How Zebra Technologies and Renovotec Transformed Cricket Australia’s Accreditation Across Nearly 40 Venues

Cricket holds a particular place in Australian national life. Tens of thousands of people pass through stadium gates each summer, and behind every match, hundreds of staff, broadcast crews, officials and contractors need to be verified and cleared before they get anywhere near restricted areas.

For Cricket Australia, managing that process across nearly 40 venues and a 16,500-strong accredited workforce every season had become a serious operational problem.

The technology just wasn’t able to keep up.

The Challenge: Consumer-Grade Devices in a Professional Environment

Cricket Australia’s accreditation team was relying on consumer-grade handheld devices to scan personnel into venues. In ideal conditions, that might have been manageable. In a live match environment, it wasn’t.
Many venues couldn’t provide reliable Wi-Fi, so the team depended on mobile data. That mobile data, predictably, buckled under the load of tens of thousands of fans simultaneously on their phones.

“When you go to a stadium and everyone is on their mobile phone during a break, the network becomes overloaded,” explained Jackson Gooddy, Accreditation Lead at Cricket Australia. “We’d have times where the devices would go down completely and we’d have no scanning capability.”

The consequences went further than a slow queue.

Each check could take between two and ten minutes. Queues of 40 to 50 people built up at access points. Security staff were under pressure. Some individuals even attempted to bypass checkpoints.

“Safety and security are the priorities of our accreditation team and Cricket Australia,” Gooddy noted, “so we need to provide the safest and most reliable system possible.”

The Solution: Zebra TC2 Series Mobile Computers, Deployed by Renovotec

Cricket Australia evaluated multiple options before making a selection.

Another major sporting organisation had already deployed Zebra devices successfully, and a member of Cricket Australia’s own technology team had prior experience with them.

To find the right fit for their specific operational and budget constraints, they engaged Renovotec for guidance.

“Renovotec walked us through multiple device options,” Gooddy recalls. “They respected our operational and budget constraints and worked with us to find the best fit. Zebra was the clear choice.”

Renovotec provided demo units so Cricket Australia could evaluate performance in real match conditions. The organisation chose the Zebra TC2 Series Mobile Computer, which combined a reliable two-to-three-metre scan range with enterprise-grade durability at an accessible price point.

Initial configuration took around a week. Once established, new devices could be deployed in a single day.

Training security guards was very straightforward.

“Some security personnel are less familiar with technology, but the devices are extremely intuitive,” Gooddy explains. “It was simply a matter of showing them how to press a button and point the scanner at the accreditation.”

The Outcome: From Minutes to Seconds, Across an Entire Season

The results have been significant and sustained.

Accreditation time dropped from as much as two to three minutes per check, and sometimes up to ten, to five to ten seconds.

Queues that previously stretched to 40 or 50 people are now typically four or five deep and those delays are usually down to bag checks, not scanning issues.

That’s a 90% reduction in congestion at access points.

The extended scan range changed how security staff operate in practice.

Guards no longer need to hold a badge directly in front of a device and wait for a camera to focus. The TC2 scans from several metres away and delivers an immediate colour-coded result on screen: green for authorised entry, red for denied.

“This means security can do their job efficiently without invading anyone’s personal space,” Gooddy adds.

Volume has increased significantly too.

Most matches process 300 to 400 accredited personnel per day. During major international fixtures this season, that number exceeded 600 on multiple occasions, with peaks of up to 800 per day.

Across the full summer season, the TC2 devices handled approximately 45,000 scans in total.

Hardware reliability has matched the performance of the software.

Cricket Australia completed an entire season, more than 200 matches, without a single device repair. Previously, damage and failure had been routine.

Zebra OneCare provides fast repair turnaround and multi-year coverage if anything does need attention in the future.

The real-time data has opened up operational improvements beyond the access gate.

“By analysing traffic patterns, we can identify underused access points, optimise staffing and improve planning for future events,” Gooddy explains.

In an emergency management context, having accurate, live records of who is on site at any given moment is essential.

The feedback from frontline teams has reflected that shift.

“Ultimately, the greatest benefit is peace of mind,” Gooddy shares. “Staff and stakeholders don’t have to worry about delays or system failures, while security personnel no longer have to deal with frustrated individuals waiting to get in.”

One long-serving security guard summed it up simply after his first shift with the new devices: “This is amazing. It just makes my life easier.”

What This Demonstrates for Other Large-Scale Operations

Cricket Australia’s deployment is a clear illustration of what happens when purpose-built hardware replaces consumer-grade devices in a demanding operational environment.

The improvement isn’t marginal. It’s a different class of outcome.

The same logic applies across warehousing, logistics, manufacturing and any other operation where scanning performance under pressure matters.

Slow, inconsistent data capture has a real cost in staff time, security risk and the operational decisions you can’t make accurately without reliable data.

As a Zebra partner, Renovotec provides mobile computing solutions, device management and ongoing support to businesses that need dependable performance at scale.

If you’d like to understand what the right solution looks like for your operation, let’s talk.

Get in touch with the Renovotec team.