From heart rates to the Indonesian fan base: where technology meets (and helps) sport

On the one hand the athleteswhich they constantly need be monitored to improve their performance. On the other i fansscattered around the world, hungry for content that continuously feeds their passion. Like two roads which, traveling parallel, lead to the same destination: greater prestige for the brandtherefore – economic side – more possibilities of monetize. That’s why today, in sport, technology is to be considered an essential element.

“It belongs to the basic projects, now you can not think of not having on board a state-of-the-art infrastructure», he reveals to us Lara Rondini, Global Sponsorships & Activation Director of Lenovowho has been alongside some for several years now great realities sports, like inter, Ducati And F1. «We work side by side, studying technological solutions easy to use who respond promptly to needs. I think about work remotelyfor example, which is increasingly essential».

Technology, therefore, is as if it has a double track: goes both inward, helping the team a collect and analyze fundamental data for the growth of performanceand outwards, creating and conveying contents of various kinds that they find in the community the final user. “We discovered we have a fan base in Chile very important,” he told us Robert Monzani, director of the Media House of Inter. «We have another very active one in Indonesia».

From the heart ratethen, at social reshares. «The moment the sport started to evolve in terms of performance and, in parallel, users have started to make themselves heard in terms of request for information, technology had to respond», added Lara Rondini. Put down a timeline of this ever closer intertwining is almost impossible, for sure though over the past twenty years there was a boom that even overturned some habits.

Until recently, in fact, when a footballer he took off his shirt from playing he remained bare-chested, or almost: now, on the other hand, practically everyone wears a bib a wearable device Which size the heartbeatthe distance travelled, the movements e many other parameters. Likewise, fan side, access to the team was only allowed near matcheslive or on TV: with social networks, on the other hand, the relationship has become constant, it also passes from various workouts and events.

“In the past, the only one touchpoints that we had with enthusiasts was Stadium», he underlined Mark Van Huuksloot, Chief Operating Officer of Inter. «What we do now, however, involves involving the fans 24 hours a day – before, during and after the match – with statistics, data and everything we can share». The amount of multimedia content produced is impressive: 80 terabytes a year, to which are added 600 terabytes of data for sports analysis alone.

We therefore need capacious servers, which allow for find quickly the material through tags and metadata. In order not to get lost in an archive from 60 thousand hours of videos and over a million of images: yes, because i 115 years of history of Inter have recently been digitized. From the last goal by Lautaro at a heel strike of Ronaldofrom a parade of Pagliuca at a slip of Facchetti: proposing the right content at the right time is essential for the loyalty.

Technology for i playerstherefore, technology for i fans and technology also for the businesswith laptops, monitors and anything else that can help manage operational activities: «Let’s go beyond the classic idea of ​​sponsorshipas can be a writing on the shirt. We are truly partnersr, we work side by side on specific needs», concluded Lara Rondini. «It is a 360 degree support. For results on and off the pitch».

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