With the season now underway we wanted to provide the club with an update around communications.
During the off season we’ve undertaken a huge amount of work on a number of fronts to improve our communications.
GDPR
With the introduction of new regulations around the management and use of personalised data we have overhauled our use of technology to ensure we are doing all we can to safeguard the data we hold and meet our obligations around the use of information for marketing purposes.
This has included:
- Harmonising all of our databases to ensure they’re stored and protected correctly.
- Seeking signup from our members to allow for continued e-mail newsletters in line with GDPR regulations.
- Rolling out over 150 e-mail addresses for volunteers and teams to ensure best practice for club e-mails.
- Rolling out a secure centralised document storage service for club documents.
Website
Following on from the work of previous seasons our website has been rebuilt and relaunched at https://www.oarugby.com. This is a work in progress, but we believe is already a step forward to ensure a clean and professional site for the club to be able engage with members, supporters, visitors and other interested parties.
Social Media
With Social Media playing such an important role within the marketing of organisations of all types, the club has dedicated significant time to building our online presence. This has already delivered benefits with increased interest and a number of players coming to the club as a result of this activity.
We have also brought in a Social Media Manager who will be coming on board in the next few weeks and will be focusing on continuing this good work throughout the season.
Club App
As of the start of September, the club has rolled out an App for all members, whether playing or non-playing.
This can be downloaded here, we’ve also provided a setup guide here.
From the playing side of the club it will allow us to more easily and efficiently interact with players and manage the sides.
For the club as a whole, it will allow us to communicate more easily and directly with members. News items will be posted up to a day or two earlier, as will match previews & results.
E-mails
Owing to GDPR the club will be keeping a tight control on our e-mail communications to ensure we meet our obligations.
Although we will continue to provide updates via e-mail, our aim is to ensure that all of the information that our members might need is on the website or club app.
Membership
During the summer the club has also moved to use the RFU’s system for the management and collection of subs. We have been sending out messages through this system over the last few weeks to allow members to sign up.
If you’re not receiving e-mails and would like to, or believe you should be, please contact [email protected] so we can look into it for you.
We’re like to thank all our members and supporters for their understanding. Whenever you introduce new systems and processes there can be disruption, we hope that we’re over the worst of it and things should settled down in the coming weeks.
Head of Rugby Operations & Technology
