MicroAge Helps San Diego Padres Move to Cloud-Based Communications

Preparing to host an All-Star weekend is a lot more than just counting ballots. A number of mechanisms, processes, and communication are needed to provide a great fan experience. In preparation for the 2016 season and the July 12 All-Star game, the San Diego Padres organization knew it needed to update its communications system and worked with MicroAge to evaluate moving to a cloud-based communications system.

To support users at Petco Park in San Diego and at the team’s spring training facility in Peoria, Ariz., as well as scouts in the field, the organization saw an opportunity to move to a cloud-based communications system. And with their February deployment — just before the start of spring training — they became the first franchise to move to the cloud.

There were various signs that it was time to make a change, explains MicroAge’s Amber Tuckwiller. “There were times when, after a concert at the stadium, they would have problems resetting the system for game day,” she notes. “You can’t have issues when you’re trying to call the bullpen!”

They had simply outgrown their existing environment. They had a legacy PBX that created challenges in scalability and management. Because they were hosting the All-Star game later in the year, they anticipated an influx of calls to the ticketing office, increased media calls and other stresses to the system. By moving to the cloud they were able to deploy a highly available and easy to manage solution that would scale to fit the organization’s needs.

The club’s IT department looked at a number of premise-based and cloud-based communications solutions, ultimately selecting Mitel’s MiCloud Enterprise with MiContact Center Enterprise. (Read the Mitel press release.) They also included more than 80 CS540-XD Plantronics headsets for their customer service representatives.

Mitel’s cloud solution gives us all the bells and whistles without having to maintain the infrastructure onsite,” says Ray Chan, director of IT for the San Diego Padres. “The enterprise mobility aspect is equally important because it opens up a different avenue of communications that can allow our business to operate more efficiently and successfully.”

With Mitel, the Padres were able to improve communications throughout the organization with a scalable solution that’s easy to use and manage and offers high-availability and redundancy.

Communication is key both on and off the field. This organization needed quick, real-time communication, and they’ll have it for many seasons to come.