First bilingual Gladstone Go platform / Sport Wales

Sport Wales has completed a major digital transformation of its National Centre in Sophia Gardens, upgrading to Gladstone’s cloud-based SaaS Go Platform and becoming the first organisation in Wales to launch a fully bilingual Welsh and English Gladstone Go customer journey.

The National Centre, which supports national governing bodies and elite athletes while serving the wider community through memberships and facility hire, has been a Gladstone customer for around 25 years. Following a competitive tender process, where Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation was a mandatory requirement - Gladstone was reappointed to deliver a secure, scalable solution that would modernise operations and improve customer experience.

A modern digital experience for members and staff

The upgrade was delivered in structured phases, beginning with the migration from on-premise servers to Gladstone’s secure cloud environment. This created the foundation for deploying Gladstone360, giving front-of-house teams a faster, more intuitive way to manage bookings and transactions.

The launch of Gladstone Go, including Go Book and Go Join, marked the first time Sport Wales had offered online booking and membership sign-up. Adoption has been immediate and dramatic:

• 50% reduction in phone calls to the centre
• Over 75% of all membership joiners now made online
• Close to 90% of member class and racquet sport bookings self-served by customers

This shift has allowed reception teams to focus on face-to-face service while removing friction for customers. As a result, Sport Wales has already seen growth in membership and participation.

A landmark for Welsh-language digital access

Working closely with Gladstone, Sport Wales became the first customer to launch the Gladstone Go portal in Welsh - a crucial step for a national, government-sponsored body committed to reducing barriers to participation.

“Being able to offer a fully bilingual digital journey is essential for us,” said Adam Bailey, Customer Services and Operations Manager at the Sport Wales National Centre. “We’re proud to be leading the way with Gladstone in delivering this for our users.”

A partnership built on trust and progress

Sport Wales credits the success of the project to a long-standing partnership with Gladstone, strengthened over decades of collaboration.

“We’ve always felt more like a partner than a customer,” Bailey added. “Gladstone recognise the National Centre as a flagship site and work with us to find solutions, not just provide software.”

With a secure SaaS platform now in place, Sport Wales is well positioned to continue evolving its digital services, expand its reach and further enhance participation opportunities at the National Centre.