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Behind the scenes with Wiz-Team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Behind the scenes with Wiz-Team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Let's Take it On!

We are just over the halfway point of competitions at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, making it the perfect time to check-in with our colleagues behind Wiz-Team’s Core Games Management System applications. No one better to give us the behind-the-scenes insights than the three application leads who have been on the frontline of delivery for Wiz-Team over the last seven months.

Meet Anh Nguyen looking after the Sport Entries and Qualification (SEQ) System, Pascal Beauverd heading the Access Control System (ACS), and Valentina Rios overseeing the Accreditation and Guest Pass (ACR) System for the Games!

Anh Nguyen, Application Lead SEQ
Pascal Beauverd, Application Lead ACS
Valentina Rios, Application Lead ACR
Working shoulder-to-shoulder with their functional counterparts at Birmingham 2022, these Wiz-Teamers have been leveraging their own extensive experience and expertise in major multi-sport Games management to drive and support the delivery of our Event-Works applications. Between Technology Operations Centre (TOC) shifts and venue support hours, we caught up with each of them to learn about their experience, insights, and learnings at Birmingham 2022. All of them highlighted the strong partnership with the Birmingham 2022 functional area teams as a key success factor to Games delivery.
 

“Working within the TOC helps build context and perspective across the entire Games environment. The team, leadership, and tools centralised here really help everyone stay ahead of surprises and respond quickly to improve user experience”, said Pascal. His colleague Valentina added: “We are all part of the same mission – teamwork really does make the dream work in this industry.”

Already in the months leading up to the Games, Wiz-Team collaborated closely with Birmingham 2022 to customise the Games Management System applications to their needs. Anh, Wiz-Team’s lead on the Sport Entries and Qualification (SEQ) System, explained: “We went from ideation and gathering the requirements to seeing the system come to life. Throughout that process we worked closely with the Birmingham 2022 SEQ team to develop our newest SEQ module. The best part now is to watch all the exciting competitions, knowing that every single one of those athletes passed through our SEQ system.”

Challenging the status quo to keep optimising solutions for their clients is in Wiz-Team’s DNA. Asked about the most exciting part in helping to deliver the Games, Pascal said: 

Photo credit: @Gettyimages

“This project encouraged us to rethink and review our approach to access control mobile applications. It also gave us the opportunity to brainstorm and generate new and innovative ways to evolve our application. To deliver, I could really leverage my experience in mobile application development which was very cool.”

Likewise, Valentina said about her experience with the Accreditation and Guest Pass (ACR) System: “What was most exciting for me was the level of complexity required to deliver this App. Accreditation is diverse and interacts with nearly every system and stakeholder group within the Games context. As a central application, you are challenged to define and transform interdependent business requirements, workflows, and deliverables across diverse client groups with sometimes very different outcome expectations.”

Photo credit: @Gettyimages

Anh joins her colleague in highlighting the appeal of complexity: “Sport Entries and Qualification is such a Games-specific process with complex rules. It’s really exciting to be able to innovate in this space and rethink how SEQ can be done starting with breaking things back down to basics and finding new ways technology can deliver for SEQ.”

Wiz-Team’s versatile all-in-one event management platform Event-Works allows for the necessary flexibility and adaptability to do exactly that.

On the ground in Birmingham, Anh, Valentina, and Pascal are joined by seven other Wiz-Team members who make up the critical on-site support team for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.  They are assisted remotely by their teammates based in Lausanne (Switzerland), Kiev (Ukraine), Brussels (Belgium), and Torino (Italy). The “team behind the screen” has served in over 100 functional roles at just about every major multi-sport event, including the last editions of the Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Pan American Games, Asian Games, World Beach Games, and of course the Commonwealth Games.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to  keep updated of Wiz-Team’s journey, supporting event delivery across the world.

Header image photo credit: @Gettyimages

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SAAD

Developer / Consultant

Born in India, raised in U.A.E. and currently residing in Toronto, Saad has completed his Bachelor in Applied Science degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from University of Windsor, Canada. He has 10 + years of experience in systems engineering, SDLC, and project management. He has worked as a Project Manager supporting the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Torch Relay. Prior to this he worked as a System Administrator for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games during which he managed the overall functionality of applications required to successfully execute the Torch Relay. In his role he trained, mentored, and supervised coordinators, partnered across organization on joint projects, and integrated innovative solutions across multi-disciplinary teams.

JOHANN

CEO

As the founder and CEO of Wiz-Team, Johann has been a part of this adventure long before the start of the organisation 10 years ago. This dynamic and fast-growing company was born out of gap in the market Johann and his colleagues experienced as event managers in the early 2000s.  With little tools available to effectively manage the demands and challenges of data management for complex events, they decided to build their own solution. 

Shortly thereafter Johann created Event-Works and later Wiz-Team with the vision to deliver world class digital solutions built by event professionals for event professionals. From Wiz-Team headquarters in his hometown Lausanne, he oversees a global network of developers and experts, who support the organisations mission to empower event professionals through smart, intuitive, and innovative digital solutions. 

Johann’s expertise in event data management is outstanding.  He has delivered innovative event management solutions to every Olympic Games edition since 2004 alongside a range of other international events. Having worked across many sectors, including sports federations, the medical congress industry, corporate companies, and government agencies, he has acquired a wide-ranging background and an exceptional experience in various types and sizes of events. Before he set up Wiz-Team, Johann specialised in web and database development, as well as project management in the luxury industry, and teaching.

Johann holds an MBA in international management and speaks English, French and some German. In his spare time, he enjoys scuba diving, discovering the world on a motorbike, gaming and exploring new technologies.