Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

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To Big Data Or Not
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August 15, 2016 News

One would wonder, how could something as guttural and as basic as sport, be included into the digital age when there are literally thousands of variables involved. From the human element to the environmental effects and even the atmosphere the crowds or fans create.

The idea of sport as we know it, becoming another victim of disruptive technology might sound like a little far-fetched to some. Disrupted to the point where the win or loss of a team or an individual at any sporting event instead of being determined by fitness, preparation regimes or experience and know-how, now achieved through a quick run of numbers into a computer to tell you the results based on data it has collected. Data with details ranging from player physical readiness to their psychological and emotional levels too.

In what looked like boys fighting to see whose toy was better, the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw 3 companies pit their big data analytics to the test in predicting the outcomes of 15 matches. The ‘boys’ at this fight were Microsoft, Baidu and Google, with Google losing out in missing one out of the 15. Those are very good odds by any standards.

In the NFL and NBA, the analytics gathers information from sensors on the athletes that monitor heart rate and lung capacity, to having the entire arena fitted with motion tracking camera technology. It gives medics and coaches insights into the players’ performance and capabilities and assists in making crucial minute by minute decisions during the game.

The judo team at the Rio Olympics were one of the first teams that used one of the latest technological big data advances from a start-up, to arrive at the best methods to defeat their opponents. The technology developed by Boost, is a tool in the form of chat-bots that allow trainers and athletes to not only ask questions about the athlete himself and his training, but also details on the athletes rivals in upcoming competitions as well.

Boost developed an engine that collected all the information that exists on the web about every rival judoka. The system will analyse the question through AI and have a reply almost instantaneously, analysing technical information such as their physical characteristics, past achievements, all the matches they were in, sifting through thousands of videos, either coded automatically or manually. Then using algorithms, an exact profile of all the rival athletes will be produced that then predicts future trends, identify strong points and determine the weak points too.

Oren Smadja, the Israeli Olympic medalist in judo who now coaches the men’s national team says “It’s another screw in an entire system, but it gave us a full picture of the matches and rivals. When I competed in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, we schlepped videotapes to study our rivals. Here it was all ready and it’s presented in an accessible fashion that allows us to ask questions at any time. You cannot cope with so much information without this tool, and we used it a lot. It helped us and proved itself, and we will continue to use it in the future.”

With analytics making leaps and bounds towards changing how competitors approach each game, will the game have the same emotional connections to its viewers. If predictions can be made hours before hand that gives fans the result they wanted or didn’t want, will that change viewer sentiment and end the way games are held. Will the Olympics have the same value to each contestant as it has today, when everyone knows the outcome.

The analytics is definitely an edge over competitors that every vying team or individual will look for. We shall have to wait and see how the ecosystem of the big data environment irons itself out in terms of fair play and predictability. As of now, the team with the better tech is going to go into the fight with a very big advantage.

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