SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG – SAP has reported a significant response to its Sports One offering by the industry globally, a year after the technology solution was introduced.

The market leader in enterprise application software pointed out different sporting codes as athletics, cricket, football and motoring had embraced the solution.

“The global adoption of SAP’s sports enhancement technologies has been nothing short of remarkable,” SAP stated.

Clubs and organisations like McLaren, the Women’s Tennis Association, Manchester City, the International Cricket Council, Bayern Munich and the National Football League are all utilising SAP to improve team training and performance, drive exciting fan engagement and optimise both business and venue operations.

The impact of Sports One was also felt in the recently-concluded Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil.

“Millions of people around the world have been glued to their screens over the last few weeks as the world’s best vied for positions at the Rio Olympics,” SAP stated.

It mentioned among the highlights South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk smashing the 400m record and world record or Caster Semenya, who set a national record winning the 800m.

“This kind of performance highlights not only the importance of optimal training and dedication, but also the significance of a millisecond at a mission-critical moment in time; something that SAP with its 40 plus years of world-class tech experience really gets.”

SAP noted as recently as a decade ago, the use of technology in sport was widely deemed controversial.

Talent scouts, coaches and journalists gathered data manually and trusted their gut to make strategic decisions, primarily based on past experience.

“Most paid little attention to technology to fine-tune that approach; that is, until the teams that embraced technology began to innovate and to win more and more regularly. The game was changed forever.”
SAP Sports technology addresses three predominant areas, namely, team performance, fan engagement and stadium experience and management.

“While data won’t drive all decisions, it will help inform with precise real-time objective insights,” SAP stated.

Adoption of SAP Sports One follows research by 2020, more than 2,95 billion people will participate in social media channels.

Sports fans today expect to see scores, stats and customized news updated constantly.

“With 50 billion devices capable of connecting to the Internet, technology is redefining the sports experience for them,” said SAP.

– Guardian