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  • Industry Trends
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Deep Insights Tailored to Your Industry

1

IT Strategy & Alignment, Reference Architectures & Value Streams

Take deep ecosystem-level drive into your industry's ecosystem as well as the IT challenges and opportunities within it.

2

Top Trends Affecting Sports Entertainment

Explore key trends affecting your specific industry from the perspective of people, processes, and technology.

3

Peer Industry Benchmarking

Examine the data from IT departments across the industry to gain insight into the priorities, challenges and opportunities of IT in your industry.

4

Software Selection to Meet Industry Needs

Understand industry technologies and leading vendors in the space to expediate core buying decisions.

1

Business-Aligned IT Strategy


Strategy Alignment
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Accelerate Through Digital Fan Engagement

  • The decisions needed to create a digital fan engagement strategy can be accelerated to reduce the amount of time and effort it may take for your organization to create a digital fan engagement strategy from scratch.
  • Implementing a digital fan engagement strategy can positively impact sports organizations in many ways, such as:
  • Generating new revenue streams or increasing existing revenue streams.
  • Enhancing fan entertainment, engagement, and growth through a high-value fan journey.
  • Ability to remain competitive within the industry as new enablers and disruptors enter the market.
  • Satisfy the needs and expectations of fans today by developing emotional, personalized, and valuable relationships that are beyond transactional.
Strategy Alignment
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Kick-Start a Unified Service Recovery Management Strategy

  • Define unified initiatives, objectives, and goals for enabling a holistic service recovery strategy.
  • Illustrate an operating model with organizational needs, drivers, environmental factors, challenges, opportunities, processes, and stakeholders that will inform the service recovery strategy.
  • Determine metrics that will reflect organizational objectives to showcase the value added to the business.
Strategy Alignment
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Empower the Venue of the Future With IoT

  • Familiarize the business with the various IoT applications available and the operating model needed after implementing IoT.
  • Determine how the business can create value through the sports entertainment business capability map and how IoT can enhance, improve, or create value.
  • Use a value chain analysis to determine opportunities for business through IoT.
Strategy Alignment
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Grow Your Top Line With a Digital Loyalty Program

  • Leverage the sports entertainment digital loyalty program framework, architecture and analysis as a basis to work from to create a strategic and holistic digital loyalty program.
  • Determine the value a digital loyalty program will have on your business through the business reference architecture and value chain analysis.
  • Conduct a comparative analysis between existing sports and adjacent hospitality loyalty programs today.
Strategy Alignment
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Off-Field Data Reference Architecture

  • Establish a working group of key stakeholders from the organization to work on this endeavor together and determine what the risks and considerations may be.
  • Determine the state of your current data architecture and what data-driven digital opportunities can arise from Info-Tech's off-field reference architecture.
  • Build a business case for why an off-field data architecture is important to get buy-in from your business executives.
  • Once buy-in is secured, input this off-field architecture into your next data strategy to achieve your business goals.
Strategy Alignment
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Sports League Business Reference Architecture

  • Demonstrate the value of IT’s role in supporting your sport's organizations capabilities while highlighting the importance of proper alignment between organizational and IT strategies.
  • Apply reference architecture techniques such as strategy maps, value streams, and capability maps to design usable and accurate blueprints of your sports league operations.
  • Assess your initiatives and priorities to determine if you are investing in the right capabilities. Conduct capability assessments to identify opportunities and to prioritize projects.
Strategy Alignment
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Professional Sports Business-Aligned IT Strategy

  • Learn about the ecosystem factors that are impacting the Professional Sports industry and how your IT team is set from a PESTLE and SWOT perspective, with expert insights and takeaways to update your IT strategy.
Strategy Alignment
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Sports Entertainment Industry Business Reference Architecture

  • Demonstrate the value of IT’s role in supporting your sport organization’s capabilities while highlighting the importance of proper alignment between organizational and IT strategies.
  • Apply reference architecture techniques such as strategy maps, value streams, and capability maps to design usable and accurate blueprints of your sports entertainment operations.
  • Assess your initiatives and priorities to determine if you are investing in the right capabilities. Conduct capability assessments to identify opportunities and to prioritize projects.
Strategy Alignment
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Professional Sports IT Strategy Initiatives Workbook

  • With input from our research and analysts and your peers, identify new or updated initiatives for your IT strategy.
  • Working with our team, update your IT Strategy Initiatives Workbook.
Strategy Alignment
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Embrace a Sportsbook to Drive Fan Experience and Engagement

  • Understand the environment your organization lives in and your fans’ journeys to decide whether you should pursue a sportsbook.
  • Decide on the business model that best aligns with your organization's goals for a sportsbook initiative.
  • Consider the different vendors, platforms, and technology available for each sportsbook business model.
  • Become familiar with the different sportsbook vendors and consider whom you may wish to partner with.
  • Carefully review and negotiate the vendor contracts needed to move forward with your sportsbook initiative.
Strategy Alignment
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Professional Sports Industry Impacts on IT Strategy: Senior Management Presentation Template

  • Once you’ve completed the IT Strategy Initiatives Workbook, it’s time to pull it all together and share with your organization’s leadership team.
  • Use the Professional Sports Industry Impacts on IT Strategy: Senior Management Presentation Template to highlight the key findings from the business-aligned analysis you’ve done.

2

Top Industry Trends


Top Trends
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AI/ML Use Case Library for Sports & Entertainment

Pull inspiration from a curated collection of best-in-class AI/ML use cases to accelerate the initiative ideation process.

  • Concepts can often be helpful in designing transformation roadmaps, despite different implementation methods.
  • Our analysis offers additional guidance on ROI guidelines, primary sources of value, and more.
  • Pulling best practices from anonymized use cases increases the odds of successful value capture.
Top Trends
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Modernize the Venue to Revitalize Live Events

  • Determine the venue modernization vision. Understand the venue modernization use cases, to construct and envision the various modernization projects against value drivers.
  • Establish the value of modernizing the venue. Define a thorough view of the business and impacts.
  • Analyze the chosen modernization projects. Assess the projects by understanding their efficiency and agility gains to the business, and clarify next steps needed to support the modernization process.
Top Trends
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Digitally Transform the Process of Officiating in Sports

  • Learn how AI and ML work, their algorithms, capabilities, and how they affect the entire business and officiating.
  • Review the considerations, potentials, and limitations any organization should be aware of when implementing AI and ML for on-field decision-making.
  • Consider the type of architecture, implementation model, vendor, and strategy needed to successfully transform officiating.
  • Visit Info-Tech's AI Research Center to kick start an AI and ML implementation process.
Top Trends
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Professional Sports New Complexities in Social Channels Report

  • Social management continues to increase in complexity and risk. Like omnichannel sales, social media should be actively managed using a consolidated approach.
  • Learn about how new complexities in social channels affect both your organization and IT specifically, including challenges and opportunities, with expert assistance.
Top Trends
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Professional Sports Enhanced Spectator Experience Report

  • Sports are now viewed as an entertainment option competing in the broader entertainment and hospitality market, where the fan experience is rich, integrated content delivered at any time.
  • Learn about how an enhanced spectator experience affects both your organization and IT specifically, including challenges and opportunities, with expert assistance.
Top Trends
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Professional Sports Data-Driven Player Insight Report

  • A performance management platform that provides consolidated player data enables teams to identify injuries earlier, assess recovery, identify performance gaps, and make better game-time decisions.
  • Learn about how data-driven player insight affects both your organization and IT specifically, including challenges and opportunities, with expert assistance.
Top Trends
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Discover High-Value Fan Experiences

With the insights provided in this Sports Entertainment Strategic Foresight Trend Report, making sound decisions about which technologies can provide a competitive edge and generate revenue for those in the sports entertainment industry is possible.

3

Industry Benchmarking


Peer Benchmarking
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Overcome the Barriers to Enable Exclusive Premium Experiences

  • Collect industry-specific quantitative and qualitative data to enable and set realistic goals for the premium experience.
  • Review key considerations and decision-making processes for selecting the correct technology from industry peers in enabling premium experiences.
  • Compare industry-peers against each other to discover common challenges, opportunities, and solutions to creating a unified premium experience.

Peer Benchmarking
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The Impact of Technology on Sports Entertainment Revenue and Fan Engagement

  • Review the survey results to understand where the rest of the industry sits in terms of digital fan engagement and overall digital business strategy to compare.
  • Assess the organization’s IT department through Info-Tech's CIO Business Vision Diagnostic to learn what the business sees as important as well as what their satisfaction is with core service areas to start the journey to becoming a business partner or innovator to achieve alignment.
  • Devise a list of improvement and/or digital initiatives you can integrate into your IT strategic plan to transform the role IT plays in the organization.
Peer Benchmarking
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Professional Sports IT Staffing Benchmarking Report

  • Many IT departments are already running lean, struggling to keep pace with never-ending demands from the business to be a reliable operator and effective partner, all while finding time and resources to be innovative.
  • By taking the IT Staffing Diagnostic and participating in our unique IT Spend Benchmarking, you will gain critical insights to position your IT team to be more strategic.
Peer Benchmarking
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Professional Sports IT Stakeholder Satisfaction Benchmarking Report

  • IT leadership needs to understand where their clients are unsatisfied with the quality of service they are receiving from IT.
  • Understand important focus areas to address and insights into how your team compares with other Professional Sports IT organizations.
Peer Benchmarking
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Professional Sports IT Management & Governance Benchmarking Report

  • Understanding your IT team’s perception of what’s important and how well they’re doing is central to identifying strengths, weaknesses, and potential misalignments with business priorities and expectations.
  • Learn about how IT departments in your industry assess the importance and effectiveness of 45 IT processes to gauge your own alignment and identify select processes for targeted improvement.

4

Core Industry Technologies & Software Selection


Core Industry Technologies
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Transform the Sales & Event Management Lifecycle to Strategize and Digitize Events

  • Comprehend the trends and importance of a group sales and event management system.
  • Define the organization’s key capabilities through cost and competitive advantages to understand the organization’s current state and what it needs from a group sales and event management system, vetted through a value chain analysis.
  • Review Info-Tech’s analysis of the vendor functional criteria for ten key players in the GSEM market that have functional viability for various organizations.
Core Industry Technologies
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Enable Dynamic Visual Experiences and Drive Business Sustainability With Digital Signage and IPTV

  • Determine how the business can create value through the sports entertainment business capability map and how digital signage and IPTV can enhance, improve, or create value.
  • Use a fan persona and journey mapping exercise to determine opportunities for digital signage and IPTV.
  • Through vendor research and interviews, Info-Tech has identified the various features, functionalities, and digital opportunities that each vendor offers, and implementation can be fast tracked with Info-Tech’s Rapid Application Selection Framework.
Core Industry Technologies
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Drive Fan Experiences and Journeys With Frictionless Checkout

  • Determine how your business can create value through the sports entertainment business capability map and how a frictionless checkout platform can enhance, improve, or create value.
  • Use a fan persona and journey mapping exercise to determine opportunities for frictionless checkout.
  • Through vendor research and interviews, Info-Tech has identified the various features, functionalities, and digital opportunities that each vendor offers in order to facilitate going to RFP, and implementation can be fast tracked with Info-Tech’s Rapid Application Selection Framework.

Core Industry Technologies
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Professional Sports Social Media Management Report

  • Social media is now part of business operations, marketing/sales success, and public relations, which organizations should use to improve the fan experience and manage risk.
  • Learn about what social media management is, the state of the market, key features and functions, and leading vendors in the space in order to understand how it can transform your IT strategy and ability to deliver.
Core Industry Technologies
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Professional Sports Fan Entertainment Experience Report

  • Professional Sports is an entertainment option competing in the broader entertainment and hospitality market, where fans expect enhanced and augmented experiences beyond just watching the competition.
  • Learn about what fan entertainment experience technology is, the state of the market, key features and functions, and leading vendors in the space in order to understand how it can transform your IT strategy and ability to deliver.
Core Industry Technologies
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Professional Sports Player Performance Management Report

  • Consolidated player health and performance data allows teams to identify injuries earlier, assess recovery, identify performance gaps, and make better game-time decisions.
  • Learn about what player performance management is, the state of the market, key features and functions, and leading vendors in the space in order to understand how it can transform your IT strategy and ability to deliver.

Latest Sports Teams Notes

Short, tailored research notes aimed at providing you with timely insights, relevant to your industry. Hot off the press, these notes will be published regularly and pair great with your morning coffee.

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Take Advantage of Cashless in Your Sports Venue

Date published

October 26, 2021

Authors:
  • Elizabeth Silva

  • Larry Fretz

Cashless technology is a necessary modernization initiative that can be realized when digital and mobile strategies intersect.

Minimize Athlete Injuries and Optimize Performance With Machine Learning

Date published

October 1, 2018

Author:
  • George Goodall

Athlete data is an increasingly important resource for sports teams. IT will play an increasingly important role in ensuring the security and quality of this data. Explore this trend from the viewpoint of an expert in the field.

RFID in Sports: Expand Your Analyst Team

Date published

April 30, 2018

Author:
  • Russell MacMillan

In this note, we discuss the potential of RFID information collection in the NFL and its widespread applicability to other sports. Don’t be late to the data interpretation arms race.

Develop Talent With Technology – How Teams Can Win on a Budget

Date published

April 30, 2018

Author:
  • Eric Cabral

Invest in integrating technology and data-driven insights into your player development process, and you can build a top-end team, rather than buying one. The example of Portuguese soccer club Benfica provides a roadmap to success for professional sporting teams on a budget.

The Drone Invasion

Date published

March 19, 2018

Author:
  • John Burwash

The growing proliferation of drones in commercial applications continues to amaze, but nowhere more so than in the entertainment industry. As advancements in both flight and filming technologies move the boundary of what is possible, we can sit back and enjoy the show.

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