"Everyone knows that Zenit are the most popular club in the country with an army of fans and according to recent studies, 15 million people support the club, and each of them must be heard," said Zenit General Director Maxim Mitrofanov. "We need to know what they expect, what they want and for this you need to use the most advanced IT-mechanisms. This will allow us to reach out using the SAP CRM system which will be introduced in Zenit. Bringing each fan to us means we can communicate with all of them. Quite a number of services will be open and we can generate customized offers related to visiting the Petrovsky and for away matches too, with other elements of the interaction with fans possible too.  It is also important to note that the system will facilitate communication, not only with those who live in St. Petersburg and go to the matches, but also to those who support us, all over the country.

What other possibilities will this deal give the fans? 

"We'll find out about activities for every fan, what time they come to the stadium, whom he likes, what books she reads and we will be able to adjust to these facts, knowing when and what we can do. The call centre will allow us to respond quickly to complaints, provide the opportunity to get answers to the questions that the fans have for the club. The introduction will take some time and we hope that next season the system will begin to fully function."

What is the current capacity of the Petrovsky stadium and will the new system assist in filling it? 

"At the moment, the Petrovsky stadium has 20,200 seats in a commercial capacity. Due to the facts of regulations and the policy of the club, commercially available are 18,500 seats. The average occupancy rate is about 17 thousand. We have done a lot at the Petrovsky, but above we cannot jump above our heads! As for the new stadium, then there will be a lot of work to do. Including implementing this new CRM and it's systems."  

Have you taken into account SAP's foreign and Russian experience, Rubin, have used a similar system in the Kazan-Arena for a long time.

The word "long time" in relation to Kazan Arena is still relative. I think SAP's analogues product was not in existence then. At this level in Russian sports, exactly no one has used this in fact.