Overview

On top of the benefits experienced at the time of the Games, there is still an opportunity for UK organisations to prosper. The survey shows that many British decision-makers are more confident as individuals and in their organisation, have greater ability to cope with increased demand and have learned lessons about their own resilience, supply chain and services. The international elements of this study show the legacy of these Games has the potential to last many years and the opportunity remains for UK organisations to benefit.

Lessons

Just over half of public sector decision-makers (53%) say that London 2012 has made them more confident compared to 64% in the private sector. Overall across both public and private sectors, three in five respondents (62%) say that London 2012 made them more confident, and 57% said the same about their organisation, of which 63% said this is because they know they can deal with increased demand.

When asked what they have learnt about their organisation’s capabilities as a result of London 2012, 36% think that when they are pushed they can do a lot more business, 26% are more resilient than they thought and 25% feel they could increase their margins. Over three in five (62%) think preparation for London 2012 offered lessons in coping with disruption or uncertainty in the future.

Legacy

Four in five organisations (79%) saw some positive impact on their bottom line as a result of London 2012, but 61% think more could have been done to make the benefits felt more widely across the nation (beyond London and the south east).

While 45% report that the Games made no difference to them, 34% said they are continuing to enjoy the benefits, most commonly by sales/revenue being higher than before the Games (37%) and from flexible working facilities brought in for London 2012 (34%).

A third of organisations (35%) think they now receive more international business than they did before the Games, mainly from Europe (86%) and Asia (46%). Four in five (80%) organisations feel the benefits of London 2012 will still be felt in a year’s time, with 29% believing this will be the case in five years and 16% in a decade.

Around one in six (17%) organisations are planning to get involved in the Rio 2016 Games and 98% feel that learning from London 2012 has made them more confident they’ll meet their objectives.

Preparations

Two thirds of enterprises in the UK (65%) saw London 2012 as a business opportunity, most commonly looking to benefit from increased sales (60%), brand promotion (57%) and improved public profile and awareness (50%).

January 2013

London 2012 is being heralded by some as the best Games ever. BT’s latest survey reveals many British organisations benefited in tangible ways, but if they want to see a lasting legacy, the onus is now on them to apply their experience and capitalise on the momentum London 2012 offers.

The BT study, which surveyed 600 large private and public sector organisations across the UK, is one of the largest barometers of business experience and learning from London 2012. It is also the first to compare how organisations across the UK fared against those in previous host nations Australia and China, plus the future aspirations in Brazil for Rio 2016.

London 2012 Legacy Survey

Overall Summary

To find out more about what your organisation can do to maximise the legacy of London 2012 – or to share BT’s own experiences and learn of the legacy we’re planning for – please contact

your account team or visit: www.bt.com/2012/lifetimelegacy

In addition, over half the organisations surveyed (55%) planned the positive atmosphere created by London 2012, mainly by increasing advertising and marketing (58%), hosting customer events (53%) and aligning internal initiatives to London 2012 (38%).

Despite 65% seeing a business opportunity, only 32% said they took full advantage, with 56% thinking they missed out or could have done better. This could be because 22% didn’t think they were sufficiently prepared, or because they felt they weren’t assisted by authorities enough (52%), but the largest proportion (43%) they felt it is because they are not located in London.

On average, organisations started preparing 28 months before London 2012, and started to see increased demand 14 months before. Three quarters made preparations, the most common were to improve flexible working for staff (31%), hire extra temporary staff (28%) and increase network capacity (26%). However, with hindsight, 61% wish they had done more.

Impacts

Over two in five organisations said they prospered from London 2012 (43%), but a similar number (46%) said that it made no difference. In the run up a quarter (25%) experienced issues with transport, 18% had issues with their IT network capacity and 17% were affected by increased staff absenteeism. They were also impacted during the Games by the same three issues, but staff absenteeism became the second most common.

During the Games, organisations who said they benefited experienced an average revenue increase of 14%. Over half have continued to enjoy a revenue increase (on average 11%) since, and those who say they were up during the Games compared to the same period last year saw an average 12% increase. Looking ahead, organisations who expect commercial benefits to continue predict revenues will be up about 11% in 2013 and an average of 13% over the next four years, suggesting a lasting legacy for many.

Technology

Over half (54%) used technology to increase responsiveness and resilience during London 2012, most commonly using VPNs to enable flexible working (54%), investing in more infrastructure to prepare (36%) and using/investing in WiFi (36%).

Of those who tried to use technology to improve responsiveness and resilience, 87% said that it was successful. Nearly half (44%) reported that investment in continuity measures for London 2012 made them more resilient.

Customer service

Over a quarter (28%) experienced a rise in traffic through online and social media channels, just under a quarter (24%) experienced a rise in

footfall at customer locations during London 2012, 21% experienced a rise in calls to contact centres, and 17% were impacted by increased levels of sales on e-commerce websites. Overall, in each case only around a third believe that their preparations were effective enough in each of these areas to help them to cope or capitalise as a result.

While trying to maintain customer service levels, half ran into challenges, with 27% experiencing problems with stock levels, 22% with staff shortages and 16% with slow transactions using electronic systems. Over a third (35%) experienced problems with their web site or social media channels, most commonly reductions in speed (23%) or crashing (17%). Four in ten (39%) experienced problems with their contact centres, the most common being increased wait times (19%) or staff shortages (14%).

Of those impacted, 43% said their supply chain coped well with the exceptional circumstances around London 2012. Similarly, 70% said their own critical operational systems were affected by the Games, 50% of whom said the way they coped was very good.

Host Nation Experience

Organisations in China were more likely to see the Games as a business opportunity (97%), compared to 51% for Australia and 65% in the UK.

More organisations in China, than anywhere else (particularly Australia) felt that they took full advantage of the Games (65%) or prospered as a result (92%). The most common benefit in Australia and the UK was sales revenue and Brazilian organisations expect the same. In China though, the benefit felt most commonly was that organisations felt more efficient because of changes made for the Olympic Games.

Those in Brazil are predicting much higher increases in revenue during the Games (27%) than experienced anywhere else. The UK, at 14%, was the next highest. Just 22% of organisations in Australia experienced benefits to their bottom line, compared to 79% in China and a predicted 67% in Brazil.

Most organisations in China feel the Games were an excellent platform for increased business for the country (92%) and their organisation (85%). Four out of five (80%) Chinese organisations said they are still feeling benefits from the Beijing Games, compared to 51% in Vancouver, 34% in the UK and 18% in Australia.

Advice for organisations participating in Rio 2016 is unanimous from the UK, China and Australia: “prepare well in advance” was the top answer in all three countries. In the UK and Australia this was followed up by “make sure you have continuity plans in place” and by “plan for increased level of sales on your e-commerce website” and “improve technology security and resilience” from China.

January 2013

Overall Summary

London 2012 Legacy Survey