How the Hockey Factory Reduced Their Admin Work to 1.5 Hours Per Week

5 min.

When demand grows faster than management

Running a multi-sport center means dealing with high organizational complexity. Different sports, flexible booking models, self-service access, communication with clients, as well as billing and exceptional cases, must work seamlessly together. While offerings, training types, and target groups continue to expand, administrative capacity often remains unchanged. This is exactly where traditional sports booking systems reach their limits.

With anny, the Hockey Factory can effectively manage this complexity. Instead of using separate logics or tools for each sport, anny maps all offerings in one central, resource-based system. This way, the offering of the Hockey Factory can continue to grow without increasing administrative effort.

The Hockey Factory: From an Ice Hockey Training Center to a Multi-sport Concept

The Hockey Factory was initially established by founder and owner Tim Ansink as a pure ice hockey training center. Over time, it evolved into a modern multi-sport center with padel courts, an athletic area for groups, clubs, and teams, as well as an ice hockey training area.

The unique feature of the Hockey Factory concept is the booking method. Not only are entire spaces rented out here, but also sub-areas, individual training stations, or even slots for individuals can be booked. The administrative operation is fully managed by Tim. While he handles customer support, hall maintenance, and a few special cases, the majority of the organization is automated through anny.

“The goal was to achieve the maximum degree of automation.” - Tim Ansink

Why traditional sports booking systems reach their limits here

Some sports booking systems are heavily tailored to individual sports. Consequently, they are often inflexible in booking logic. For versatile concepts, like that of the Hockey Factory, this means manual workarounds, multiple parallel tools, and a steadily increasing administrative workload.

In the search for a suitable solution for bookings at the Hockey Factory, it quickly became clear that many established systems on the market are not suitable for the Hockey Factory model. With anny, the Hockey Factory found a solution that thinks not in terms of sports or services, but in resources. Entire areas, sub-areas, individual slots, or personal bookings can be flexibly represented and managed in a central system. This logic was particularly crucial for the decision.

Here's what the automated day-to-day of the Hockey Factory looks like

In daily operations, the advantage of resource-based logic becomes particularly evident. Bookings across all sports are fully automated. Access codes for the facility are generated via the Smart Lock System Nuki and sent to customers without manual intervention. Even for very short-notice bookings, users automatically receive all relevant information, including welcome messages and clear instructions.

Hockey Factory uses anny far beyond just the booking solution. Additional services, such as balls or sticks, are represented as add-ons in anny and can be flexibly booked as needed. Billing is also seamlessly integrated into existing processes. Standard bookings are billed directly through anny, while special cases like seasonal bookings for clubs are invoiced collectively. Through automations, webhooks, and interfaces, these invoices are automatically forwarded to accounting and booked directly in DATEV. The setup is complemented by integrated systems such as the customer chat.

A personal favorite feature of Tim is the community function in anny. It allows him to precisely control which offers are visible to which user groups, thus targeting different audiences effectively. Especially in sports-related facilities, community approaches provide significant added value. Additionally, there's more transparency about who participates in which courses or offers, particularly when users move within the same community. This not only strengthens the organization but also the sense of belonging.

The measurable effect: Only 1.5 hours of administration per week

The result with anny is a stable, seamless operational process that functions reliably in the background, allowing the Hockey Factory maximum flexibility with minimal administrative effort.

The biggest lever is seen in the time spent. The entire administrative operation of the Hockey Factory takes about 1.5 hours per week, spread throughout the day. The tasks usually consist of just a few clicks (e.g., reordering materials, checking booking codes, or entering regular bookings). For a multisport center with this range of offerings, this is an exceptionally low effort. This clearly demonstrates the impact that a well-thought-out, automated resource management can have on daily work.

“The administrative effort per week is approximately one and a half hours.” - Tim Ansink

High user acceptance and reliable collaboration

anny is very well received by users of the Hockey Factory. The shopping cart feature, which allows multiple bookings or additional services to be combined in a single booking process, is particularly appreciated. This feature is actively used and provides a noticeable added value for many customers. Initially, especially in the paddle area, some users had to get used to not booking through the established market standard. However, with clear communication and transparent processes, this transition was well supported.

Tim describes the collaboration with the anny team as very reliable. Thanks to his technical background, he quickly found his way around the system, and minor questions of understanding at the beginning were swiftly clarified. In everyday life, stable support for payment-related issues is particularly important. Especially when it comes to refunds or credits, it's crucial that problems are quickly resolved, as the own service level directly depends on it. According to Tim, this works as one would ideally expect.

“When there's a problem and I write to you, it's usually resolved for the customer by the next day.” - Tim Ansink

Automation as a Genuine Competitive Advantage

The Hockey Factory proves that complex multi-sport concepts do not have to be an organizational nightmare. With the right system logic, even demanding offerings can be operated efficiently, scalably, and customer-friendly.

The experience of the Hockey Factory clearly shows that anny is perfectly suited for businesses that combine different types of resources, require flexible booking logics, and wish to scale their operations with minimal administrative effort. anny does not become just another tool in the stack, but the operating system in the background that keeps daily operations running smoothly. And this is exactly where automation unfolds its greatest strategic value.

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