Why was it important for Sportradar to be a speaker at the SBC Barcelona?

SBC Summit Barcelona it’s an important event in our calendar that brings the industry together. The discussion panels are lively and insightful, so I was looking forward to hearing from the many innovators and thought leaders taking part this year. Sportradar had three speakers at the event. Our CEO Carsten Koerl delivered the keynote address on Day Two. Set to be interviewed on stage by Sports Betting Hall of Fame member Simon Bold, our CEO Carsten discussed his experience leading the largest international sports technology company during one of the most challenging times in the industry’s history and shared his outlook on the global markets. My colleague Mike Falconer spoke on the digital marketing panel “Knowing when to engage players”, while I tackled technology and innovation in the betting and gaming industry as part of the “How to choose a technology partner” discussion.

You participated in the “How to choose a technology partner” panel. Tell me, what makes a good technology partner?

Having a sophisticated tech stack is the obvious answer, but there’s more to it than that. Looking at this from a client perspective, I would want to partner with a technology company that’s prepared to invest time getting to know my business and genuinely understand what my organization is trying to achieve. Cutting edge technical capabilities are important but having a team of experts who know how to deploy that technology in order to help my business solve its problems is crucial. That’s how we approach client relationships at Sportradar – we help our clients solve the problems they face, in the interest of achieving success, growing their business, and driving their bottom lines. The ability to innovate is also important. Generating ideas that support the strategic aims and drive the growth of a clients’ business is a powerful USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Innovation stimulates change and encourages continuous improvement. In the hyper competitive sports betting market, even a small improvement can have a big impact on a business’s growth and revenues.

What technology is going to advance the betting and gaming industry?

I’m excited about Computer Vision and the benefits it can bring to the industry. For those unfamiliar with the technology, Computer Vision is a form of artificial intelligence that will allow us to understand sport on a much deeper, more detailed player related level. Over the next few years, it will change the way we collect and process sports data. As individuals, we are very good at understanding what is happening in front of us at sporting events, however we have limited capacity in the amount of data we can manually interpret, record digitally and upload. Computer Vision yields a 100-fold increase in the level of statistics and data-points that we can offer our clients, significantly scaling the commercial opportunities available to them. It’s a game changer and in the future will create more immersive experiences for sports fans and provide leagues and federations with richer insights into fan behavior.