Away from their troubles on the cricket pitch on the Indian sub continent, the England and Wales Cricket Board is going through a digital transformation project.
The project, which is being undertaken with Advanced, will see the implementation and management of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM project.
The project is said to lie at the heart of the ECB’s drive to increase participation in the sport, something that we can hope will help them to find some players that are more able with bat, ball and in the field.
Damian Smith, Head of IT at ECB, said: “Our raison d’etre is to drive participation in cricket. By making sure everything is captured on the CRM platform, we have the opportunity to provide a seamless and connected experience for anyone who interacts with any aspect of cricket. Advanced is working with us to make CRM the digital face of our work, which will drive a connected cricket experience and help us realise our ambition to bring even more people into the game.”
England, which currently looks like it will be slumping to another humiliating defeat in the latest tour match vs India, wants to deliver detail around business intelligence by interrogating data in order to achieve bringing more people into the game.
Damian said: “We want to make sure every single opportunity to increase engagement and improve loyalty is explored. Advanced’s expertise in delivering successful CRM projects will ensure we have access to real-time data to identify trends and a better understanding of cricket’s position in the sports marketplace.”
The project is being done in a phased approach, firstly by prioritising the areas that will have the greatest impact on customer experience, as well as by level of complexity, then by new services such as memberships which will reward loyalty.
The project will also look to increase productivity and awareness within the ECB.
Mark Dewell, MD, Specialist Solutions, Advanced, said, “We’ve talked about the value of the connected fan in personalising engagement with clubs, as well as the connected stadium in driving an enhanced experience and incremental revenues.
“The work that the ECB is undertaking takes this vision a step further, putting data and analytics at the centre of its operations with every stakeholder, participant or fan. Our partnership will place CRM technology at the hub of its operations, ensuring that the ECB transforms cricket into a connected sport, with real-time data across all its processes, operations and touch points.”
Fingers crossed that the digital transformation project will help the ECB to select the right squad for the next tour.
