1-0 for SKIDATA at the Football Championships in Portugal

handshake™ passes the acid test

“We all knew the Euro championships were going to be a real acid test. We also knew our system was up to the challenge, that it would pass with flying colours – and it did. There were hardly any queues at the gates, and all the fans got to their seat in time,” says SKIDATA CEO Christian Dreyer. “What really convinced our clients was the ease of use of our systems. Visitors knew immediately how to use the system, so we were able to automate the admission procedure without disrupting the time schedule.”

There are many ticketing systems around where the problems start already at the gate – it's that “Where the h— am I supposed to insert that ticket?” kind of experience most of us can do well without. If every third visitor needs to seek assistance from a supervisor, it's easy to see that this can spell chaos when there are throngs of fans streaming into the stadium. One of the reasons why the Poruguese organisers went with handshake is that it overcomes these problems.

The magic word is ‘flexibility’

At large events such as the European Football Championships, flexibility is crucial. For one thing, as winning teams move on towards the finals while others are played out of the tournament, organisers need to be able to transfer large ticket quotas at the drop of a hat. At the main championship stadiums in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, and Leiria handshake™ has proven its worth by providing this much needed flexibility.

As a true all-in-one solution, handshake™ also comes with extensive Customer Relationship Management support – a feature that was also highly appreciated by organisers in Portugal. Ticket usage details are processed into statistical analyses – numerical ‘wish lists’ that tell event organisers how to package their services for their visitors. So no matter if visitors were naughty or nice – at the four Portuguese stadiums it was Christmas every day.