Technology - USA (2021-03)

businesschief.eu 221

THE GYM GROUP

Jasper McIntosh, Chief Information Officer at

The Gym Group, tells us how technology is enabling

the business to successfully adapt to customers'

needs in the new post-Covid world

than a decade later membership fees are

still on average less than £20 a month."When

McIntosh joined the company there were 15

sites. Today, there are more than 180 across

the UK. "The model had been proven, so we

took the idea and scaled it out across the

country" he says.

Up until March 2020 the company had

been steadily growing. Then the COVID-19

pandemic arrived, but McIntosh explains that

its challenges have led to a lot of innovation.

One example of this is their partnership

with fitness app Fiit, which McIntosh says,

"is really enabling us to expand our health

and fitness experience outside of the four walls

of the gym."

Additionally, some sites have been trialling

dedicated Fiit areas. "These are custom-

built Fiit 'pods' where people can experience

J

asper McIntosh, Chief Information Officer

at The Gym Group, met John Treharne,

the founder of the company, in 2011

when he was running a boutique technology

company. Treharne set up The Gym three

years earlier with a vision to be genuinely

disruptive - to create a chain of low cost, no

contract gyms open 24 hours a day, making

them more accessible to the many people who

needed early or late opening hours.

"John had taken some existing technology,

like building access control systems and online

subscription models, and applied them to the

gym business" McIntosh says. "By looking at

overseas models he saw that he could reduce

running costs by using technology to support

the sales process and enable the business to

keep the doors open 24-7. This technology

enabled low cost model means that more

PRODUCED BY:

KRIS PALMER

WRITTEN BY:

LEILA HAWKINS