ICC teams up with SAP to bring fans closer to game

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced an innovative new partnership with SAP SE, a worldwide leader in enterprise application software services, on Monday as its exclusive Analytics and Cloud Partner for the Cricket World Cup 2015.

The partnership, which starts immediately and runs through to the end of the tournament, would see SAP utilize its HANA platform to power numerous live match experiences across the ICC's network of websites, to enhance the experience for fans and media with real-time data, statistics and performance analysis that would help them get closer to the action and tell more insightful and informed stories.

In addition, SAP would also provision cloud-based services to host the ICC's historical ICC Cricket World Cup statistics database, incorporating match data for its flagship ODI event. This data would be made publicly available over the coming months, offering fans a multitude of ways to analyse previous team and player performances.

Commenting on the announcement, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said that SAP is changing the way sports fans interact with data and information, adding that in a sport such as cricket where there is a healthy appetite for information and statistics, especially across digital platforms, the board is delighted that SAP's powerful technology would bring the fans closer to the game.

Robert Enslin, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and President of SAP Global Customer Operations said that with one of the largest fan bases around the world, SAP is excited to enhance the real-time analytics and stats to cricket fans during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Finals.

Enslin added that their partnership with the ICC would allow SAP to continuously develop technology that can be adapted for infinite use cases. He added that in this instance, their technology provides the ICC the ability to engage fans with insightful and user-friendly solutions, bring them closer to the action on the field and keeps them informed about their favorite matches.

Enslin said that this partnership is another example of how all organizations, including sports leagues, teams, players and events, can run more efficiently and simply in their pursuit of success.