Partner Article

ECB Partners with Advanced to create a connected cricket experience

CRM drives digital transformation process to connect with the millions ‘interested’ in cricket

January 2017– The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the national governing body (NGB) for cricket, has joined forces with Advanced to spearhead a new digital transformation process. Advanced has been chosen to implement and manage the Microsoft Dynamics CRM project which will lie at the heart of the ECB’s drive to increase participation in cricket.

The digital upgrade is designed to help ECB better connect with recreational players, coaches, umpires and volunteers as well as broaden interest in domestic and international cricket.

As part of the project, Advanced will work hand-in-hand with the ECB to ensure the Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution brings together every touchpoint with any person engaging with cricket.

Damian Smith, Head of IT at ECB, comments: “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.

“The digital transformation process aims to deliver detail around business intelligence (BI) by interrogating the data. It is hoped the innovative way in which the Microsoft CRM Dynamics platform will be integrated into the ECB’s current infrastructure will help to achieve this.

Damian continues: “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 will take a phased approach, prioritised firstly by those areas which will have the greatest impact on customer experience, as well as by level of complexity. Providing a unified and seamless experience will be top of the agenda, followed by new services such as memberships which will reward loyalty. It will also look to increase productivity and effectiveness within the ECB team, by providing them with the tools to focus on value add activities to drive participation.

The ECB recognises the digital transformation project as a continuous process, driven by ongoing change and a desire to innovate. It will work with the Advanced team to find new ways of identifying and understanding new sources of information and introducing additional services and products to keep cricket at the leading edge for participation.

Mark Dewell, MD, Specialist Solutions - Advanced, concludes, “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 touchpoints.

“We are proud to partner with the ECB on this exciting journey to help them transform and reimagine every opportunity for participation in cricket.”

-ENDS-

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