Melbourne Football Club

With an unbroken 150-year history, the Melbourne Football Club (MFC), more popularly named ‘The Demons’, is a foundation member of the Australian Football League (AFL) and its predecessor competition, the Victorian Football League. The club boasts 35,000 diehard members supported by 150 employees working from a CBD office and sites at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and AAMI Park.

"Even though cost savings haven’t been measured it is extremely evident that ShoreTel has already achieved its ROI six months after being deployed." 

— Cameron Schwab, CEO, Melbourne Football Club

A 10-year old POTS phone system was being used by a leading Australian football club across three sites that was unreliable and expensive to operate and maintain. It couldn’t provide the productivity gains or cost reductions to meet its performance goals.

"Retaining the LG Nortel Aria phone system was simply nonviable. Users were unable to communicate within the same workspace or when in the field, which is critical to all organisations, not just a professional footy club. To add to the woes, the system kept crashing and lacked the basic reliability a phone system should possess." 

—Richard Arnott , IT Manager, Melbourne Football Club

The club looked at various systems including a Cisco offering before deciding on ShoreTel. The ShoreTel offering stood out from competitors due to its ability to provide a unified approach to communications. It provided a simple to use, simple to maintain resource that was flexible enough to meet exacting requirements and accommodate individual needs.

"The ShoreTel rollout was fast, simple and effective. It was the ideal IT rollout,"

— Richard Arnott , IT Manager, Melbourne Football Club