PwC envisions a future where AI contributes an astonishing $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Their Global Artificial Intelligence Study reveals the potential for AI to elevate local economies’ GDP by up to 26% by that same year, highlighting the transformative power of innovation.
I am confident that the economic gains will arise from innovative product enhancements that ignite consumer demand.
With this vision in mind, I chose to interview Michael Briem, the inspiring CEO of Nexxchange. Nexxchange asserts that it is the most comprehensive golf management software available on the market.
Are golf club management software systems prepared for AI-driven personalization and automation?
Advanced Systems offer solutions for AI automation requests in the following areas:
- Dynamic pricing for tee times serves to enhance revenue generation and effectively distribute demand between peak and non-peak periods. The implementation of this dynamic pricing feature necessitates a substantial amount of data. It is generally more feasible for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies to integrate such a feature into their service offering, as they maintain a centralized system that houses the data of all their customers.
- The implementation of AI voice automation for telephone reservations is a further necessity in the context of tee time bookings for members and green fee players. In Europe, the proportion of online bookings is approximately 80%, while in the United States, this figure stands at 40%. Consequently, managing the remaining orders via telephone is becoming increasingly costly, leading operators to seek viable solutions to address this challenge. Advanced voice models, which are components of large language models, facilitate “voice-to-voice” communication, thereby eliminating the need for intermediate “voice-to-text” and “text-to-voice” translations.
Personalized CRM marketing necessitates a comprehensive understanding of historical product consumption data.
It calls for systems that encompass all departments served, providing a unified solution that allows for direct customer profiling from the integrated platform.
This allows operators to deliver highly personalized products or product bundles tailored to the target audience within a CRM system that is integrated with the tee sheet solution.
I don’t see that AI can contribute to this process.
How advanced are the analytical functions of golf club management softwares in delivering actionable insights?
Dynamic pricing allows golf courses to adjust tee times during peak periods. It allows for defining demand in advance and testing the elasticity of demand based on price sensitivity tests with green fee players.
It will enable the segmentation of the tee sheet into different zones, allowing for the regrouping of membership models based on occupancy rates.
What advice can you give to golf clubs that don’t have the resources to hire in-house business analysts?
All evaluations aimed at improving the performance of a golf course operation begin with a data model in mind, which enables the segmentation of customer groups with different needs and varying usage patterns on the tee sheet.
The customer groups can then be offered green fees or membership products. The difference between the two groups will become smaller in the future.
Membership may include 3-5 green fees per year, and green fee products will be sold in multiple units, allowing both products to be exchanged.
When an owner or manager has a clear vision for how to execute the model, they will find software on the market that fulfills their requirements.
How widespread is the demand for an integrated golf ecosystem? What software features are often underestimated?
The demand depends on the operational structure. The more interested a golf course operator is in growing their business by adding new golf courses or serviced departments, the more integrated the software solution must be to meet those requirements.
Nowadays, multiple side operators expect cloud-based solutions with a single consolidated database for all sites and service departments they manage.
If a golf course operator runs just one golf course and outsources as much as possible, focusing solely on the tee sheet operation, the software requirements are minimal.
These operators have the widest selection of software, as they can choose from either complex or simple solutions.
What criteria should golf clubs consider when selecting golf club management software?
Golf courses are operating under very challenging conditions, and depending on the course’s location, there may be 20 different models available.
City golf courses within the boundaries of large cities utilize costly land; they intend to build many more serviced departments, such as fitness centers, fitness classes, tennis courts, hotel operations, banquet facilities, etc., to make better use of the land they have.
If a golf course is located close to a major city but outside its borders, it often focuses on beginners; its business model is much more streamlined.
They operate large driving ranges, an academy, and a sizable pro shop, which creates different needs.
The same applies to golf resorts, which often feature hotels, as well as second homes and apartments for sale in tourist areas, or prestigious golf courses with high demand from golfers and significant capital investment.
Owners and managers typically consider new software only when a pain point is not adequately addressed by existing software.
Operators should seek the market leader in the golf course tee sheet market sub-segment; golf course operators are positioned to invite those software suppliers with expertise in these sub-segments to present.