The Canadian Football League and InGenius

3 minute read

Upland Admin

In 1950, colour TV was invented. Two years later, the first Canadian Football League (CFL) championship game, the Grey Cup, is broadcast. Back then, the planet’s population was a humble 2.5 billion. If you’re familiar with Canadian football’s older American cousin, you’re not far off. The CFL field is about 10 yards longer, length and breadth wise. However, the ball is slightly smaller, as is the number of downs, going from 4 in the NFL, to 3 with the Canadians.

But what does this have to do with computer telephony integration? Well, everything. It’s now 68 years, and 4.5 billion people later. The CFL has gone through 61 seasons and the fandom has expanded across Canada like a snow storm.

Take a look at this picture:

Ottawa RedBlacks game

Ottawa RedBlacks game by @cflredblacks on Instagram

That’s 24,000 CFL fans. This particular game saw Ottawa beat Toronto with a last minute field goal. They would go on to win the Grey Cup and paint the city red with pride.

The thing about proud fans is they multiply like wildfire. Before you know it you have an entire city of supporters. Fans need tickets – and when there’s 24,000 of them looking to get in on a high-stakes game, you’d better be able to deliver. THIS is where InGenius comes in. Besides being shrouded in red, InGenius and the Ottawa RedBlacks have another thing in common: CTI.

That’s right, the 2016 Grey Cup champions use InGenius to integrate their phone system with their CRM. That means with the time they now save, they can focus on what makes any sport great – the fans.

Using InGenius core features like screen pop, click-to-call, and call logging – the RedBlacks contact center can now easily deal with more cases in less time. For fans, this means shorter wait times on the phone, faster ticket purchases and a smooth customer experience. With screen pop in particular, the receiving agent gets a full summary of your call. That means they know who you are, and have a breakdown of your interaction history – no need to repeat any information or waste time being transferred to the “correct department”.

As a fan, you spend less time on the phone and more time in the stadium, sloshing around your favorite beer, donning one of your many red scarves and reminding your Torontonian friends that – yes – we beat you 18-17. Read it and weep.

We aim to further the additions to our CFL roster, as we continue to streamline the customer experience. Our latest draft is the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Playing out of Investors Group Field, InGenius has helped the Blue Bombers bring their telephony experience into Salesforce as we’ve done for the Redblacks in Ottawa. With a steadily rising average attendance of 25,000 per game, InGenius gets CFL fans off the phone and into seats.

Be sure to read our Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group customer success story.

Padric Scott, Winnipeg Blue Bomber

Padric Scott, Winnipeg Blue Bomber by The Winnipeg Sun 

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