Reps, sets and servers: An interview with PureGym CIO Andy Caddy
A dedicated data science team is fueling massive expansion
Not many gyms have their own dedicated data science team. But with health, wellness and technology coming ever closer, low-cost market disruptor PureGym is ahead of the game.
"There are a lot of people in the gym world who are 'just' good gym operators," says PureGym Group CIO Andy Caddy, himself a veteran of both the low-cost and fitness worlds through positions with easyJet and Virgin Active. "They don't really think about technology, and technology hasn't really changed in this world very much in 10 years. There's an opportunity, definitely, to do more with it, and luckily we've got a management team and a set of investors and owners who are willing to do that."
There has been precious little innovation in fitness tech since smartwatches became the must-have device of the mid-2010s.
"Where," asks Caddy, "is the contact lens that tells you your glucose level? Where are these things? It's just all pie in the sky at the moment."
The problem is that "no-one is connecting the dots." Plenty of apps and devices track your heart rate, your diet, your mental and physical health, and there might even be a few early ventures tracking your emotional wellbeing - but nobody is bringing it all together into one space yet.
Even PureGym isn't there, but it is one of Caddy's long-term goals; the company doesn't have a data science team for nothing, after all. It even predates his tenure, which began last June.
Location, location, location
PureGym's data team is responsible for work you might not associate with traditional IT. For example, the company uses data analysis to decide on a local pricing model for each gym - important for a chain that plans to reach 600 locations in the UK this year, almost double its current estate - and where each of those gyms should be located.
"Because we're in growth mode, we do lots around our property portal, which is looking at how we make our decisions on what property to invest in and what properties to purchase... Making sure we are looking at local demographics, local competition, journey times, all of that good stuff is a really important thing, and we've got very sophisticated data models for how that works.
"[In 2023] we'll open a site every four days... Making sure [we have] that continual pipeline of properties is really important for us."
That's a huge jump from 2022, when PureGym opened nearly 50 new locations: a little under one a week. Now the company is expanding outside the UK to the Middle East and across Europe, aiming to become the go-to name in low-cost fitness. It's an ambitious goal that puts a lot of pressure on IT and is "challenging" for both technology and culture.
"We were a very successful, great UK story three years ago, and suddenly, we find ourselves in six different countries, possibly seven by the end of the year, and providing IT services out to all of those countries, including franchises. The challenge of growth and doing that in a conscious and thoughtful way is definitely there."
Despite the massive pressure on PureGym's tech, it's that very estate that helped make the expansion possible. The massive scalability of the company's completely cloud-based infrastructure makes opening new locations, if not stress-free, then at least fast and manageable.
"I'm really lucky in that I've inherited a relatively modern infrastructure; we've got no legacy, everything's in the cloud. I've been preaching that for 10 years and here I am, and I can't tell you how liberating it is to be in a situation where I don't have to worry about dragging old mainframes and systems and Oracle databases around, because we can move quickly."
It's taken most of a decade for Caddy to find a place with fully cloud-based IT, and even longer to settle into a role that blends his experience of the low-cost and fitness sectors, as well as his own passions for technology and health. Despite that, he has no regrets. His advice to anyone in a similar position is "take your time."
"It's very tempting to go out and just take first job that comes along, but actually, most people doing this sort of [senior] role should be in a position to choose. If you get the right job, like I've got, it doesn't feel like work - and that's awesome."