Kairos | Brentford FC Case Study

Kairos is a web and mobile-based centralised platform that helps elite sports teams across the world communicate and operate more efficiently and more professionally across departments, and acts as the single digital interface between staff and players. The platform enables staff to save significant time and drive a culture of clarity and high performance across the team.

Kairos currently supports hundreds of teams from many different sports across five continents, including Premier League, NBA, MLB, NCAA, La Liga, AFL and many more.

In this case, we look at Brentford FC and how they’ve felt the impact of the Kairos platform.

In the summer of 2021, Brentford F.C. celebrated promotion to the Premier League (the top tier of English football) for the first time since 1947. Based in West London, ‘the Bees’ were formed way back in 1889, and play their home games in the modern Brentford Community Stadium since moving in in 2020. 

Often described as  ‘the Premier League’s most innovative and unique club’, they are a club built on pride and ambition. These innovative traits led them to Kairos – the industry-leading platform helping to provide teams with an intuitive robust and secure way to support the club’s squads and backroom staff to simplify scheduling and streamline communications. 

Brentford’s Head of Data & Technology, Luke Stopforth explains the value they experienced using the platform, “ Kairos allows us to dramatically reduce the number of platforms we used to manage all of the 1000s of interactions players and staff would have into one easy-to-use platform. It was a simple decision for us to bring on the platform.”

THE PROBLEM

Stopforth recognised a conflict between wanting his two squads to sit on the same page but found that the standard of communication wasn’t where it should be for that to become a possibility. Recognising this, he noted “the biggest issue for us over the past few years is basically having everything on WhatsApp and we all know what WhatsApp is like, you send your schedule out there, and then suddenly it gets lost in a group when there’s lots of communication going back and forth. So, what we were finding is that players were having to ask for that schedule again, staff were having to ask for that schedule again and so it was important for us to try and move off WhatsApp and bring it into one centralised location.”

THE SOLUTION

Our goal is to help teams enhance their day–to-day communication and operational activities. Solutions often vary as no team is the same, however, the immediate impact the platform had on Brentford is testament to the solution based service we provide: “Kairos has been really beneficial and valuable for us and particularly around the meetings. So being at the training ground, I’m sure as people know, timings and schedules are changing almost every minute, so the moment that somebody changes a schedule or a meeting, that’s automatically updated and pushed out to us with notifications. So, we’re kept on top of any change, whenever it happens. 

I think it’s become really valuable across the whole club, and we’ve got our chefs able to put mealtimes onto the Kairos app, logistics are able to schedule when we’re going to leave, and then the physios are also able to put booking slots on the app as well, so players can literally login and see when the physio is available and book themselves in for a time with them. It’s been a really smooth transition away from WhatsApp onto Kairos for us and I think it’s saved everybody at the club a lot of time which allows the players and the staff to focus more on the performances on the pitch.”

To find out more about how Kairos can transform how your team communicates – get in touch here.

Forest Green Rovers: Case Study

Learn how Kairos helped push Forest Green Rovers to new levels of success this season through gaining clarity and assurance around their communication and operational activities:

The Club

At the end of the 2021-22 season, Forest Green Rovers (FGR) achieved promotion to League 1 seeing them play in the third tier of English football for the first time in the club’s history.

While this unprecedented promotion is impressive, the Gloucestershire club are striving for excellence off the pitch too. FGR have been recognized by FIFA as ‘the world’s greenest football club’, and by the UN as the world’s first Carbon Neutral club. A club that is innovative and ambitious to their core have even updated their shirts which are made from recycled coffee grounds.

With this innovation and desire to streamline their operations, they were led to Kairos: the industry-leading platform. Providing an intuitive, robust and secure way to support the club’s squads and backroom staff to simplify communication and streamline team operations, Kairos is helping FGR achieve their goals for the next season. FGR Director of Football, Rich Hughes on the value they are seeing from the platform: “It’s brilliant, and it’s allowed us to eliminate the use of WhatsApp at the football club. It’s been really beneficial across all departments – from performance to operations to the players themselves, they’ve all seen the value”

The Problem

“We felt there was a lot of inefficient communication going on, a LOT of information…”

Often, FGR found themselves using multiple platforms meaning different elements of schedules or plans were being stored in ad hoc locations. As a result, players and staff alike were becoming increasingly confused which caused further disengagement from the everyday granular activities that clubs rely on to function. 

Small moments like having to ask where dinner is or at what time become quite time-consuming. A certain level of repetitiveness arises when everyone’s asking the same questions about a team dinner or something along those lines.

The Solution

Kairos has removed a lot of noise for FGR. The ability to update staff, players, and teams in real-time has become invaluable and ensures everyone is on the same page, something FGR struggled with prior to using the Kairos platform. 

Head of Sports, Tom Heulin:

“We can set specific events, specific meeting times for players, for appointments, gym appointments, medical appointments. So, if we split the groups or we have a pilates class or a strength session or whatever it might be, we can send it to the specific players.“

Rich Hughes:

“We felt there was a lot of inefficient communication going on a lot of information and the Kairos platform has allowed us to put all that together, keep it stored in one place and make sure everybody knows what’s happening on a live and up-to-date basis, which, when you’re running a lot of teams across the football club is really important and really helps streamline all the communication.”

We started using Kairos 18 months ago now, I don’t think we can imagine ourselves using anything else now.“

To find out more about how Kairos can transform how your team operates – get in touch here.

The Elite Sports Communication and Operations Platform

Kairos exists as the sole interface between staff and player – meaning lots of saved time for staff and increased efficiency and focus for everyone.

Find out more about how Kairos can transform how your team communicates – schedule a call or get in touch below:

IFA JD Academy Case Study

Learn how Kairos has transformed IFA JD Academy staff and player communication

The IFA was formed on 18 November 1880 by seven football clubs mostly in the Belfast area, as the organizing body for the sport across all of Ireland. It is the fourth oldest football association in the world. In all this time they have learned a lot about the industry and have been updating themselves to pursue success. This led them to Kairos.

IFA head of Academy Andrew Waterworth spoke to us about the value he finds in Kairos: “I think most organizations’ two fundamentals are: organization and effective communication. And I wanted to ensure that that was paramount and we really had a grip on organization planning and then, consequently communication, and I wanted it in a safe way. So Kairos provided us with exactly everything

The Problem

Different members of the academy performance and management staff told us about some problems that they encountered every day before starting to use the platform. 

JD academy physio Gareth Robinson: “Traditionally, you would create an appointment board whereby people could come in and choose the slot of their choice. One of the difficulties with that was that people often missed out or didn’t get the time that they needed or suited best for them. Occasionally, folk booked in advance and slots were lost.”

Sean- Paul Murray (Grassroots coach education coordinator): Before we took on the platform, we had your Whatsapp, your email, your text messages,You have to check everything to see if anybody communicated. 

The Solution

Many staff members have found different benefits when using Kairos, that have allowed them to add a level of professionalism and efficiency to the set up. 

Simon Coleman JD Academy Coach says: “It’s given me a lot more free time. So I can do other aspects of my job role just because we can upload it onto the site and the players have immediate access to that. Certainly time and it certainly streamlined everything. The players are fully aware that the main place where they need to go to find out information is through the Kairos app.”

JD academy coach Kris Linsday found different benefits using Kairos: “It’s like night and day, to be honest. There’s that clarity of message. Obviously, using the Kairos app, we have a calendar there that’s up to date. And players, parents, staff can go in and see that full calendar there. And there’s an ease with the app, with the calendar changes. If trips or matches or training sessions are pulled or canceled for whatever reason, it’s easy to communicate.”

Academy coordinator Jackie Blyth added: “So the people that need the information, the right people are getting the information. And it’s one tick box. Instead of going through all your emails and making sure that the right people are getting the right information. So it’s simplified. That’s what it is. It’s just a simplified system. So I think it’s things like messenger, it’s like your dairy, it’s like emails. It’s all rolled into one. So the Kairos system, then when we’re messaging, the parents are getting that information too. So it means it takes that risk factor out of child protection that we should not be what’s up in children.”

Waterworth continues: “ It also gives our players, and I think players at any stage,  a bit more of a role to make sure that they’re accountable. If you like to make sure they’re buying in, they’re prepared, switched on and they aren’t asking the kit man what time we’re meeting or they’re not asking the coach again. It’s there, they are prepared, they’re organized. There might have a wellness questioner in the morning, or they may have to fill something out. So straight away from the morning they need to be switched on and focused on their football, which we want to make footballers, we need people who are thinking about football. 24/7.”

Staff have benefited from Kairos by saving time, communicating efficiently and protecting children with guardian management among others. The new generation of IFA young players come with a strong projection towards the future.

Find out more about how Kairos can transform how your team communicates – get in touch here.

Kairos and Halifax Wanderers FC is proud to announce a new multi-year partnership.

Focussed on matchday preparation, Kairos’ industry-leading platform will provide an intuitive, robust and secure way to support the club’s squads and backroom staff to simplify scheduling, streamline communications and maximize player engagement.

Kairos equip and empower teams across the globe, working alongside organizations from leagues such as the English Premier League, the EFL, the MLS, Premiership Rugby and Pro 14 to maximize elite sports performance through excellent planning and unparalleled communication.

The online platform provides the tools to ensure that all matches, appointments, sessions – group-based and one-to-one – and all other scheduled activities are centralized in one easy-to-access location.

Team communications are also timely and relevant to each staff member, whilst ensuring players are more engaged and empowered to manage their individual schedules.

Wanderers Sporting Director Matt Fegan: “Clear communication is absolutely critical in creating a winning soccer environment, and partnering with Kairos is one of the many steps we are taking to achieve this. We’re already gaining so much from the platform, I can’t imagine not having it at the club”

Kairos’ Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Andrew Trimble, added: “We are delighted to be working alongside Halifax Wanderers. They are a club with a short history, but they’re clearly incredibly ambitious. They are putting the tools and technology in place to ensure that all the staff and players are getting the most out of their time, and we look forward to supporting them in achieving their goals.”

About Kairos

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximizing player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including clubs from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, and MLS, as well as international football teams.

Partnership launch brings in a new era of safeguarding within elite sport 

Kairos and The Safeguarding Company are delighted to announce a new partnership designed to provide an efficient and comprehensive digital safeguarding system for sporting academies and youth teams.

The strategic partnership will be the first of its kind worldwide and is driven by the growing need for effective systems to be put in place specifically by elite sports teams that work with young people.

Kairos is a global leading sports technology company, providing communications and operational tools for elite sports teams in major leagues across the globe. Kairos also specialises in working with some of the world’s leading sports academies to ensure safe, secure, and seamless communication between staff, young people, and guardians.

The Safeguarding Company provides industry-leading safeguarding solutions that prevent, reduce and eliminate abuse, harm, and neglect and protect the wellbeing, health, and human rights of children and adults all over the world – including elite sports teams.

This exciting partnership will see the integration of both platforms facilitating the secure and accurate reporting, recording, and management of all safeguarding, pastoral and wellbeing concerns about young people in their care. Senior leaders benefit from an instant and up-to-date overview of all safeguarding concerns at the click of a button and the ability to clearly identify trends. They can also easily assess and demonstrate the impact of their safeguarding interventions.

Gareth Quinn, Kairos Chief Operations Officer, said: “The safety and wellbeing of young people is of critical importance to any sports organisation that works with youth players. We know that academies and other youth teams we work with are striving to make the sporting environment as safe as possible while improving club communications and operations amongst all key stakeholders and we are passionate about playing our part in that. To that end, we couldn’t be happier to partner with The Safeguarding Company, a fantastic team with extensive domain expertise”

Mike Glanville, Chief Safeguarding Officer at The Safeguarding Company, explained: “Recent high-profile news stories have shown that a range of safeguarding issues can affect all those taking part in and organising regular sporting activity and at all levels. This creates an enormous responsibility for coaches, team managers, safeguarding leads, and volunteers to support individuals and manage what can be extremely challenging issues. Our partnership with Kairos delivers a highly effective combination of best safeguarding practice and world-class technology into this all-important area of our lives.”

If you’d like to know more about how Kairos can support your team, get in touch here.

About The Safeguarding Company 

The Safeguarding Company provides software and training solutions that support coaches, staff, and volunteers in implementing Safeguarding practices in sports organisations. These practices increase the well-being of young players and athletes by reducing the impact of social, emotional and mental health challenges, trauma, abuse and other concerns. Effective Safeguarding practice enables sports organisation leaders to identify problems before they arise, deal with concerns more effectively and build a network of support that protects vulnerable children and adults. MyConcern is the software tool that coaches, staff, and volunteers use to securely record wellbeing concerns about students. With Safeguarding, administrators can holistically and collaboratively support a student’s wellbeing and take preventative action as needed. For more information, visit https://www.thesafeguardingcompany.com

About Kairos 

Kairos works directly with elite teams and academies across the globe to help them maximise efficiency, clarity, and focus through their market-leading digital communications and operations platform. The interactive web and mobile app allows for departments across the organisation to benefit from clear and secure scheduling, messaging, data collection, and information sharing. No other communication tool is required as Kairos is the sole digital interface between team, player, and where necessary, guardian. The company was co-founded by world-renowned rugby player Andrew Trimble and the company continues to be player-focused and driven by on-field performance.

find out more about how Kairos can transform how your team communicates – get in touch here.

Ben Pegna began his career in sport as a rugby player, from playing 7s as part of the England national team to representing Saracens in the 15 man game. Since retiring as a player, Ben has coached at academy level for London Scottish and Wasps and was part of the England 7s management team. Since 2014, Ben has consulted with the WRU, Argentina Rugby, the Bulls and Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby. In amongst his sports charity work, Ben also worked as a Director at Pacific Islands Player Welfare. Nowadays, Ben focuses on his role as a General Manager in the corporate world, as well as coaching at school and amateur level.

We are excited Ben joined Andrew Trimble for this episode of The Game Week Podcast to discuss Ben’s successful transition from the sporting to the corporate world, which skills are transferrable and why he did it. Listen to learn more about:

• the Differences in Mindset Between The Sporting World and the Business World
• his Approach to a Game Week
• the Key to Pacific Island Team’s success in Super Rugby
• Leadership & José Mourinho

The Gameweek Podcast

The Game Week Podcast is about taking a deep dive behind the scenes of elite world sport. Each month, former Ulster Rugby player Andrew Trimble invites world-class practitioners to learn about their stories and how they manage their game week with the aim to demystify the secrets behind elite sports performance.

More Episodes:

Video: https://bit.ly/3g6aDiE

On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xREmSn

On iTunes: https://apple.co/3gcDtxR

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. We are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. We equip and empower teams across the globe, working alongside organisations from the Premier League, the EFL, the MLS, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14 and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, simply get in touch below.

In the summer of 2021, Brentford F.C. celebrated promotion to the Premier League (the top tier of English football) for the first time since 1947. Based in West London, ‘the Bees’ were formed way back in 1889, and play their home games in the modern Brentford Community Stadium since moving in in 2020. 

They have been described as ‘the Premier League’s most innovative and unique club’, and they wear that badge with pride. It was this innovative and ambitious mindset that led them to Kairos – the industry-leading platform that provides an intuitive, robust and secure way to support the club’s squads and backroom staff to simplify scheduling and streamline communications. 

Brentford Head of Data & Technology, Luke Stopforth spoke to us about the value they are seeing from the platform: “To compete at the very highest level, you need to have the tools in place that can maximise staff and player time. Kairos allows us to dramatically reduce the number of platforms we used to manage all of the 1000s of interactions players and staff would have into one easy-to-use platform. It was a simple decision for us to bring on the platform.”

The Problem

Stopforth continues; “Communication for us is integral to what we do at the training ground. It pretty much knits everything together. We’re a small group at Jersey Road with the first team and the B-team, so I think it’s really important for us to bring both those squads together and make sure that everybody’s on the same page. I think the biggest issue for us over the past few years is basically having everything on WhatsApp and we all know what WhatsApp is like, you send your schedule out there, and then suddenly it gets lost in a group when there’s lots of communication going back and forth. So, what we were finding is that players were having to ask for that schedule again, staff were having to ask for that schedule again and so it was important for us to try and move off WhatsApp and bring it into one centralised location.”

The Solution

“Kairos has been really beneficial and valuable for us and particularly around the meetings. So being at the training ground, I’m sure as people know, timings and schedules are changing almost every minute, so the moment that somebody changes a schedule or a meeting, that’s automatically updated and pushed out to us with notifications. So, we’re kept on top of any change, whenever it happens. 

I think it’s become really valuable across the whole club, and we’ve got our chefs able to put mealtimes onto the Kairos app, logistics are able to schedule when we’re going to leave, and then the physios are also able to put booking slots on the app as well, so players can literally log in and see when the physio is available and book themselves in for a time with them. It’s been a really smooth transition away from WhatsApp onto Kairos for us and I think it’s saved everybody at the club a lot of time which allows the players and the staff to focus more on the performances on the pitch.”

To find out more about how Kairos can transform how your team communicates – get in touch here.

Tom Young has worked with teams and individuals at the highest level of professional sport. Providing psychological support to organisations and individuals from the world of rugby union, football, boxing, rallying track & field and golf. Most recently he’s been part of the coaching team to European golfer Tommy Fleetwood and worked as a consultant to St Helen’s Rugby League, the Belgian national team ahead of the world cup in Russia and the victorious European Ryder Cup Team in Paris 2018. Tom is also the author of the critically acclaimed book ‘The Making of a Leader’.

We are excited Tom joined Andrew Trimble for this episode of The Game Week Podcast to discuss The Psychology of Preparation in Elite Sport. Listen to learn more about:

• why being open and honest is a sign of mental strength not mental weakness & why coaches should encourage an open team culture
• why extraversion does not necessarily equal confidence
• why it’s important to really take time and understand a player and their purpose before trying to strategise with them

The Gameweek Podcast

The Game Week Podcast is about taking a deep dive behind the scenes of elite world sport. Each month, former Ulster Rugby player Andrew Trimble invites world-class practitioners to learn about their stories and how they manage their game week with the aim to demystify the secrets behind elite sports performance.

More Episodes:

Video: https://bit.ly/3g6aDiE

On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xREmSn

On iTunes: https://apple.co/3gcDtxR

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. We are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. We equip and empower teams across the globe, working alongside organisations from the Premier League, the EFL, the MLS, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14 and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, simply get in touch below.

Chris Rush is a well known face around high performance circles in English football. He spent 15 years working for teams like Preston North End, Middlesbrough, Manchester City and most recently Blackburn Rovers as their ‘Head of Athletic Performance’. Chris now works in football as a consultant and advisor.

We are excited he joined Andrew Trimble for this episode of The Game Week Podcast to talk about:

• the best use of S&C stats to impact performance
• the future of S&C in the next 5-10 years
• the benefits of using Kairos

More Episodes:

Video: https://bit.ly/3g6aDiE

On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xREmSn

On iTunes: https://apple.co/3gcDtxR

ABOUT KAIROS

Kairos is focused on game day preparation. They are the world’s most effective platform for simplifying scheduling, streamlining communications, and maximising player engagement in elite sports. They equip teams across the globe, including teams from the EPL, EFL, Premiership Rugby, Pro 14, MLS, and international football teams. To find out more about the platform, get in touch below.