Payments, processes, forecasts: Financial management in the gym – a smart ecosystem
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Digital payment systems, chargebacks, embedded finance, AI-powered analytics and revenue-based financing: “The financial management of modern gyms now has very little in common with the traditional membership administration of the past,” says Nico Richter, Group Product Manager for Payments at one of the leading software companies in the European fitness industry.
In a joint interview, Stephan Schulan, Managing Director, and Holger Kunzmann, Chief Financial Officer at all inclusive Fitness – one of Germany’s largest fitness chains – shared insights into their financial expertise with the FIBO editorial team for this article.
Which systems are useful and necessary? Which tasks are best handled in-house – and which can be outsourced to specialist service providers?
These are questions that top managers such as Stephan Schulan and Holger Kunzmann are asking themselves, just as Nico Richter of Sport Alliance is. “Digitalisation is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ in operations; it is a fundamental prerequisite for efficient growth. Automation reduces errors, saves time and noticeably increases the payment rate,” explains Holger Kunzmann. His company has been growing strongly and rapidly for some time now – primarily through acquisitions. There is hardly a type of gym that he and CEO Stephan Schulan have not got to know from the inside over the past few months. And everywhere, the quality of financial management plays a major role.
Why is financial management changing so rapidly right now?
In financial management, the current transformation driven by digitalisation is proving particularly far-reaching. Whereas in the past the focus was mainly on collecting membership fees, paying bills and preparing monthly accounts, today there are often closely interconnected digital financial ecosystems.
In addition to traditional membership fees, additional sales, various digital payment methods, aggregator customers, automated dunning processes, returned direct debits, factoring, liquidity management and new forms of financing now all need to be coordinated digitally. At the same time, members expect the same speed and convenience they are used to from online retail or streaming services*.
In parallel, the world of financial service providers is also changing. Terms such as embedded finance, FinTech, open banking and revenue-based financing represent developments that, just a few years ago, were almost exclusively the preserve of banks or large technology companies. “Today, specialised services such as these are increasingly finding their way into fitness businesses of all sizes,” explains Nico Richter.
What role does technology now play in a company’s success?
Alongside the complexity of growing structures – particularly due to the rise in online payments and the strengthening of consumer protection – there are also issues with chargebacks*. These are even more prevalent in the service sector than in retail.
This development affects large fitness chains just as much as small and medium-sized businesses. Stephan Schulan: “Fundamentally, the core issues are the same. It’s just that the priorities shift depending on the size of the business. An individual gym often has to focus more intensively on cash flow planning than a large chain. (..) At the same time, digitalisation now makes professional processes accessible and affordable even for smaller operators. Not every solution needs to be developed in-house – good off-the-shelf software is often perfectly adequate.”
Operational technologies are increasingly providing the information basis for many business decisions. Modern financial platforms integrate payment processing, membership management, accounting and controlling almost in real time. This creates transparency, faster decision-making processes and new opportunities for managing liquidity, growth and profitability. Make or buy?! Which financial tasks still belong within a company’s own organisation today?
Digitalisation not only provides fitness companies with new tools – it also opens up entirely new possibilities for the division of labour. Many tasks that previously had to be carried out in-house can now be outsourced to specialised service providers. At the same time, increasingly powerful ‘off-the-shelf’ software solutions are emerging, enabling even smaller businesses to implement professional financial processes in-house.
Holger Kunzmann on the classic entrepreneurial dilemma of “make or buy?”: “There’s no one-size-fits-all answer here. Once a company reaches a certain size, it’s worth setting up its own receivables management processes. However, external specialists offer clear advantages: less administrative burden, professional debt collection and, depending on the arrangement, faster cash flow. In return, debt collection providers naturally want to make a profit. Hybrid models are certainly conceivable and often make sense in practice.”
For Stephan Schulan, this decision does not start with the software, but with the company’s own strategy: “Entrepreneurs don’t have to be accountants, but they do need to understand figures. Liquidity, profitability and cash flow are issues that cannot be delegated and then forgotten. They determine the success or failure of a business on a daily basis. Financial management is a leadership task.”
Kunzmann adds: “I often see companies investing in new software first and only then thinking about their processes. Technology can only realise its potential if the underlying processes are clearly defined. Digitalisation should always create tangible added value and not be an end in itself.”
What role does AI play in the next stage of development?
Whilst many fitness companies are currently still focusing on the digitalisation of their financial processes, the next stage of development is already on the horizon. “Artificial intelligence is increasingly beginning not only to analyse data more quickly, but also to actively support management decisions. Changes in liquidity can be identified earlier, cash flows forecast more accurately and key business indicators analysed automatically,” says Nico Richter of Sport Alliance.
Although Stephan Schulan is a firm supporter of modern developments, he warns against relying solely on new technologies: “In our view, AI does not yet always deliver on its promises. However, the potential is enormous and will bring about noticeable changes to the industry in the coming years.”
It is precisely this statement that highlights a crucial difference between digitalisation and automation. Modern technologies can simplify processes considerably – but they do not relieve management of the responsibility for business decisions. Anyone who does not understand their key performance indicators will struggle to make effective use of even the best software. Holger Kunzmann’s conclusion is a pragmatic one: “The decisive factor is always the overall picture, taking into account costs, liquidity and service quality. Not every task necessarily has to be carried out in-house.” This approach is well suited to the complexity of current developments: “The future does not lie with individual software solutions, but with intelligently networked systems in which payment processing, membership management, controlling and corporate management work together seamlessly,” says Nico Richter.
Conclusion: Technology is changing the rules of the game – leadership determines success
Financial management in the fitness sector is currently evolving faster than ever before. New payment solutions, AI, embedded finance, automated controlling systems and specialised financial service providers are opening up opportunities that, just a few years ago, were reserved for large corporations. At the same time, however, the demands on entrepreneurs and management are increasing.
The crucial question is therefore no longer whether fitness companies should digitise their financial processes. Rather, it is how they can combine technology, external expertise and their own know-how in such a way as to achieve sustainable commercial success.
Or, to put it another way: modern software can calculate almost any figure today – but drawing the right conclusions from these figures will remain the task of good entrepreneurs and their management teams in the future too.
Further fascinating information on this topic, as well as on ‘business growth and M&A’, can be found in the full interview with Stephan Schulan and Holger Kunzmann from all inclusive Fitness.
Sources and further links:
Sport Alliance (https://www.sportalliance.com/de/)
Globalpayments (https://www.globalpayments.at/de-at/blog/2025/09/15/chargeback-verfahren-erklaert)
