CHANGINGTHEFACEOF
SPORTTHROUGHDATA
FirstlyNick can youexplainAccenture’s role asOfficial Technology Partner of theRBS 6
Nations andwhat it actually involves?
We’ve been theOfficial Technology Partner of theChampionship since 2012 andwe have put our
technology and digital expertise at the heart of our partnership to enhance the fan experience.We
want tohelp the RBS 6Nations respond to the needs of the fanbasewhich is constantly expecting a
more enhanceddigital experience and newways to interact with the tournament. One of theways
we are doing this is by providing theOfficial ChampionshipMobileAppwhich allows fans to gain
access to a range of information and analytics from eachmatch being played.
Canyouexplainhowdata is beingused to improveplayer performance and team strategy?
We have created an analytics dashboardwhich aims to provide unique insight on the data captured
throughout theChampionship, and in fact we can compare data from every RBS 6Nations
tournament back to 2006. Eachmatchwe get nearly twomillion rows of data andwe analyse this
toprovide a deeper understanding of thematch, the player performance and the game changing
moments.We have a number of different features in the dashboardwhich include an action
tracker thatmaps out every action and outcome that occurs during the game, mapping it to the
co-ordinates on the pitch and linking it to the players involved. Each action is assigned aweighted
value andwe have also built an algorithm, with input from rugby experts from the RPA, to produce
a score for each and every player, reflecting his performance in thematch. This score can be
aggregated to provide a team’s overall performance over thematch or tournament.
Are thereparallels tobedrawnbetween the tech-led changes goingon in sport and those
that are reshaping thebusinessworld?
I think there are quite a few parallels between the changes in sport and the constantly developing
world of business.What we’re seeing is organisations trying tomove away from old school decision
making and actually start to usemore andmore technology anddata to gain the best possible
analysis of their business performance. The same is occurring in sport with clubs, teams and athletes
phasing outmany of the old approaches, and turning to technology and data to reach their optimum
peak performance or goal.
How similar are theworlds of business and sport? Is that reflected in theway the two areas
approachadoption anddeployment of technology anddata?
There aremore similarities between business and sport than youmight think - ultimately both are
about achieving your objective. For a sporting team to achieve its goal, it will use all the tools at its
disposal. That’s exactly the same in the businessworld. As technology innovations continue, sport
and businesswill continue to take advantage of any new devices that can improve performance.
Finallyhowdo you see the futureof sport andbusiness and theuseof analytics and
technology?
There is a big shift towards usingmore digital technologieswhichwill drivemore data andwill
in turn providemore possibilities for further analysis and insight to help decisionmaking. In the
businessworldwe are seeingwidespread adoption of some really innovative technologies, for
example, using drones to survey remote locations and then using the data it provides to analyse
where best to take advantage of anopportunity. The same is happening in sport withmore
wearable devices starting to appear andwe’re already seeing some clubs using drones tomeasure
a player’smovement and performance in training.
RPA PARTNER
Sport is an ever changing landscape, teams goup
anddown, athletes prosper and records arebroken.
Howeverwhen it comes to the riseof technology and
data in sport, nothing compares to the steep incline
which is currently takingplace.With this inmindwe
recently spoke toNickMillman,ManagingDirector
for bigdata and analytics at RPACommercial Partner, Accenture, to
understand their rolewithin international rugby.
More informationonAccenture and their role as
Official Technology Partner of theRBS6Nations
canbe found atwww.accenture-rugby.com and
dont forget to follow@AccentureRugby togain
deeper insight into the SixNations 2016.
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