Making water-safety skills and swim lessons accessible to every child in the New Plymouth district is a huge undertaking, but one made smoother by the recent introduction of Envibe’s leisure management software across the local council’s aquatic centre and seasonal pools.
New Plymouth District Council Aquatic Administrator Sarah Brittain says Envibe has transformed how the council manages more than 700 children in its learn-to-swim program.
“Envibe has drastically reduced the administrative workload for the learn-to-swim team, giving them more time to spend in the water or poolside taking lessons.
“Rollover lessons on direct-debit plans are offered to customers, and tablets are utilised poolside for taking attendance and conducting assessments, making the administration of the program more user-friendly.”
In addition to its learn-to-swim lessons, the council aims for every Year 6 child living in the New Plymouth District to have access to three water-safety sessions through our main aquatic centre.
“We’re really passionate about making sure that on the wild west coast all children have access to swim-for-survival skills,” she says.
The council went live with Envibe in May at its Todd Energy Aquatic Centre, and is preparing to roll out at its seasonal pools in Inglewood, Ōkato and Waitara mid-November, upgrading from its previous leisure management software to bring them into the digital age.
“Our seasonal pool users were still using a paper clip ticket system for concessions – there wasn’t really much in the way of software for the team to use out at those satellite sites.
“This has brought them in line with what we’re doing at our main facility, which enables us to support the team out there better as well as the customers.”
Empowering staff and enhancing customer experience
Brittain says with the council’s aquatic facilities operating 364 days a year and welcoming around 370,000 visitors annually, Envibe is already making a huge difference.
The transition to Envibe has delivered immediate benefits for both staff and the community, providing front-counter staff with access to customer information they never had previously, including admission data and sales history, plus the ability to reprint receipts.
“The key difference is the user experience. Our staff at the front counter have a lot more autonomy and they’re able to see a lot more with Envibe in terms of information that customers might request.”
Staff have embraced Envibe’s intuitive system, despite it being a significant change after 15 years of using the old leisure management system, she says.
“I’ve found the system to teach and to use at the front counter is super user-friendly. It’s actually helped the team to grow in confidence.”
With the team set to grow to around 75 members across its aquatic sites during peak season, the council will have trained more than 30 staff to use Envibe for front-desk operations, back-office administration and program management.
Envibe supports digital transformation
Brittain says the council is looking forward to giving visitors to its seasonal pools a more streamlined experience when they open on 15 November.
“It’s quite an exciting phase for those customers who will be receiving their RFID cards for the first time and they’ll be able to quickly scan and manage their own concessions and memberships online as well.”
Envibe’s course scheduling and online-enrolment features have also become invaluable tools for managing the council’s learn-to-swim programs. Parents can now view and manage their children’s enrolments through Envibe’s online Customer Portal.
She says the online booking module has made it easier to manage renting out Todd Energy Centre’s party room, as well as its gym to personal trainers, and the in-house booking system has provided a clearer overview for the team co-ordinating its water-safety program.
Testing ensures smooth transition
Brittain says thorough preparation was key to the successful implementation of Envibe, with staff extensively using its “invaluable” test environment before going live.
“We tested every single button and made sure that everything worked end-to-end before go-live. On the day, we didn’t have any issues of real note.
“We were able to give a list of all of the day-to-day tasks they might possibly do to each team member and ask them if they could complete it confidently before go-live date, which enabled me to see where the gaps were.”
More functionality to be unleashed
With Envibe having proved its capability at the council’s aquatic facilities, Brittain says she will be looking at making more aquatic and fitness sessions bookable online, as well as new ways it can be used to send helpful automated messages to members.
“We’re quite happy with how we’re running day-to-day, but we’re almost at a point where we could be looking at how we further use it.”
Jonas Leisure’s Envibe software has established itself as a trusty partner to make its aquatic facilities more accessible, efficient and ready for the future.
“For us Envibe has been the big project of the year. We’re excited to see where it takes us.”
