Kairos Announced as Headline Sponsor for Training Ground Guru Live
We are proud to share Kairos as the Headline Sponsor for the Training Ground Guru Live event in October 2023.
Back in 2017, Simon Austin set up Training Ground Guru to shine a light on the work going on behind the scenes in professional football. Since its launch, Kairos has enjoyed a growing relationship with TGG and continues to recognise the platform Simon provides for clubs and teams globally to learn more about the impact the Kairos app has on elite teams globally. Covering the latest developments in analytics, coaching, conditioning, leadership and youth development, with news and innovations from practitioners, entrepreneurs and academics, Training Ground Guru is a home for the sharpest and most forward-thinking minds in football.
The TGG team will host a Live Conference, spanning two days, on October 9th and 10th this year, being held at the iconic Beetham Tower in central Manchester. This will be a window into the world of high performance in professional football, featuring dozens of expert speakers from leading clubs and federations. Delegates will gain invaluable insights into current best practice, as well as looking ahead to the future game.
Each day will cover three areas:
- Day One (October 9th): Analytics, Recruitment, Sporting Directors.
- Day Two (October 10th): Academies, Coaching, Performance.
There will be networking drinks at the end of day one.
Check out some of the organisations involved with the event previously below!
We’re delighted that Kairos CEO, Andrew Trimble, is part of the impressive lineup of speakers looking to share insights, knowledge and ideas over the two days and encourage anyone interested to secure their spot.
You can purchase your ticket here: https://bit.ly/41ANOt8
Learn more about the conference here: https://bit.ly/3V9j9Ro
Reigning County Champions, Surrey County Cricket Club opt for Kairos as their Communications, Operations and Planning Provider
Reigning County Champions, Surrey County Cricket Club opted for Kairos as their communications, operations and planning provider. Since 1845, the club has paved the way for the evolution of cricket both on and off the pitch – but how does Kairos contribute to an established cricket club and its long term goals?
For athletes, Kairos allows those designated users to log on the app and receive the relevant commitments assigned to the individual and the team they play on – it’s relevant to their day, week and month. With real-time updates for available appointments, time changes and facility locations, everything is in the one place.
For staff, Kairos is the place for team communication, administration and operations. Saving time, allowing for collaboration and setting permissions so users only see what they need to – Kairos is purpose built for elite sport.
Gareth Batty, Head Coach at Surrey commented, ‘We are excited to be using Kairos to help streamline our cricket operations at the club. After visiting various Premier League clubs during the offseason, everyone recommended Kairos to us. Since going through the onboarding procedure, it’s clear why they have such a positive reputation. We look forward to the relationship growing over the coming years’.
Conor Branson, Commercial Director at Kairos added, ‘Surrey’s reputation on and off the field is admirable, and we are delighted they have chosen Kairos to streamline all cricketing operations.’
Kairos believes having a secure place for your communications, operations and additional planning processes is key to the success of elite sports clubs globally.
We wish the club the best of luck in the coming months and look forward to watching our relationship grow from strength to strength!
Rugby Australia and Super Teams to Centralise Scheduling and Communication with Kairos
Rugby Australia and the Australian Super Rugby teams have chosen to utilise Kairos to centralise their operations and communication across their various teams and programs for the coming years. Kairos will be used from Super Rugby academies right the way through to the Wallabies & Wallaroos in what is shaping as an extremely exciting period for Australian Rugby with the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, the 2025 Lions tour and the home World Cup in 2027. Alongside this, the Super Rugby teams are competing in the renewed Super Rugby Pacific competition against their New Zealand counterparts as well as the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika teams.
Kairos will be used to streamline all aspects of player and staff administration including schedules, appointments, messaging, document sharing and all other elements that make up the day-to-day running of teams either in season, in-camp or within tournaments.
Wallabies General Manager Chris Webb said, “Kairos has been a great addition to the Wallabies. It’s a one stop shop when it comes to scheduling, communication and sharing of information and that’s key in a high-performance environment. We’ve been impressed by the functionality of the platform and look forward to working with the team at Kairos moving forward.”
Founder of Kairos, Andrew Trimble, commented, “It’s fantastic to be working so closely with Rugby Australia and the Super Rugby teams in Australia. There is renewed energy within Australian Rugby and an extremely exciting period of time ahead. We know that Rugby Australia scoured the market searching for the best system to give both the national teams and Super teams the edge, and it is great that they selected Kairos. We look forward to evolving our platform through close collaboration with Rugby Australia during this exciting time, and to complement our work with other national Rugby organisations and professional leagues.”
Kairos APAC representative, Liam Walker, added, “Working with Rugby Australia and the Super Rugby teams in Australia is a great endorsement for the quality of the Kairos system. It is exciting to be working with a National Rugby organisation that has got such an exciting period coming up, and to go alongside the other Rugby teams we work with across the Sevens circuit, English Premiership, Heineken Cup, United Rugby Championship, Major League Rugby and International Rugby”.
Kairos is utilised by over 600 teams across 12 countries and 11 sports including teams in Super Rugby, Premiership Rugby, NBA, AFL, MLS, EPL, MLB, NHL & Olympics as the world’s best communication and operation platform in elite sport. Kairos is a modern cutting edge platform, built from the advice and expertise of the world’s biggest sports organisations and continually evolving at pace thanks to the input of our customers.
How Kairos Delivers on a Professional and Personal Level for Operations Staff Running Youth Academies
Running a successful youth academy is hugely challenging…
Operations staff are in charge of streamlining safeguarding processes which can be complex and time-consuming. Often involving multiple stakeholders and various procedures across several different apps and devices. Kairos helps the operations team streamline these processes, making them more efficient and effective, but importantly, giving operations staff some time back for themselves! Its safeguarding features can help these organisations meet regulatory requirements, streamline processes, and build trust with parents, all while keeping young athletes safe.
But, what makes Kairos so effective for the operations staff tasked with running an efficient youth academy?
SAFEGUARDING 🚸
Kairos is built so that the right people have access to the right information. Meaning safe communication from staff to players and parents or guardians is always guaranteed. Parents and guardians are identified on Kairos, operations staff members don’t need to remember which guardian to call, they simply select the player, and the relevant guardians receive that player, training or fixture specific information.
You can send waivers through Kairos that allows for permitted communication to players with parents consent. Allowing the club to speak to players only, guardians only, or both. All bases are covered for safe communication.
Features like ‘Report a welfare concern’ allow parents to log any concerns anonymously within Kairos, meaning the club has peace of mind that any issues can be logged accordingly to designated safeguarding officers.
SCHEDULE 📅
The Kairos schedule is the pulse that keeps the planning and communication flow alive across all academies. The feature that everyone refers back to, it offers those who aren’t directly involved in the team an option to oversee multiple teams – keeping them involved in what’s going on at the heart of their club at any time, in any place.
For those users who are involved in the granular, day-to-day, Kairos offers a daily, weekly and monthly view that compliments all users: whether you like to know a month in advance, or the day before. With recurring events at the core of what makes the schedule feature so productive, having attendees update their responses for each event increases player accountability while simultaneously granting coaches the ability to plan ahead for the exact number attending that session.
Drawing on the adaptability of the Kairos platform, the schedule itself is colour coded, ensuring each activity stands out – keeping your plans legible and simple. Real-time updates will cater for last-minute weather warnings, location updates or time changes. Making the most of those last minute changes, and notifying all relevant users immediately.
MESSENGER 💬
Instant messaging on WhatsApp or iMessage is great, it helps build those 1-1 relationships that contribute to the communication flow in teams ahead of training or game-day. But, is it really professional to engage with parents, guardians or club members on an unauthorized platform, not built for the nuances of elite sport?
Kairos messenger facilitates group communication, individual communication and perhaps most importantly, staff communication. Keeping the operations team behind the team focused and on task.
Did we mention you can schedule messages? Ensuring they are delivered to the relevant stakeholders at the right time, in the right setting.
NB: Those on the receiving end will never know you really sent the message at 9pm (we’ll keep this between us!).
FILE SHARING 📁
Collaboration is integral in the planning processes of elite sport. Whether it’s the operations team behind the team, or the team itself.
Operations and coaching staff can store and share critical files like videos, PDFs and player information through our file sharing feature. The functionality of this feature has a strong link to our privacy settings, you choose who can access what files.
It should be noted though, files are viewable and easily accessed all year round whether it’s on iPad, desktop or mobile. You can forget the dreaded WeTransfer link and our personal favourite – the WhatsApp scroll, desperately searching for that file we all know you should have saved and favourited.
SURVEYS 📝
Surveys, surveys everywhere…
Operations staff often liaise with all performance based staff to distribute surveys to players and parents/guardians to ensure seamless collaboration and inclusion across all departments. It becomes difficult to prioritize deadlines while simultaneously remembering all the information that needs to be submitted at that exact moment to ensure the survey’s success for that specific department.
What sets the Kairos survey feature apart? While it’s great you can set deadlines for surveys, you can set reminders too. For those ‘we’ll do it later’ users… simply set a reminder for the recipients, a week, a day and hour before the due-date and we take care of the rest. And, for the users who pride themselves in getting things done, surveys can be left open to modify responses should requirements or answers change ahead of the deadline.
James Young, Head of Analysis and Data at Sunderland AFC acknowledged the utility in surveys across multiple departments when leveraging different age groups under the one club, “We’re getting regular surveys out to players of every age from first team down to academy”.
What does this mean for operations staff? More. Free. Time.
SECURITY 🔐
Did you know, using tools like WhatsApp grants users the ability to forward sensitive messages, videos or attachments to other contacts?
The lack of audit trail means information is easily lost, causing fragmentation across teams and clubs as an extension. Losing control of who sees what, and who sends what to whom means that information is easily lost. Through encrypted cloud technology, all your information is secure and protected. Kairos is ISO 27001 certified, meaning that every possible action has been taken to make sure that the highest standards are met.
If necessary, you can track messages which allows for a clear audit trail of communication. You can even control who views, accesses or changes your documents helping your players and staff have one source of truth. In short, the operations staff have greater ownership over their internal operations and communications.
Overall?
Kairos adds a layer of sophistication to youth academies, ushering in a new era of professionalism in the youth academy environment through a clear blend of functional and emotional benefits experienced by operations staff, athletes and parents or guardians.
Basketball New Zealand to Centralise Scheduling and Communication with Kairos
Basketball Governing Body to Centralise Scheduling and Communication with Kairos
Basketball New Zealand have implemented Kairos to transform their internal communication and operations in the lead up to, and beyond the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Kairos will be rolled out across the national men’s & women’s teams as well as through Basketball NZ’s performance and pathway teams.
In competitions where small advantages can make all of the difference, the implementation of Kairos will save staff significant time on admin, logistics, and provide clarity for athletes: through updating schedules and itineraries in real time, alongside instant messaging and file sharing.
The Tall Blacks are one of 32 countries heading to the FIBA World Cup in August, which is basketball’s pinnacle sporting event on the world stage. This will be the 7th time the Tall Blacks have qualified for this prestigious event, where they will aim to recapture the magic of their 2002 run – led by now-head coach Pero Cameron – when they finished an incredible 4th best in the world.
Dillon Boucher, Basketball NZ CEO, commented, “We’re excited to begin this partnership with Kairos, with the goal of delivering an improved level of connectivity with our national team athletes. Player wellbeing is extremely important to BBNZ, so through this platform we can integrate our key operational and athlete info, comms, scheduling and surveying all into one place. We hope this will help life easier and more manageable for both our athletes and our High Performance team.”
Liam Walker, Senior Sales Executive at Kairos added, “We are extremely excited to have Basketball NZ utilising Kairos to streamline their operations and communication in the lead-in to and beyond the FIBA World Cup. They are a high performing organisation with a clear focus on innovation and continual improvement both at the elite level as well as throughout their expansive pathways and programs. We are looking forward to working closely over the next few years.”
Commercial Director, Conor Branson, added: ‘We are delighted to be working with another national governing body and look forward to supporting Basketball New Zealand’s team operational efforts over the next few years’.
Kairos is utilised by over 500 teams across 12 countries and 11 sports including teams in the NBL, AFL, Super Rugby, MLS, NBA, EPL, MLB, NHL & Olympics as the world’s best communication and operation platform in elite sport. Kairos is a modern cutting edge platform, built from the advice and expertise of the world’s biggest sports organisations and continually evolving at pace thanks to the input of our customers.
Premier League Powerhouse, Aston Villa, to use Kairos for Internal Communication, Scheduling and Planning.
It can be daunting for operations staff to consider, never mind implement new technologies. The pressure on the decision maker increases when the environment is an elite sports organisation, with so much at stake. Operations staff have to consider how the software might be received and embedded into an organisation that different platforms and software both old and new, already exist in – and that’s not to mention the stakeholders involved: players, coaches, and performance based staff.
Premier League powerhouse, Aston Villa, were no different in their quest for efficiency with team operations as they looked to streamline internal communication processes on one central platform that came equipped with team administrative and management capabilities. Resultantly, they joined Kairos – the market leaders within English Football, a platform solely focused on providing a solution to team communications and operations.
Matt Bennett, Team Operations Manager, commented, “We’re delighted to kick-start our journey with Kairos. From the earlier days of our relationship we were impressed with how well they understood our needs and without relying on fancy sales jargon were able to jump straight in and show us the platform and what it could do. As you can imagine our standards are very high and we cannot compromise on a solution such as this. We looked extensively at what was out there and went with the best solution there was.
Gareth Quinn, COO at Kairos commented, “When we first engaged with the Men’s Team at Aston Villa FC and Team Operations Manager, Matt Bennett, it was clear the club was already conducting its internal communications and operations efficiently. They already had well embedded systems and processes that were being used daily to successfully communicate all the moving parts of the organisation to the team, staff and directly to players so that everyone had the information they needed to perform their role effectively.
Having completed their own extensive research, exploring and testing what solutions were available, Kairos was given the opportunity to let them experience the impact our platform could have. The level of due diligence exercised by Matt as a highly experienced operations staff member and leader in the operations sphere was excellent. Through questioning our platform, on-boarding processes and the extent to which the platform would be effective and conducive to the Men’s Team players and staff, Matt distilled the versatility and simplicity of the platform.
It’s been a pleasure to work with Matt and his team. With Kairos now fully implemented in the Men’s Team, we are delighted to share that it is already having an impact in the everyday for operations staff, coaches and players.”
Our Commercial Director, Conor Branson added, ‘We are thrilled to be working with Aston Villa. They are already a highly successful football club, and we are delighted they have chosen Kairos to help the first team operate throughout their journey in the Premier League.’
We look forward to watching Aston Villa’s journey on the field and on the platform and hope that overall, the staff at AVFC note the ease and efficiency with which they can now operate.
FC Business Recognise Kairos as the Club Solution
A recent piece on Kairos in the FC Business Magazine 👊
Philadelphia Union join Kairos for Internal Communications
Kairos welcome 2023 with new MLS signing 👊
The MLS Eastern Conference Champions, Philadelphia Union, have chosen Kairos to digitally transform the club’s internal communications ahead of the 2023 season.
The Union had a historic season in 2022, topping the Eastern Conference points table and successfully navigating the play-offs to become the Eastern Conference Champions. A title that earned the squad a monstrous clash in the MLS Cup with Western Conference Champions, LAFC.
With the 2023 season in mind, the club has joined the majority of English Premier League clubs, alongside MLS teams that have made the decision to use Kairos to centralize all aspects of team communication allowing the whole club to collaborate on one central system. This decision will see Philadelphia Union, Union II and Union Academy all use Kairos for coming seasons. From this, the club will gain important time back usually spent on admin to focus on their athletes, the ability to adjust itineraries and schedules in real-time, and, peace of mind that vital information is in the one place for staff, players and guardians.
Ryan Sanders, Director, Academy & Union II Soccer Operations commented: “We are very excited to utilize Kairos as our internal team communication platform. Using Kairos will help keep players, staff, and families up to date with its comprehensive calendar and communication features. By using Kairos from our First Team through our Academy, it further drives our club’s mission as being “one club”.
We are excited to join a long and growing list of top clubs and teams from across the globe who have identified the same qualities in Kairos as we did.”
Conor Branson, Commercial Director at Kairos commented, ‘From the first conversation we were able to build a great relationship with the Union staff. It was clear their values and vision matched that of our own. The Union have an innovative, forward thinking and people first approach, and we are delighted that they have chosen Kairos as their operations platform moving forward.’
Kairos is utilized by over 500 teams across 12 countries and 11 sports including teams in the MLS, NBA, EPL, AFL, MLB, NHL, MLR as the world’s best communication and operation platform in elite sport. Kairos is a modern cutting edge platform, built from the advice and expertise of the world’s biggest sports organizations and continually evolving at pace thanks to the input of our customer.
Kairos in multi-language – more than just a box tick…
In 2022, we had a huge increase in the amount of teams globally switching from other providers and opting to use Kairos as their communications and operations platform. This encouraged our team to delve into the why behind the reasoning of some of the biggest brands in world sport, competing in leagues such as the English Premier League, the NBA, MLB and NHL, decided to explore and implement Kairos. We soon realized that apart from a modern and intuitive platform, language and localisation were important elements of building a culture of belonging, understanding and trust – all a huge factor in swaying those decision-makers to make the simple transition to Kairos.
Teams are made up of athletes from different nations, cultures and traditions, and understandably, staff and management wanted to provide an authentic environment for athletes and staff to communicate in. An elite sports team allows for athletes to come under one roof and represent one establishment with rich history and core values, all while allowing those individuals to work towards one goal, collectively. For us, it was important that their communications & operations platform reflected that same level of versatility that would play a key role in an optimal performance environment.
Kairos allows teams to come together on the one app, whether it be in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch or German. Allowing Kairos users to benefit from the versatility of the app; wherever they are, whatever their goal.
The 3 whys:
- Inclusion & belonging 🤝
Inclusion and belonging play a huge role in successful team environments. While we know a sense of belonging can take some time to build, at Kairos we facilitate a smooth transition for each athlete by providing a layer of inclusivity in our app. Ideally, we’re erasing those early stages of fragmentation when athletes are finding their voice in a team. Fostering an environment that grows team connectedness is important for us. It means the core messaging isn’t lost and the key points are delivered to each individual while they play their important role in the club’s ecosystem and ultimately, performance.
- Understanding 💡
Our priority at Kairos is the performance of the athlete. We want to ensure the athlete understands the information being communicated to them – in a seamless, effective and familiar manner to enable them to execute their role as part of the transformational environment.
Receiving key information at the right time is so important for athletes, whether that be training schedules, travel itineraries, physio bookings, performance data, game strategies or files and folders on the opposition. Important too for staff is being able to retrieve objective information from the athlete in a manner that is seamless for both, such as menu choices, travel routes or ticket requirements. Kairos also creates an environment for subjective information to flow, with 1-1 messaging and wellness based data that can be of significant value to performance staff – all allowing the athlete to seamlessly focus on what matters: game-day.
- Action before strategy 🤝
In November, we curated a Masterclass at the Leaders in Sport Performance Summit, ‘Where Strategy Meets Execution’. One of our speakers, Matt Crocker, Director of Football Operations at Southampton FC said that to execute on transformational change staff and management have to build trust and relationships first, through quick wins – “action before strategy”. This struck a chord with us – we know how Kairos helps staff to build rapport with athletes, but we quickly realized that one of the biggest reasons that Kairos works so well is as a result of the trust that we have built with current customers. Through strong relationships with our customers we have not only built the best in class platform but we are able to respond quickly and continually to customer needs and wants. The world of elite sport is constantly changing and we too need to continually adapt so that we and our customers retain that edge.
As said by James Hume, “The art of communication is the language of leadership”. Through working in partnership with some of the biggest brands in elite sport and showing leadership in our field of expertise, we are providing a vital and continually evolving platform that allows for the effective facilitation of a culture of belonging, understanding and trust to drive high performance and success.