In the Sports industry, it is absolutely critical to stay ahead of the competition by delivering innovative products and reliable service that give your customers a superior experience. Outsourcing some non-core functions can make your organization leaner and more adaptable to the ever evolving Sports market. Here are the top 5 functions we’re noticing in the industry right now:
1. Application Quality Assurance
Applications are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected with one another, and the development cycles are shortening. These two factors greatly increase the possibility of what could go wrong. Also, the schedules of league matchups give sports applications volatility in performance and load demands which are much higher than that of traditional software. A strong QA team can test your software functionality, simulate user load, and ensure that it performs for you when you need it to most.
2. Data Collection
Data collection costs can quickly spiral out of control and smash your bottom line at a time when sports data is becoming increasingly commoditized. Inflated data collection costs have been responsible for the bankruptcy of many otherwise promising sports companies. If data collection is a large part of your business, outsourcing those functions at a sustainable cost can make the difference between a healthy bottom line and unsustainable losses.
3. Application Maintenance
If you’re in the business of sports software, you need to have an edge on your competition by attracting the best developers and giving them exciting projects to work on. In any high cost environment where developers are in high demand, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to attract high quality talent for maintenance projects. Working with an IT services firm with the capability of global talent deployment can provide you high quality developers that ensure your applications continue to run smoothly.
4. Technical Support
When your customers or internal users have an issue with an application, they need rapid response and fast resolution. Having 24 hour coverage with an experienced IT firm can ensure that support is available to your internal users and customers whenever they need it. In addition to 24 hour coverage, an IT partner can provide you with insightful analytics that determine which areas in your technology environment need the most proactive focus.
5. IT Infrastructure Management
For companies that rely on technical solutions to deliver analytics to their customers, managing the IT Infrastructure plays a vital role their success. With many emerging technologies in the market, the operational and technical capability required to effectively manage your IT Infrastructure has greatly increased. This has made configuring and managing IT Infrastructure a highly rigorous discipline that requires its own specialization and expertise. It could be very beneficial to partner with IT firm that has the necessary depth and breadth of capability and will provide you a robust platform to scale up as your needs evolve. In many environments, most of this can be done remotely, which would provide huge cost savings while greatly increasing your capability.
While the functions listed above are common services, the right IT services firm should have a strong understanding of the sports industry and its competitive dynamics. They should be able to consult with you, understand your pain points, and create a unique solution that’s the best fit for your strategy and business model, rather than give you a one size fits all approach. Picking the right IT partner can do wonders for your bottom line and provide you the flexibility and scalability to stay ahead of the competition.
