we needed, we were starting from scratch when we rolled out RingCentral Contact Center. But once we got the call groups, routing instructions, call recording, and analytics set up the way we wanted, we knew we had a world-class operation to support our customers and corporate partners.
Mike Webb
CIO
An NFL 4-time Division Title winner
Northeast Florida’s Jacksonville Jaguars are a team on the rise. The team took the AFC South division crown in both 2017 and 2022 and expectations are high that they’ll reach the postseason again this coming season. Led by a Super Bowl winning coach and a third-year franchise QB, the outlook is bright for this young team.
Building upon this success, the team invested heavily in their future, unveiling the all new Miller Electric Center, a $120 million, 125,000 square-foot practice facility. The team just moved in at the start of 2023 training camp.
INDUSTRY
Professional sports
HQ
Jacksonville, FL
YEAR FOUNDED
1993
EMPLOYEES
300+
The challenge of upgrading from free
Mike Webb, Chief Information Officer for the Jacksonville Jaguars, explains that for years the organization operated on a telecom platform provided by the City of Jacksonville, as part of the lease agreement for the Jaguars’ stadium and offices. Because the system was included in the agreement and the local government was providing the licenses, Mike’s IT team didn’t have much flexibility to upgrade – which became an increasing challenge.
“The phone system from the City just didn’t have the functionality we needed,” Mike says. “It didn’t offer much in the way of remote communications, didn’t have built-in SMS texting, and didn’t allow us to record and listen to calls, which was something our sales and customer support managers wanted.”
It was difficult to persuade our executive team to switch from a free telecom system to one that would cost money. That’s why we stuck with our outdated system so long. But when we found RingCentral and were able to show the direct benefits of that system’s capabilities for our organization, we were easily able to make that case.
Mike Webb
CIO
RingCentral delivers operational benefits across the organization
Mike explains that by empowering both the Jaguars’ administrative and coaching staff to communicate anywhere, on any device, by phone, SMS text, or video, RingCentral has improved many of the organization’s workflows.
“The fact that everybody now has the ability to be on a business call or meeting from their computer or mobile phone means we’re able to be a lot more collaborative with each other and responsive to our clients and partners.”
Mike adds that one of the most beneficial RingCentral features for the staff is the built-in SMS texting. “Our reps handling ticket sales and partnerships use the texting feature for those important gentle outreaches to clients, to keep a conversation moving forward without interrupting someone with a phone call. The reps I’ve talked to tell me that using RingCentral’s SMS feature has helped them connect with more clients and close more business.”
A smart play ahead of the lockdowns
Because the Jaguars implemented RingCentral and RingCentral Contact Center in 2018, the entire organization was prepared for the pandemic lockdowns, able to take calls and run video meetings remotely.
As Mike explains, having RingCentral proved invaluable as the Jaguars continued welcoming fans to games throughout the 2020 season.
We were among the few NFL teams that allowed fans into the stadium for every game – between 25% and 50% of capacity. So, we needed our ticket sales and customer support operations to be fully operational. And because all of our agents had RingCentral Contact Center on their laptops at home, we were able to continue serving fans without any downtime.
Mike Webb
CIO
Keeping coaches and players connected
The Jaguars also implemented RingCentral Rooms to equip their meeting offices with video conferencing capability. As Mike explains, this proved invaluable during the pandemic not only for keeping remote Jaguars employees connected but also for facilitating collaboration between the team’s coaches and players.
“As the lockdowns first went into effect, we were so happy we had RingCentral and could easily set up virtual coaching sessions for our team.” In fact, Mike adds, RingCentral Rooms proved such a convenient and user-friendly way to run virtual meetings that the Jaguars have equipped every meeting room at the team’s new training facility with RingCentral Rooms capability.
Everyone in the Jaguars organization is using RingCentral for business communications – for phone calls from anywhere, for texting, and for video meetings. And I can tell you that in one way or another, all of us – and the Jaguars fans – are benefiting from these improved communications.
Mike Webb
CIO