How does a small country like Belgium, with just 11 million people, consistently produce football talent and achieve remarkable victories? The answer lies in the collective effort of the Belgian football community, which encompasses players, coaches, referees, administrators, parents of young talents, volunteers, and passionate fans. The Royal Belgian Football Association, or Koninklijke Belgische Voetbalbond (KBVB), represents the interests of all these groups.
To ensure the success of every game, stakeholders are kept informed through the new RBFA app, allowing fans to purchase tickets and access match results and statistics. However, the digital platforms catering to these groups were not always centralized. Fans had to navigate various customer portals to buy tickets or merchandise, lacking the ability to create a centralized profile for personalized support. Moreover, this fragmented system prevented the KBVB (Royal Belgian Football Association) from gaining a clear overview of fan activities.In 2019, the KBVB decided to transform its digital customer platforms. Their goal was to create a highly personalized user experience that honored Belgium’s golden generation, better served the football community, and offered a 360-degree customer view with improved insights.
” We wanted to offer our fans a more personalized experience and improve services for clubs, players, and partners. This meant consolidating all our platforms with a single customer identity and management solution. This way, we could create a unified KBVB hub that provides all our stakeholders access to all services.”Koen LandsheereIT Manager @ RBFA
Today, Belgian football is thriving, and the fan experience has been elevated. Thanks to Okta, fans and stakeholders no longer need multiple accounts to fulfill their football needs. A single sign-on through the E-Kickoff portal grants access to all KBVB platforms, from purchasing match tickets to reliving football moments through video highlights and tracking team statistics.
Moreover, the KBVB now possesses a 360-degree customer view, allowing them to tailor content effectively to users’ interests and strengthen relationships with sponsors and advertisers. With the outdated “one-size-fits-all” approach replaced by a modern, personalized experience, new revenue streams are emerging. Koen adds: “the Belgian football community is more united than ever, and thanks to Okta, we can offer fans, players, parents, coaches, and other stakeholders an unique and frictionless football experience. In the upcoming tournaments, a more engaged fanbase can make a decisive difference. In addition it allows us to increase our revenue, both directly through ticket and merchandise sales and indirectly through sponsorship and advertising. These revenues are immediately reinvested in football, creating shared value for the entire football ecosystem.“
In addition, KBVB employees gained productivity now they have seamless access to their applications through Okta. Cédric explains, “With Okta Single Sign-On, we can provide our employees with instant access to all the tools they need daily. This boosts morale, enhances performance, and makes us a more pleasant organization to work for.
External partners, including coaches, medical professionals, and volunteers, have become more seamlessly integrated with Okta, allowing the KBVB to track access permissions effectively and minimize access risks.
“Our IT department can easily establish fine-grained access controls for all our applications and user groups with Okta, laying the foundation for GDPR compliance across the organization,” Cédric (KBVB) explains. “Thanks to Okta, the entire federation has enhanced resilience and heightened security levels.”
“We first prioritized integrating the most critical apps, such as Office 365 and the organization’s VPN. In addition, we ensured that every new application is seamlessly integrated with Okta. Critical applications are safeguarded with Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication, with both employees and customers using Okta Verify and Google Authenticator as a second authentication factor.” Cédric (Upright Security) adds.
The federation is thriving, and women’s football is on the rise. Enhancing and personalizing the fan experience isn’t just a smart business move for the KBV. It’s a crucial milestone in the future of the sport. Looking ahead, KBVB plans to further integrate customer and workforce applications with Okta, including the brand-new chatbot. Users will soon authenticate directly from the chat window, gaining instant access to information.
External partners, including coaches, medical professionals, and volunteers, have become more seamlessly integrated with Okta, allowing the KBVB to track access permissions effectively and minimize access risks.
“Our IT department can easily establish fine-grained access controls for all our applications and user groups with Okta, laying the foundation for GDPR compliance across the organization,” Cédric (KBVB) explains. “Thanks to Okta, the entire federation has enhanced resilience and heightened security levels.”
“We first prioritized integrating the most critical apps, such as Office 365 and the organization’s VPN. In addition, we ensured that every new application is seamlessly integrated with Okta. Critical applications are safeguarded with Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication, with both employees and customers using Okta Verify and Google Authenticator as a second authentication factor.” Cédric (Upright Security) adds.
The federation is thriving, and women’s football is on the rise. Enhancing and personalizing the fan experience isn’t just a smart business move for the KBV. It’s a crucial milestone in the future of the sport. Looking ahead, KBVB plans to further integrate customer and workforce applications with Okta, including the brand-new chatbot. Users will soon authenticate directly from the chat window, gaining instant access to information.
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