Manchester United has announced they will be upgrading their digital offerings to their 659 million global followers (let that number sink in) via a historic partnership with HCL Technologies.
The partnership will have HCL Technologies become the “Official Digital Transformation Partner” of Manchester United. With this HCL and United will create a United Xperience Lab which will be held within the famous Old Trafford Stadium. It will be the seventh such lab that HCL has created and first for the sports world. Xperience Lab will explore new ways in which the club uses technology to create a unified fan experience across all digital platforms and at Old Trafford. The team will also create a world-class mobile app and website for United.
“With the introduction of the United Xperience Lab at Old Trafford, we hope to demonstrate best practices within the industry to generate new ideas that leverage the latest technology available in the evolving digital landscape,” said Manchester United’s Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold. “Through digital transformation we hope to change the way in which our fans experience and interact with Manchester United.”
Anant Gupta, President and CEO of HCL Technologies added at the announcement that, “This partnership is unique and creates value not just for Manchester United and its fans, but also for all forward-looking organizations across the world.”
Because social media is forever expanding, sports teams must keep fans happy with digital interactions. This partnership between Manchester United and HCL Technologies will look to provide a unique fan experience and it is turning business into a team sport.
Details of the partnership and exactly what HCL will be delivering will be unveiled over the coming months. But one thing that is certain now is that the largest sports brand in the world is taking its digital platforms very seriously and sees them as a major fan engagement tool and revenue driver.
When Manchester United announced this partnership last week at Old Trafford we had the opportunity to sit down with Ashish Gupta, an HCL EVP responsible for scaling HCL presence in the ITO marketplace. He explained to us that “about eight to nine months is ago is when Manchester United really started looking to create a whole digital platform and create a whole new digital experience.”
Ashish Gupta went on to explain that one of the biggest challenges, that is simultaneously an opportunity, is to connect the 659 million followers that United has around the globe. HCL’s goal will be to build off of United’s rich football history and use that as an advantage that few other sports teams around the world can match.
“The simple way to look at it is we are just creating a platform for which the user experience is going to continue to evolve as technology evolves. As I think most of us know from a digital standpoint, when you start off with anything in digital the user satisfaction is high in the beginning and then after six months new technological possibilities emerge that keep the need to innovate going. Take Facebook who when they launched just exploded. But they have continuously evolved to add new features. So essentially it is the same thing here. HCL is starting with building something brand new and keeping with the premium Manchester United brand and will continue to add more features to the digital offerings and evolve.”
Time will tell what this 3-year contract between HCL and United will bring to fans around the globe. Details will emerge over the coming months and sports teams will keep a close eye on what the largest sports brand in the world has up their digital sleeve in Manchester.