From digital membership renewals to adopting integrated management software, clubs across Australia are steadily embracing smarter systems that help them run more efficiently and securely.
For the Marmion Angling and Aquatic Club (MAAC), Western Australia’s largest fishing club, the digital shift was long overdue. The club has 4,500 members and another 1,000 members on a waitlist, which was being recorded in a physical book.
“We didn’t have a dedicated membership system,” club manager James Wilkinson told Club Management.
“We were using MYOB as a membership tool, but we weren’t able to communicate with our members through that. We wanted to … make it easier for them to pay for their membership fee because we had a lot of people coming into the office to pay.”
The club now uses a fully integrated digital membership and website platform that handles everything from membership renewals to sending out the club’s weekly newsletter, The Grapevine. That shift has allowed the club to bring marketing back in-house.
“It’s just been so much easier to do renewals, send out subscriptions, and send out reminders – it’s all at a click of a button now. It’s made it easier for members to pay online, rather than having to physically come in; to receive payments online has saved us so much time in-house,” Wilkinson said.
It’s a story that Newport Social Club in Victoria can relate to. Francis Venues managing director Tom Francis explained how the club is preparing to modernise its paper-based membership program as part of the club’s upcoming renovation. He noted how moving to a digital format will be “so much easier from a data point of view”.
“You’ll have a login and a dashboard. Whereas at the moment, it’s purely just a basic membership system that interlinks into ClubNet; you don’t do anything with the data.”
Change isn’t always easy
But not every club adopts new technology so smoothly. According to Phil Laurie, marketing manager of MiClub, which provides membership software like the one MAAC now uses, clubs vary widely in their willingness and readiness to upgrade.
“Sometimes it’s forced when the incumbent systems are no longer supported or it’s not PCI compliant,” he explained.
The other major driver of change is operational efficiency, Laurie said.
“Some adopt [new technology] very well in areas where their incumbent software no longer does the job for them, or there are administrative benefits that are well articulated to them, such as this software is going to save you X time or help you do this next thing – that usually expediates the process.”
Still, Laurie cautioned clubs to avoid simply digitising without involving and training the end users: staff. He said they “aren’t always involved in the decision-making process when it comes to changing system”.
“The closer you can align your processes to what your systems do, the greater the administrative benefits,” he said.
“There’s no point in putting in a new system and necessarily doing everything the way you used to because that might not be the way the software is designed.”
Running a tighter kitchen
According to My Local Foodie CEO Maria Kucherhan, one of the biggest challenges clubs face is “maintaining cost control without compromising food quality or service standards”.
“This often stems from a lack of real-time visibility over their Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), inconsistent supplier pricing, and the difficulty of aligning menus with POS and stocktake systems,” she said.
“When these elements operate in silos, it becomes almost impossible to make informed, proactive decisions.”
She pointed to how Broncos Leagues Club has embraced using Costimator, a kitchen management software, to reduce its monthly stocktake process from four days to just one.
“RSL venues have also successfully used the platform to link menu performance back to their purchasing and POS data, creating an end-to-end system that drives both accountability and agility in their kitchen operations,” she added.
For clubs unsure where to begin, Kucherhan recommended starting with understanding the numbers.
“One of the most effective ways to identify inefficiencies is by tracking actual versus theoretical COGS on a monthly basis,” she said.
“This helps surface any discrepancies caused by waste, over-portioning, incremental cost increases, or poor stock control and provides a clear picture of where margins are being eroded.”
Face first into compliance
While member engagement and operations are seeing steady digitisation, security and compliance are also heading in a high-tech direction, particularly through facial recognition.
“Clubs that have either run a face recognition trial in their facility, or use the software in daily operation, are easily convinced about the technical capabilities benefitting their business, and trust the high matching accuracy when finding people in watchlists,” said Elke Oberg, marketing manager at Cognitec Systems.
She noted, however, concerns about the impact of privacy regulations, their complexity, and the cost and time spent to meet compliance, still remain.
“All newer laws require extensive documentation, some even expensive certification. It is getting harder to convince clubs that these efforts and expenses are worth the benefits and financial gains when using a face recognition system,” she said.
For clubs considering implementation, Oberg offers clear advice.
“The rule stands: Garbage in, garbage out. High image quality is the most important aspect of making face recognition work well,” she said.
“Therefore, older, low-resolution cameras will not produce the expected matching results. Many clubs hope to use their existing surveillance cameras for a face recognition system, but they often do not produce the necessary image quality.”
“Clubs have a unique opportunity to see the adoption of new technology as a strategic tool…”
Daisy Brown, risk and compliance manager at Revesby Workers’ Club
She also urges clubs to take a thoughtful and transparent approach to introducing facial recognition technologies.
“We recommend informing patrons about personal benefits that are a result of using face recognition technologies. For example, safer environment when recognising banned persons, less theft, less cheating, and underage compliance,” she said.
“Patrons should easily understand why the technology is used, what happens with the data, which laws apply and how are they observed.”
Smarter governance
Behind the scenes, technology is also lifting the bar for broader governance and risk management procedures. Revesby Workers’ Club, for instance, has rolled out a digital incident register and scheduled reporting tools that have improved data quality and saved frontline staff time. However, the concern for the club’s compliance and risk manager, Daisy Brown, is that integration still remains a key issue.
“They are fragmented and only provide solutions to specific aspects of our operations. This is a common challenge I see our industry facing … we still have a long way to go and there is a great need for increased technology solutions to further improve efficiencies in daily tasks,” she said.
“In particular, I feel venues are currently managing risk in a manual and tedious manner, which is preventing clubs from shifting to a culture that fosters proactive compliance, which is something I am now actively working on to achieve within our team.”
The solution, she believes, will require deeper cross-functional collaboration between compliance, IT and club boards.
“I believe that clubs have a unique opportunity to see the adoption of new technology as a strategic tool for managing compliance and risk across the whole organisation … it is a balance of strategy, technological knowledge and change management, that needs to be led with emotional intelligence to bring stakeholders along on the journey.”
Looking ahead, Brown sees potential in bespoke AI tools tailored to club operations.
“If clubs can move away from a reactive approach to compliance, there is great opportunity to foster a proactive technology-based culture that allows improved risk management and transparency,” she said.