When developing a sports business strategy, automation is offering organizations different options for enhancing the fan experience, as well as improvements to workplace efficiency. In our upcoming 2024 Digital Trends in the Sports Industry report, our team outlines the multiple verticals which artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning software solutions can serve sports entities, including how AI-informed audience analytics can optimize the “fan funnel” to drive user retention.
Meanwhile, amid the popularization and proliferation of public-facing AI properties such as ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot, there are other avenues where automation is serving sports properties and their business acumen – in particular, the speed and accuracy in which employees are able to retrieve user data. According to our CEO, Mounir Zok, with careful consideration, automated and AI-driven technologies “will become valuable tools for leveraging fan data”.
Speaking on the impact business process automation (BPA) will have on the sports industry, Mounir highlights an increased demand among sports properties for automated processes, while N3XT Sports is already assisting several of our clients in exploring new use cases for AI implementation, including audience analytics, digital strategy, and information processing.
While AI is serving the customer experience (CX), such as the creation of personalized content and generative video for fans, throughout 2024, Mounir says that “sports organizations and rights holders with the appropriate digital and data maturity will also adopt AI-driven applications to serve the employee experience (EX)”. For example, AI-assisted, automated processes will enable sports executives to query data directly, while performing quick and accurate searches of information – accessible via a single source of truth – while also optimizing language processing, tailored to individual fans.
However, Mounir cautions that sports properties “won’t benefit from new digital solutions and the latest assistive technologies on the market” if they don’t first implement a clear data strategy, whereas N3XT Sports proprietary research demonstrates that disparities broadly exist in the way sports organizations and rights holders leverage their existing digital portfolios to capture fan data. The role of automation, he says, is making the user experience (UX) “more palatable” while also opening up “new spaces for innovation, product development, and commercial growth”.
“In order to continue growing audiences in an Olympic year, equipping organizations with the resources and augmenting their use of fan data is proving invaluable to the sports industry’s revolution,” Mounir continues. “Our team of experts understands the sporting landscape and the latest technology and data trends deeply. As the industry continues to digitalize, it’s our aim to guide our clients on their own digital transformation journeys and to help them make a positive change for their fans and stakeholders.”
INTRODUCING N3XTAI | KEY STEPS TO OVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF AI INTEGRATION
In light of these developments and the multiple benefits AI will bring to the industry, as sports properties explore ways to integrate machine learning applications into their digital infrastructure, there are also several challenges that still exist within the space and how entities industrialize the adoption of AI. As this trend accelerates, before deciding how and when to integrate AI into a technology stack, it is essential for sports properties to ensure that automated processes work with the highest accuracy and reliability across the entire organization, particularly when it comes to analyzing user data.
In response to the wide range of machine learning applications available to rights holders on today’s market, N3XT Sports is launching a new AI solutions service called N3XTAI, with the assistance of Microsoft technology, which aims to make information more accessible to its users and documentation faster to process. Our latest innovations will investigate how AI and machine learning software solutions can be implemented within our clients’ existing technology stacks, seamlessly, and help simplify the retrieval of user data at every level of the business.
N3XTAI, as a service, will:
- Explore ways AI adoption can best serve the sports organization
- Implement applications that speed up the review of internal documentation
- Make it quicker and easier to search for internal data and information
- Allow personnel to query the data directly within a secure application
- Ensure absolute reliability of the data and information AI generates
In a recent article on the industrialization of AI in sports, our Chief Information Officer (CIO) Motasem El Bawab says that the adoption of AI-driven audience analytics “is creating a paradigm shift in how sports properties process data and information”, adding: “By presenting a secure application for analyzing public documents, information, and datasets, among its wide-ranging functions, N3XTAI is customizable at any level of an organization and can be integrated into any database or document-retrieval process.”
WHAT’S N3XT?
Our upcoming 2024 Digital Trends in the Sports Industry report, due to be published in March, is delivered in collaboration with our expert team and their ongoing analysis of the sports industry’s digital transformation. This includes the development and implementation of digital strategies across our wide-ranging client base, all of which are exploring ways to enhance their information-processing capabilities, including how to optimize workflows using the latest technologies.
For example, N3XT Sports is collaborating with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body for cycling, to develop and design the International Federation’s (IF) scalable Information Management System (IMS), which centralizes all athlete, competition, and sports data, while optimizing its internal sports processes. Throughout the industry, Beatriz Indurain, N3XT Sports VP of Growth, identifies an “increasing number of sports properties that see value in digital transformation” in light of our continued assessment of the sector.
“We expect to see more sports properties explore the use of AI and machine learning across multiple verticals,” she says. “No matter whether the objective is to drive fan revenues, attract sponsors, or empower the employee and stakeholder, automation is already delivering results for our clients by assisting them in their understanding of the customer and end-user.
“Whatever direction you want to go, digital transformation is a catalyst for modernization. Our team wants to hear about where you are taking your sport, what you want to achieve for your product, and areas where the implementation of fan and operational data strategies can firmly establish your organization in the modern age of digital sport and entertainment.”
Our team at N3XT Sports works tirelessly to develop and implement data and digital transformation strategies across a multitude of sports properties at federation level, competition level, and club level. To find out more about how N3XT Sports can serve your organization, fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch. Our goal is to drive the digitalization of the sports industry and our clients.