Sport’s Digital Future Martin Sheppard sees that digital transformation is key to future sporting success on and off the field
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ith sport consumption through participation, fan engagement, stakeholder and sponsor relationships being challenged to continually evolve and pivot, the current challenges of COVID-19 have placed greater strain on sports organisations, emphasising the need to explore opportunities to fast track generational changes. National sporting organisations (NSOs), state sporting associations (SSAs), commercial sports clubs and local associations are doing this not only to survive, but also to adapt and invest in ways to do things better to stay relevant, to expand, and to meet the changing needs of consumers. With digital solutions seen as a potential panacea, global leaders such as Microsoft are at the forefront of this fundamental shift. Now recognised as the most advanced supplier of artificial intelligence and machine learning capability, they are sharing their insights to help businesses maximise performance. It was only a matter of time before the sports sector could embrace these solutions. However, despite having reduced revenue and resources, organisations are expected to deliver the same or more than before. Some sports may be grasping at technology to make their jobs easier in what they believe to be key areas of their business and specific priorities, as opposed to a whole of business approach. All technology will do in these circumstances is provide the same answer quicker. The imperative must be for sports organisations to understand the holistic business challenges and what transformation is needed. The commitment to business transformation must start before the technology is introduced. Technology is an enabler that needs purpose. It is not the reason to change our business processes to meet the technology solution. Successful transformation can deliver profound, organisationwide improvements to business efficiency, staff and customer experiences with the organisations’ overarching success 40 Australasian Leisure Management Issue 142
and sustainability as the outcome. Business transformation is far more than quality improvements in one key area, such as marketing, communications, or finance or HR. It is the commitment to holistically embrace a customer-centric approach across all facets of the business. Change management within organisations is now relatively common. Capability and capacity enhancement within sports organisations can mean greater internal productivity and enhanced external stakeholder satisfaction. Digital transformation embraces the smarts of technology to provide the information infrastructure backbone, enabling continuously improving engagement with customers, stakeholders and sponsors. The technology should provide structure and support, to make better, faster, more impactful decisions to be more effective and efficient in coping with the challenges and opportunities. Digital transformation in not a trade-off, it forms a virtuous circle, enabling organisations to do far more with far
