A golden partnership with Gladstone

Fastlane Turnstiles can be found in numerous locations which use leisure management software offered by Gladstone. Now, the long-standing partnership has been formalised with Integrated Design Limited (IDL) becoming a Gold Partner as part of the Gladstone Marketplace.

Introducing Gladstone and the MarketPlace

Gladstone is the leading provider of leisure management software in the UK and Ireland. Their customers are those who run leisure centres or other sports facilities and need a software package written specifically for the management of such locations. It’s common for software of this category to integrate with other products, whether that be from a payment solution provider or a security supplier.

To facilitate such integration, and generally to help its customers by offering a one-stop-shop solution, Gladstone has developed the Gladstone Marketplace, a portal through which customers can browse products and services offered by Gladstone itself, and also relevant offerings from partners.

A gold standard partnership

“We have three levels of Marketplace partnership”, explains Gordon Watson, Head of Marketplace at Gladstone Software. “Our standard partnership is used for firms whose offerings are complementary to our own, and therefore potentially of interest to our customers, but which don’t need any verified integration. Certified partnership means integration is required and as the term suggests, we have to verify for each such partner that the integration involved delivers everything customers would expect.

“Our Gold partnership is reserved for those who have worked with us on many successful integration projects, and where case studies and references can be offered to customers. We do our due diligence, and often seek just one partner in a category – someone we think is a “best of breed” for their particular sector. IDL is a Gold Partner, and the only turnstile manufacturer of any level we have.”

Joining the Gladstone MarketPlace

“Officially we became Gladstone partners in 2022, though, the connection goes back quite a bit longer than that” explains Phil Allen, IDL’s UK Sales Manager.  “Security integrator, Alternative Systems Protection (ASP) is a company we have worked with for many years, and they have also been Gladstone Marketplace partners for a long time.

“Gladstone and ASP realised that on many of the projects they worked on together, ASP had specified and installed our turnstiles. It just made sense to all involved to formally recognise the three-way partnership that was already in practice underway, so IDL decided to seek Gold Partner status too.”

The benefits of the partnership

“The right partner allows us to offer our customers a more comprehensive solution”, says Gordon, “with the customer knowing they don’t have to worry about whether the different offerings involved will work correctly together.”

“Long-term partnerships are very important to us” comments Phil Allen, “even without this formalised status, the partnership with both ASP and Gladstone has been very beneficial for all parties, however, the Marketplace partnership does offer additional benefits.

“It’s another way potential customers can see our products, but in addition, Gladstone often features its Gold Partners in newsletters and social media posts, and always invites a few along when hosting events, which it does regularly.”

Partnership in practice

For the University of Birmingham, ASP installed 15 lanes of Glassgate 200s, plus two lanes of Glassgate 400s at the swimming pool, completing the security solution for a centre that the university’s Sports Systems Manager described as “huge”.

Edinburgh Leisure turned to ASP when it decided it needed to refresh the security solution across 23 sites managed with Goldstone software. The installer specified a mix of Glassgate 150 and Glassgate 155 turnstiles.

At  Glasgow Club Gorbals, our Glassgate 155 connects to Gladstone software, allowing members who have pre-booked to skip queues and simply present their wristband for immediate and automated entry. A similar system, also based on the Glassgate 155, is in place in another Glasgow location: Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

For more information about our integrated security solutions visit www.fastlane-turnstiles.com/our-services/bespoke/ and to learn more about Gladstone Software visit www.gladstonesoftware.com