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If sport was run like Amazon…

By Anonymous -
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Amazon is one of the poster children of today’s disruptive technological age. Run by the charismatic founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, Amazon grew from small beginnings as an e-commerce start-up selling books online to be one of the world biggest e-commerce and technology companies. Professor Amrit Tiwana from Terry College of Business, at the University of Georgia uses Amazon (amongst others) as an example of a “platform ecosystem” in his book - Platform ecosystems: aligning architecture, governance, and strategy . Amrit defines the elements of a platform ecosystem to include; (1) shared infrastructure, (2) a platform, (3) interfaces, and (4) Apps that are using by end-users. He also introduces the notion that there are competing ecosystems, and argues that; Platform ecosystems are replacing traditional models in and beyond the software industry, driven largely by the digitization of products, services, and business processes. They can expand the pie for everyone but require a funda
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Digital teams in sport need more than a CMS and social media account

By Anonymous -
I can remember the first major digital project I was given in sport over 10 years ago. We were launching a new league in 3 months’ time and we needed ten websites – two for the league and one for each of the eight teams. I thought, based on previous projects, I’d need a budget of $500,000, especially given the tight time-frame. I got a budget of $200,000 – the league was just beginning after all and budgets were tight. The time and budget constraints limited our delivery options and we ended up partnering with a sport specific web company. Their content management system (CMS) wasn’t the best, but after some haggling they fitted into my budget. The league used that vendor and the CMS for over 8 years – well past my tenure with the league – and certainly well past its envisaged use by date from when we originally selected it! Once implemented, sports don’t replace their CMS’s that often. So when you do replace them it’s important that you get the decision right. In today’s digital l
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Time to write again

By Anonymous -
I can’t believe that it is over five years since I last blogged. It’s with some amusement as well as embarrassment that I looked back on my last blog post on December 29, 2009. So much has changed in the world of digital sport - far too many things to talk about here. But it is interesting that two of the topics discussed in my last blog, user experience and the problem of silos within sporting organisations in regards to digital, are still relevant today. User experience is now an accepted part of sport’s toolkit in developing new digital properties. The rise of mobile applications and tablet devices has meant that no longer are we just developing for one screen, we are developing for multiple screens with multiple contexts that exist in multiple environments. User experience including the emergence of user centred design is now a critical part of developing amazing experiences for sport fans - whether they are in the stadium, in the pub, or comfortably at home on the couch.
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The increasing importance of UX in sport website design

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Having now notched up over ten sport website designs/builds across two major football codes, I'd like to think I have learnt a thing or two. It's not really rocket science, but there are a number of key differences from typical corporate websites or e-commerce based websites. One of the interesting things I have found is that not all sport properties create their website's the same way. One of the key reasons for this is that it depends what department within the organisation is in charge of the website. Sometime's marketing takes the lead, or alternatively marketing/public relations, and in other scenarios I have seen commercial operations or IT take the lead on developing the site. On top of that there are typically external organisations involved that influence the site design and objectives. This can include; design agencies, rights holders, sponsors, media agencies, and miscellaneous consultants (always a favourite option in sport). This can often cause interes
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Head for the sky

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Looks like this people are still interested in my opinion on Cloud Computing! Alexandra Cain has written an article in the December edition of CFO Magazine, following on from an interview she did with me. My comments follow on from my experiences implementing a new hosting environment and a SaaS based Anti-SPAM solution at work. If you had read some of my previous comments about cloud computing, you will remember one of my bug bears is the lack if tools available from cloud vendors for IT Pros to work out how much resource their on premise app uses and hence what resources would be consumed in the cloud and at what cost. At a recent Microsoft event for Web Devs, I was very please to learn that one of the pricing options being rolled out in March for Azure was a subscription model, where you can purchase X amount of compute power for $Y. At least this helps IT Managers know how much a month they are spending on Azure. It still not allowing us to reap the cost benefits of the cl
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Rugby sidesteps cloud computing

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I spoke at a recent AIMIA event entitled " Cloud Computing - Beyond the Hype ". Was an enjoyable event, and thanks to the AIMIA crew for inviting me to talk. IT News journalist, Brett Winterford, was there and was nice enough to write an article " Rugby sidesteps cloud computing " about what I said at the event.
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